Silke Jasso
When it comes to making TV shows and movies, several actors get passed up for roles on a daily basis. It’s not a secret, it happens. Just like it did with Dwayne Johnson. Johnson, also known as ‘The Rock’ recently shared about how he almost portrayed the part of Willy Wonka in the Tim Burton remake called Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Yes, can you imagine Willy Wonka being a 6’5 ex-wrestler with a lot of tattoos? Certainly did not see this coming.
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Johnson stated he was really considered for the role back in the early 2000s, taking to social media to reveal the bizarre casting choices while showing the 1971 Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory movie. Released in 1971, the iconic role of Willy Wonka was originated by no other than the marvelous Gene Wilder.
Johnson captioned the Instagram post, “This morning I introduced our babies to one of my all-time fav films – Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. They loved it and now fully expect me to deliver a room full of chocolate and candy.” That’s when he explained that he was considered for the iconic role in the 2005 Tim Burton remake, which eventually went to Johnny Depp. He stated,
“I remember thinking ‘HOLY SH*T, I’M IN. He continued: “But that was many years ago when I was just starting out in Hollywood with no foundation of global box office strength or any real acting experience to even pull it off. The role, of course went to Johnny Depp, who at that time was the biggest star in the world. The rest was history. And down the road I went.”
The actor, who is known for his role in Fast & The Furious, stated that at the time of the casting, he was barely starting out in Hollywood, with no idea what the future had in store. But looking at the bright side, he completed his post saying “I’ll always raise a glass to the dreams that don’t come true because sometimes they’re the best thing that never happened.” He followed by using the hashtag #BigBrownBaldTattooedWonka.
Now, although you may never see Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson as Willy Wonka anytime soon, the A-list actor has been involved with several pretty well-known projects including Tooth Fairy, Moana, Skyscraper, Hobbs & Shaw, all the Jumanji (the remake), and the HBO series Ballers. He is ranked as one of the world’s highest-paid actors and even made the time 100 most influential people in the world list in 2016 and 2019. So, there you have it people, your cool bizarre history fact of the day.
