‘Wonka’ Director Praises Timothée Chalamet’s Singing Voice & Likens Him To Bing Crosby

Paul King, director of Wonka, is teasing the film and Timothée Chalamet‘s singing voice. The filmmaker compared Chalamet to Bing Crosby.

“[Chalamet]’s got a beautiful singing voice,” King said in an interview with Total Film magazine. “The person it reminded me of was Bing Crosby. There’s quite a range, because it does go from a couple of bigger, showstopper-y sort of things, to moments of real, pure emotion and he can do it all… I’m going to sound like a crazed fan.”

Although the film has musical numbers, King doesn’t want to classify the movie as a musical saying, “The Oompa Loompas sing a lot in the book, and Dahl always uses poetry. But I didn’t want it to just become a musical where people are singing dialogue to each other for no discernible reason. I felt like it was more like a movie with songs than a musical.”

The Wonka cast includes Keegan-Michael Key, Rowan Atkinson, Sally Hawkins, Olivia Colman, Jim Carter, Matt Lucas, Natasha Rothwell, Tom Davis, Mathew Baynton and Simon Farnaby. Hugh Grant plays an Oompa-Loompa, and additional cast includes Peter Joseph, Rich Fulcher, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Calah Lane, Colin O’Brien, Rahkee Thakrar, Ellie White, Murray McArthur and Tracy Ifeachor.

Wonka is based on characters created by Roald Dahl for the 1964 novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which inspired two films previously. In 1971, Gene Wilder took on the role of Willy Wonka in the Mel Stuart-directed film. Warner Bros. would produce a new version of the film that was released in 2005 with Johnny Depp as Wonka and Tim Burton directing.