From Flower Vase to Film Emperor in Hollywood

"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," Anson was indeed very surprised. He didn't expect this project to appear before him; he wasn't sure he was the best choice.

There were two reasons.

First, age.

In 2023, "Wonka" was released, a film about Willy Wonka's early life and the events before he owned the chocolate factory. The young Willy Wonka was played by Timothée Chalamet, who was twenty-eight years old at the time.

In other words, in the "Wonka" story, Willy Wonka should be in his mid-twenties, while in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," he would need to be at least forty years old.

Although it's a magical story, the setting around Willy Wonka doesn't involve de-aging or immortality.

This year, Anson hadn't yet turned twenty-two. Playing a younger version of Willy Wonka would be more or less appropriate, but playing the "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" version would be complicated.

Precisely for this reason, Lucas had just joked that he didn't know if they were inviting Anson to play Willy Wonka or Charlie.

Second, style.

As is known, "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" is adapted from children's literature, a fairy tale filled with whimsical imagination, like "Alice in Wonderland," "The Chronicles of Narnia," and so on. When such works are adapted into films, they often require imaginative thinking to break through the boundaries of perception.

To some extent, they detach from reality.

Naturally, the actors' makeup, styling, and performance style also need to be adjusted—

In "Wonka," Hugh Grant's portrayal of the Oompa Loompa was undoubtedly the biggest highlight of the entire film, but Hugh Grant bitterly complained about the performance experience. He said it was the most difficult, embarrassing, and humiliating performance of his career, and he completely regretted taking on the role.

However, "There was no choice, for the alimony…"

Hugh Grant incurred a lot of debts in his youth, fathering five children with various women, and there were even rumors of illegitimate children. The immense pressure of supporting these children forced him to constantly take on roles, making him a workaholic like Nicolas Cage, who became a workaholic to pay off debts.

For magical and fairy tale films, establishing the film's style and casting according to that style is half the guarantee of the film's success.

But Anson?

Although Anson had appeared in fairytale-like works such as "The Princess Diaries," so far, Anson's roles were mainly realistic.

Honestly, Anson couldn't imagine himself in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."

Of course, a large part of the reason was due to his memories from his previous life.

In his previous life, both "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and "Alice in Wonderland" were films starring Johnny Depp.

Undoubtedly, Johnny Depp was very suitable for the gothic style, bringing a strange and quirky unique temperament to the characters and even the films.

This preconceived impression occupied Anson's mind, vivid and difficult to break for the time being.

"'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,'" Lucas said.

Anson looked over.

Lucas didn't understand films, but he had an objective perspective. "I mean 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.' In that work, people not only saw your comedic talent but also your ability to portray some bizarre and fantastical characters."

The reason was that "Walk the Line" was a traditional biographical film, and actors often have a template to follow when challenging their performance. Even if the performance was excellent, it was still within expectations, so when Anson confirmed his appearance, Hollywood showed a "knew it all along" expression.

But "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" was slightly different. Just like Charlie Kaufman's inherent attributes, such a role was unpredictable and uncontrollable. The unconventional state gave Anson more freedom to play, and the final presentation of the role was not only convincing but also charming, which was by no means easy.

Therefore, the success of "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" was indeed a crucial step for Anson.

If this film brought Anson a role like Willy Wonka, it was indeed understandable.

However, after thinking seriously, Anson still raised his eyes to look at Lucas, "There must be more to it than that, right?"

A faint smile appeared in Lucas's eyes, "Now I can be sure you're okay."

This response confirmed Anson's guess.

Lucas didn't continue to beat around the bush, "Edgar has been busy recently."

"On the one hand, accumulating chips for the upcoming sequel negotiations with Sony Columbia surrounding Spider-Man; on the other hand, opening up a breakthrough for you in Hollywood."

"Edgar said that he doesn't plan to fight for a twenty-million-dollar club salary for you, but instead, he wants to secure more benefits and producer authority for you through box office revenue sharing. Even aside from the Spider-Man sequel, he also hopes to secure more initiative for you in other projects."

It seemed that while Anson was busy filming, Edgar hadn't stopped either.

"This is one of the projects Edgar is aiming for," Lucas revealed the answer.

Anson was slightly surprised, raising the script in his hand, "Are you sure?"

Objectively speaking, "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" didn't conform to people's conventional impressions of blockbuster films. More importantly, the real protagonist of the film was "Charlie." Willy Wonka was the soul of the entire film, but he wasn't the main perspective of the narrative.

Edgar's attempt to break through Hollywood barriers with such a work was indeed an interesting choice—

Would those large film companies be willing to use 10%, 15%, or even more of the box office revenue sharing to convince Anson to play Willy Wonka, a role that wasn't the absolute lead?

From a certain perspective, this was a risk, equivalent to placing the crew's largest investment on a supporting character.

At the same time, it was also an opportunity because it could save a twenty-million-dollar salary, making it unnecessary to increase production costs for a supporting role.

Edgar's move was obviously carefully considered—

Of course, this was just one of Edgar's many choices.

Lucas nodded slightly, "Warner Bros. is full of confidence in this project, directly giving a budget of one hundred and fifty million dollars."

Wow!

As expected, it was Warner Bros.!

After tasting the sweetness of the "Harry Potter" and "Lord of the Rings" series, Warner Bros. wasn't hesitant at all in adapting magical, fantasy, and fairy tale stories. This time, aiming at "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" was once again demonstrating Warner Bros.'s wealth and decisiveness.

From this, it could be seen that while Sony Columbia and 20th Century Fox were aiming at comic book adaptations of superheroes to seek breakthroughs, although they held the DC Comics adaptation rights, Warner Bros. currently still had more faith in the fantasy film market, dedicating themselves to opening up the situation here.