Roald Dahl Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Wes Anderson will be honored at the 80th Venice Film Festival, which runs Aug. 30-Sept. 9.

Wes Anderson will be honored with the Cartier Glory to the Filmmaker Award at the 80th Venice International Film Festival, running from August 30th to September 9.

Jackass star Wee Man has criticised Hugh Grant‘s casting as an Oompa-Loompa in Wonka.Directed by Paul King (Paddington), the upcoming film is based on the universe created in Roald Dahl’s 1964 novel Charlie And The Chocolate Factory. Timothée Chalamet plays the lead role of Willy Wonka, in what’s billed as a prequel to the 1971 film adaptation.Grant’s casting was revealed during CinemaCon 2023 at the Warner Bros.

Hugh Grant Being Cast as Oompa Loompa in New ‘Wonka’ Film Criticized by Actor with Dwarfism

Hugh Grant's casting in the upcoming prequel,, is being criticized by actors with dwarfism.In the trailer for the film, which was released earlier this month, Grant is seen as an Oompa Loompa, the name Roald Dahl used for the group of diminutive factory workers in his 1964 novel .While it's not clear if any actors with dwarfism are featured in the upcoming film, Oompa Loompas were played by actors with dwarfism in two previous films based on Roald Dahl's book.In a new interview from the BBC, George Coppen, an actor with dwarfism, said he believes the role should have been given to an actor with the condition. «A lot of actors [with dwarfism] feel like we are being pushed out of the industry we love,» Coppen told the outlet.He continued, «A lot of people, myself included, argue that dwarfs should be offered everyday roles in dramas and soaps, but we aren't getting offered those roles.

Casting Hugh Grant as an Oompa-Loompa in the upcoming musical Wonka is not sitting well with some actors.

Hugh Grant as an Oompa Loompa in Wonka.Directed by Paul King (Paddington), the upcoming film is based on the universe created in Roald Dahl’s 1964 novel Charlie And The Chocolate Factory. Timothée Chalamet plays the lead role of Willy Wonka, in what’s billed as a prequel to the 1971 film adaptation.George Coppen, who is best known for playing Sweet Cupid in Netflix’s The School For Good And Evil, believes the Oompa Loompa role should have been given to an actor with dwarfism.Speaking to the BBC, Coppen said: “A lot of actors [with dwarfism] feel like we are being pushed out of the industry we love.“A lot of people, myself included, argue that dwarfs should be offered everyday roles in dramas and soaps, but we aren’t getting offered those roles.

The Beano has undergone a transformation in the hope of being more representative of modern Britain. The consultancy firm who helped re-write Roald Dahl books to remove offensive material, Inclusive Minds, have been involved in the transformation of the Scots comic which celebrates its 85th birthday this year.

revealed to Rolling Stone that the “Dune” actor was able to beat out the likes of Donald Glover, Ezra Miller and Ryan Gosling for the role of the famed chocolatier Willy Wonka — without auditioning — on the strength of a few YouTube clips of an all-singing, all-dancing young Chalamet. NYC native Chalamet attended Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, graduating in 2013.King was surprised by “how good he was,” realizing he’d found the right whimsical fit for the “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” prequel musical.“It was a straight offer because he’s great and he was the only person in my mind who could do it,” King said.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Despite reports over the years that Warner Bros. was courting the likes of Donald Glover, Ezra Miller and Ryan Gosling to play Willy Wonka, it was only Timothée Chalamet who got the offer to lead director Paul King’s prequel musical “Wonka.” And Chalamet didn’t even have to audition. King recently told Rolling Stone that he was a Chalamet “stan” and thus knew the actor had the singing and dancing chops required to play Wonka. “It was a straight offer because he’s great and he was the only person in my mind who could do it,” King said. “But because he’s Timothée Chalamet and his life is so absurd, his high school musical performances are on YouTube and have hundreds of thousands of views. So I knew from stanning for Timmy Chalamet that he could sing and dance really well.”

