Where did Charlie Bucket’s grandparents poop, and more burning Willy Wonka questions answered
The actress who played Veruca Salt says she’s always been troubled by Wonka's exploitation of the Oompa Loompas, who also struggled with chocolate addiction
The early ’70s were a wild time for movie-making, and things were no different on the set of Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory. As Michael Bollner, who played Augustus Gloop told Polygon recently, the movie’s rolling, beautiful chocolate river wasn’t cocoa-infused at all, but instead “terribly cold… stinky water.” And while, sure, it makes sense that it wasn’t really chocolate because moviemaking and all that, that doesn’t take away from the fact that there’s some really weird shit going on all over Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory.
All that weirdness has led to amass quite a few burning questions over the 50 years the movie has been in existence and, with the movie’s 4K Ultra HD release happening this week, we were given the chance to sit down with Wonka’s remaining stars, including Peter “Charlie” Ostrum, Michael “Augustus Gloop” Bollner, Paris “Mike Teevee” Themmen, and Julie Dawn “Veruca Salt” Cole.
Where, for instance, did Charlie’s grandparents go to the bathroom? According to a pensive Ostrum, “maybe Charlie was in charge of the bedpan… Charlie seems like the kind of guy that would have done that for his grandparents.” Asked about if her coveted Oompa Loompas were allowed to leave the factory or, indeed, had any agency of their own, Cole said, “That’s always troubled me. Especially in this world now that we’re living in, we’re thinking, ‘hm. Did they really have such a good deal?” Still, says Cole, Wonka “did say that they were being eaten by the [Vermicious] Knids and Hornswogglers and various other things. So I think he probably did them a favor.” She also notes that the Oompa Loompas had an addiction to chocolate, a weakness that Wonka may have abused to keep them in the factory. Cole explains, “That’s not mentioned very much, but I know that they had this kind of chocolate habit that, of course, [Wonka] fed,” noting, “there is a whole other story there that maybe they’ll explore in the prequel.” Chalamet, activate!
There’s more from the cast of Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory in the video below, including the cast’s explanation of both what a snozzberry tastes like and whether that lickable wallpaper had any flavor at all.