Hugh Grant to star as an Oompa Loompa in new Wonka film
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Hugh Grant seems to be really enjoying this stage of his career and he's set to add another entry to his IMDb page with a part in the upcoming Willy Wonka prequel.
Wonka is going to star Timothée Chalamet in the title role of the capricious confectioner during his younger days as an inventor of sensational sweet treats.
The movie is being directed by Paddington and Paddington 2 director Paul King, who appears to have dug back into his contacts book to pick out an incredibly famous name to be in his movie.
Hugh Grant famously played the baddie in Paddington 2, a movie which arguably reaches the peak of cinematic perfection in a way that few movies can even dream of.
Grant himself has said the movie was 'kind of a masterpiece' and now he's teaming up with the director once more to play the role of an Ooompa Loompa.
His casting was revealed during CinemaCon 2023 at the Warner Bros presentation, with footage shown to convention audiences featuring Grant's face on a CGI Oompa Loompa.
Grant has said his character is a 'perfectly respectable size' and is quite 'sassy' so they may be the latest in a line of fun, frivolous and fabulous characters that the famous actor has played and appeared to have an absolute ball with.
Of course in Paddington 2 he was flamboyant former stage actor Phoenix Buchanan, while more recently he was the flamboyant rogue Forge in Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves so the part of a sassy Oompa Loompa shouldn't be too far fetched for him.
While in his earlier days he was a floppy-haired rom-com star known for the likes of Notting Hill or Four Weddings and a Funeral these days he's branched out into plenty of other fun roles on the big screen.
As for the Wonka prequel, we've had a few glimpses at what Chalamet will look like in costume for the movie and there's been plenty more information so that audiences aren't stuck relying on pure imagination.
Director King has penned the screenplay alongside Paddington 2 colleague Simon Farnaby, while there are going to be a selection of musical numbers sprinkled throughout the film.
In addition to Chalamet and Grant, Wonka will also star Rowan Atkinson, Olivia Colman, Keegan-Michael Key, Matt Lucas, Paterson Joseph, Sally Hawkins and many, many more.
Wonka is set to release in cinemas on 15 December.
Topics: Film & TV, Hugh Grant, Celebrity, Film and TV