In the much-anticipated musical prequel titled Wonka, Timothée Chalamet takes on the role of the eccentric chocolatier Willy Wonka – but he's overshadowed by a late arrival in the short clip. The trailer for the latest adaptation of Roald Dahl's classic tale was released on Wednesday and showcases a star-studded cast including Olivia Colman, Rowan Atkinson, Keegan-Michael Key, Matt Baynton, and Matt Lucas.

Wonka.Directed by Paul King (Paddington), the prequel film sees Timothée Chalamet take on the iconic character, who originates from Roald Dahl’s 1964 novel Charlie And The Chocolate Factory.Wonka also boasts a star-studded supporting cast, including Keegan-Michael Key, Rowan Atkinson, Sally Hawkins, Olivia Colman, Hugh Grant, Jim Carter, and Matt Lucas.As shown in the trailer, Wonka serves as a prequel to Charlie And The Chocolate Factory and follows Willy Wonka in his youth prior to the opening of his factory. As such, unlike past screen versions of the character, Wonka will be largely unshackled from Dahl’s source material.

At just 27, Timothée Chalamet has played a wide range of characters already in his career. There’s plenty of precocious and/or troubled youths in his filmography, like the upstart Henry V in “The King,” Frank Herbert‘s hero Paul Atreides, or the cannibal drifter Lee in “Bones And All.” But this winter, Chalamet plays an altogether different type of young man in the first musical of his career: Willy Wonka in Paul King‘s “Wonka.” READ MORE: The 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2023 King’s prequel to Roald Dahl‘s 1964 novel “Charlie And The Chocolate Factory,” “Wonka” sees Chalamet don the eccentric candymaker’s top hot and cane after Peter Sellers and Johnny Depp.

The official “Wonka” trailer is here.

After debuting the first footage from Paul King’s Wonka at CinemaCon last year, Warner Bros today unwrapped the latest trailer for the prequel to Roald Dahl beloved Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Timothée Chalamet stars as the enigmatic Willy Wonka in the pic that focuses on the candymaker’s origins.

Wonka, starring Timothée Chalamet as the Roald Dahl character Willy Wonka, has landed.The prequel movie, which is released in cinemas on December 15, is “based on the character at the centre of Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl’s most iconic children’s book”, an official synopsis reads.The trailer dives into the early origins of Wonka, the fictional founder and proprietor of the world-famous chocolate factory. In it, he experiments with magical sweets like Hoverchoc – and meets the quirky inhabitants of a town where the chocolate trade is monopolised by a small group of master craftsmen.

Wonka,” starring Chalamet as the eccentric chocolatier created by renowned author Roald Dahl. The musical fantasy film follows the adventures of a young Willy Wonka, including how he met the Oompa-Loompas. Along with Chalamet, the film stars Olivia Colman, Sally Hawkins, Keegan-Michael Key, Matthew Baynton, Matt Lucas, Rowan Atkinson, Jim Carter, Natasha Rothwell, Simon Farnaby, Paterson Joseph, Tom Davis, Rakhee Thakrar, Justin Edwards, Colin O’Brien, Ellie White, Freya Parker and Kobna Holdbrook-Smith.

EXCLUSIVE: When it comes to breaking into the most-watched titles on British television, Netflix is not exactly prolific, but the streamer seems to have found a hit in Matilda The Musical.

Extraction 2 was No. 1 on Netflix’s English-language film list for the week of June 26-July 2, its third straight week at the top, with 17.5M views.

BLACKPINK fan.The actor took his daughter and her friends to see the K-pop band at BST Hyde Park on Sunday (July 2) – and ended up becoming a firm “Blink”.“Very grateful to three eleven year olds for taking me to see @BLACKPINK yesterday. Am rabid Blink now.

Coronation Street star Tina O'Brien appeared make-up-free as she shared a backstage snap from her second job away from the soap. Fans best know the actress for playing Sarah Barlow in the ITV soap and her character is currently the centre of the action on-screen after her affair was exposed.

EXCLUSIVE: Disney+ is moving into the contemporary UK thriller space with the greenlight of a series based on Alex Dahl’s parents-worst-nightmare novel Playdate.

