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How Johnny Depp brought a new flavor to ''Charlie'' | jul82005_828_lg

Since the late '90s, the idea of making a new Charlie had been kicking around at Warner Bros., and the studio went through a roster of directors who didn't stick until Burton finally signed on. Over the years, Wonka candidates had come and gone too (Jim Carrey, Nicolas Cage, Brad Pitt, and Will Smith). Even Marilyn Manson's name came up at one point, although no one's quite sure whether it was just Manson himself who brought up the notion. ''I have no idea where that came from,'' says Charlie producer Brad Grey, who has since been hired to run Paramount Pictures. Depp, for one, says he would have happily paid to see Manson as Wonka. ''That would have been an interesting way to go,'' he says. ''I think I'd go see it before I brought my kids, though.''

Screenwriter John August (Big Fish) says he first read Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in the third grade, and loved the book so much that when he was 7 or 8, he wrote Dahl a fan letter. Strange as it may sound, though, August had never seen the Gene Wilder movie. And when he asked Burton if he should go back and watch it, he says, ''Tim almost leaped across the table and told me not to.''

Burton informed August (Big Fish) that he wanted their Charlie to come straight from the book. That meant scrapping several well-remembered scenes and introducing others that weren't in the original film. For example, Wonka doesn't sing in the new film (something Depp admits he's relieved about); the Oompa-Loompas are all played by one actor named Deep Roy, whose 4-foot-4-inch height is digitally shrunk to 30 inches; spoiled brat Veruca Salt is done in by nut-shelling squirrels instead of by a golden goose; and we get a glimpse of Wonka's tense childhood relationship with his domineering dentist father (played by Christopher Lee). According to Burton, that last one, which actually isn't in Dahl's book, was essential. ''You want a little bit of the flavor of why Wonka is the way he is,'' says Burton, ''Otherwise, what is he? He's just a weird guy.''


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