Gene Wilder or Johnny Depp, who is the real Willy Wonka? – Le Figaro

Between the late Gene Wilder, and the equally eccentric Johnny Depp, who played the best the character of Willy Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Gene Wilder died on Monday August 29 at the age of 83 years. Oscar winner, muse of comedy Mel Brooks and unforgettable accomplice Richard Pryor, American actor will especially be remembered for his role as Willy Wonka in the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Mel Stuart in 1971.

Roald Dahl children’s tale never knew that two film adaptations. This is Tim Burton in 2005, who raises chocolate refiner and up Johnny Depp under the intimidating hat. Logically comes to mind a comparison between the two films, and especially between the two Willy Wonka.

If some momentum unconsciously leads us to the chocolatier of seventy years – we must not underestimate the scent of nostalgia that emerges this first film, very representative of the era and its colors its psychedelic dimension – the version of Tim Burton demonstrated a rare inventiveness, drawing on another form of poetry.

Two forms of gentle madness

Gene Wilder Willy Wonka camped a carnival without makeup but wearing an orange top hat of a clown taste. Its huge bow tie (very) bad match her purple jacket – recalling the costume of Heath Ledger in Joker – end to make him an extremely fussy entrepreneur, where madness can spring at any moment .

Extremely expressive, helped by her blond curls and prominent proboscis, Willy Wonka Gene Wilder has also become a figure of sarcasm and facetious. In the manner of a musical, he does not hesitate to outline not dance, or sing along to expose his universe.

In contrast, sees Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka asexual autistic and dandy, too amazed by its chocolate that children that prompt. More airtight, it embodies a doll drawn to the nines which wants the personification of the imaginary world. Banging the windows and often comical at his expense, the Wonka Johnny Depp is a quirky character in a real world, when Gene Wilder symbolizes the seriousness of crazy and creative imagination.

The two actors have another thing in common: they both starred in an adaptation of Alice in Wonderland . Gene Wilder endorsed the shell of the Mock Turtle in a TV version in 1999, when Johnny Depp was once again trust in Tim Burton for his role as the Mad Hatter in 2010. Each in their time, these actors have embodied expression the sweet madness, always linked to childhood.

Freedom and work

Beautifully directed by Tim Burton, Johnny Depp portrays an excellent Willy Wonka. Its composition is precise and provides a complex and endearing character, stuck between the child and the crazy business executive touched Peter Pan syndrome. The aura “glam-rock” of its director, for against, defines it in a very particular aesthetic, which takes away a bit of freedom. Johnny Depp is the major piece of the imaginary setting of Burton, without being the soul.

For the image of Jack Nicholson is Joker failing to interpret (and therefore very different from a Heath Ledger that shaped his role in the smallest information), Gene Wilder himself is inhabited the character of Roald Dahl. It basically free amidst scenery that never vampirisent it, in a production that seems to work only in its expression. In the collective imagination, and it still safe bet that embody the chocolatier Willy Wonka.