Wes Anderson has stated that Netflix was the perfect place for his new short film, because “it’s not really a movie”.The director, whose new film Asteroid City will arrive in cinemas later this month, has directed a Roald Dahl adaptation for the streaming service, which is set to be released later this year.Anderson’s The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, which is based on Dahl’s short story collection from 1977, stars Ralph Fiennes, Benedict Cumberbatch and Ben Kingsley.In a new interview with IndieWire, the director revealed that his new film will be just 37 minutes long. He said that he had wanted to adapt the short story collection for 20 years, but “by the time I was ready to do it”, the rights to Dahl’s works had been sold to Netflix.“Suddenly, in essence, there was nowhere else you could do it since they own it,” Anderson said, suggesting he only worked with Netflix because he had no choice.The director then added: “But beyond it, because it’s a 37-minute movie, [Netflix] was the perfect place to do it because it’s not really a movie.”Anderson said that he “had only a good experience with Netflix”, but added: “I’m very happy to be putting Asteroid City in cinemas.

With “Asteroid City” starting its limited theatrical release this weekend before going wide on June 23, Wes Anderson looks ahead to upcoming projects. And while he already has another projected line up he wants to shoot this Fall, before that comes “The Wonderful Life Of Henry Sugar.” The filmmaker’s Roald Dahl adaptation with Netflix is already in the can, but Variety reports (via IndieWire) that it’s less a feature film than a glorified short.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentGlenda Jackson, who segued from a successful actress — Oscars for “Women in Love” and “A Touch of Class” and two Emmys for “Elizabeth R” — into a 23-year career as member of the U.K.’s House of Commons, has died. She was 87.  Jackson died after a brief illness at her home in London, her agent Lionel Larner said. “Glenda Jackson, two-time Academy Award-winning actress and politician, died peacefully at her home in Blackheath, London this morning after a brief illness with her family at her side. She recently completed filming ‘The Great Escaper’ in which she co-starred with Michael Caine,” Larner said in a statement. Aside from her prize-winning roles, Jackson gave terrific performances in such films as 1967’s “Marat/Sade” (as Charlotte Corday), “Sunday Bloody Sunday” (1971, as a member of a bisexual love triangle) and on TV in “The Patricia Neal Story,” a 1981 work about that actress’s stroke and recovery with husband Roald Dahl. A defining role in Jackson’s career was Queen Elizabeth I in the six-episode 1971 TV miniseries “Elizabeth R,” in which the character aged from teenage girl to old woman. She also played Elizabeth in the film “Mary, Queen of Scots,” opposite Vanessa Redgrave, that same year.

It’s a second strong week at Number 1 on the Official Film Chart for John Wick: Chapter 4.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Wes Anderson announced in an interview with IndieWire that his upcoming Netflix movie “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar,” based on Roald Dahl’s 1977 short story collection, will only be 37 minutes long. The film is Anderson’s second Dahl adaptation after “Fantastic Mr. Fox” and stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Ralph Fiennes, Dev Patel and Ben Kingsley. Notably, “Henry Sugar” marks Anderson’s first Netflix original. He told IndieWire that collaborating with the streamer was more out of necessity than personal preference. “In my case it’s a little bit of a weird thing,” Anderson said about partnering with Netflix. “I knew Roald Dahl since before we made ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox.’ I met Lindsay Dahl, his widow, when we were shooting ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ like 20 years ago. For years I wanted to do ‘Henry Sugar.’ They set this story aside for me because I was friends with them. Lindsay kind of handed the torch to Luke, Dahl’s grandson. So I had this waiting for me. But I really couldn’t figure out the approach. I knew what I liked in the story was the writing of it, Dahl’s words. I couldn’t find the answer, and then suddenly I did. It’s not a feature film. It’s like 37 minutes or something. But by the time I was ready to do it, the Dahl family no longer had the rights at all. They had sold the whole deal to Netflix.”

John Wick: Chapter 4 crashes straight in at Number 1 on the Official Film Chart.

Every up and down, every joy and heartbreak of Queen Camilla’s life has played out like the storyline of a best-selling novel. It’s fitting, then, that books have been her comfort. Reading, Her Majesty has explained, has often been her salvation.

Here we go! The star-studded Super Mario Bros Movie lands straight in at Number 1 on the Official Film Chart.