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Timothée Chalamet to play Willy Wonka in origins movie

<span>Photograph: Arthur Mola/Invision/AP</span>
Photograph: Arthur Mola/Invision/AP

Timothée Chalamet is set to take on the role of Willy Wonka in a new origins movie.

According to Deadline, the Oscar-nominated star of Call Me by Your Name will follow in the footsteps of Gene Wilder and Johnny Depp in an all-singing and all-dancing performance in a prequel inspired by Roald Dahl’s book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

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The film will focus on the early years of Wonka before he opened his factory. Paul King, director of Paddington, will be at the helm with a screenplay from comedian Simon Farnaby.

It will mark the third time Warner Brothers has brought the character to life, first in 1971 and then in 2005 with Tim Burton’s adaptation, which made $475m worldwide. The story was also turned into a successful musical.

Last year it was announced that Taika Waititi, director of Thor: Ragnarok, would also be taking on two animated series for Netflix based on the world and characters of Dahl’s 1964 novel. The streamer has promised that the shows will “retain the quintessential spirit and tone of the original story while building out the world and characters far beyond the pages of the Dahl book for the very first time”.

The 25-year-old actor was last seen in Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of Little Women and his upcoming films include Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch, Denis Villeneuve’s take on Dune, marking his first major franchise role, and Adam McKay’s star-studded asteroid comedy Don’t Look Up alongside Jennifer Lawrence, Leonardo DiCaprio, Meryl Streep and Ariana Grande.

The most recent adaptation of Dahl’s work was Robert Zemeckis’s version of The Witches starring Anne Hathaway and Octavia Spencer.

Wonka is set to be released in 2023.