Roald Dahl’s The Dark Side of Willy Wonka: How Hollywood – including the latest film starring Timothee Chalamet – has glossed over the more sinister elements of the author’s 1964 novel

Hollywood’s latest portrayal of Willy Wonka, the famously eccentric owner of Roald Dahl’s chocolate factory, is set to be the biggest box office hit of the holidays – and is already being called an ‘instant holiday classic’ by critics.

The musical fantasy film from Warner Bros. Pictures, released in UK cinemas on December 8, stars Timothee Chalamet as Wonka; the Hollywood actor leads an all-star cast including Sally Hawkins, Rowan Atkinson, Olivia Colman – and Hugh Grant as Oompa-Loompa.

It will be the third time that Dahl’s 1964 children’s classic has been adapted into a film, with Gene Wilder and Johnny Depp playing Wonka in 1971 and 2005 respectively.

This time the focus is on Wonka’s backstory and how he became the most famous chocolatier in the world, rather than Charlie Bucket’s golden ticket winning tour of his factory.

The film follows Wonka as he opens his first shop, while his factory is still a utopia and Paddington director Paul King is at the helm.

From the two pre-released trailers, Chalamet’s curly-haired Wonka delivers all the Hollywood polish you’d expect from a film released during the holiday season – one critic has described the French-American actor’s Wonka as ‘infinitely charming’.

But if you go back the decades to when Dahl’s original 1964 novel was first published, the content that inspired the latest film isn’t always so feel-good.

Dahl’s depiction of his famous Oompa-Loompas, played by orange-skinned Grant in the new film, described them in the first edition of the book as almost black-skinned pygmies ‘imported straight from Africa!’.

Dahl, who died in 1990 at the age of 74, remains one of the world’s best-selling children’s authors – but the earliest version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory had to be changed after it described the Oompa-Loompas as almost black-colored pygmies “imported directly from Africa!” ‘

By the time the 1971 film starring Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka was released, the Oompa-Loompas had green hair and orange skin.

Ooompa-Loompas in the 2005 film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; the workers were all played by Deep Roy

Johnny Depp as Wonka in the 2005 film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; Many felt that Depp’s ‘creepy’ portrayal was perhaps a more accurate portrayal of Dahl’s leading man

The children’s author, who died in 1990 at the age of 74 and remains one of the best-selling children’s book authors in the world, explains to the group of children visiting his factory that his thousands of workers are “a tribe of little miniature pygmies.”

The assembled children ask Wonka, “What are they?” Where do they come from? Who are they? Aren’t they fantastic! No higher than my knee! Their skin is almost black!’

The lyrics continue with Wonka revealing, “I discovered them myself. I brought them from Africa myself, the entire tribe, three thousand in total. I found them in the deepest and darkest part of the African jungle, where no white man had ever gone before.’

Sweet as Chalamet: In Tokyo on November 20, lead actor Timothee Chalamet, wearing a lavender PVC jumpsuit, is surrounded by adoring fans

Nearly 60 years later, Chapter 16 of the latest edition of the book has been significantly changed, with Wonka telling the children that the Oompa-Loompas were in fact “imported straight from Loompaland.”

The rules on how its employees are paid – with cocoa beans – remain unchanged in the modern version.

At the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre, in Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, a sign was placed at the entrance in the summer declaring that the writer’s racism was ‘undeniable and indelible’.

The author of The BFG and Fantastic Mr. Fox was a “contradictory person,” the sign said.

“He could be friendly… but consequences have also been recorded of his very unfriendly and worse behavior, including writing and saying anti-Semitic things about Jewish people.”

The charity said it ‘deeply apologizes’ for the impact of his anti-Semitism.

This summer, the tourist attraction in Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, where the author lived, posted a sign apologizing for his racism

The author of The BFG and Fantastic Mr. Fox was a ‘contradictory person’, the charity said this summer, apologizing for the impact of his anti-Semitism

The museum worked on its apology with Jewish organizations including the Council of Deputies, the Antisemitism Policy Trust and the Communities Securities Trust.

Danny Stone, director of the Antisemitism Policy Trust, said the museum was doing it “in good faith”, adding that “the desire of staff to educate themselves about antisemitism” was clear.

Plans to celebrate Dahl’s work with a commemorative coin were scrapped in 2018 due to concerns at the Royal Mint about his anti-Semitism. It said he was “not considered an author of the highest reputation.”

And earlier this year, it was revealed that Dahl’s publisher Puffin had hired sensitive readers to rewrite parts of his work to ensure his books “can be enjoyed by everyone today,” resulting in extensive changes to Dahl’s work.

Significant changes were made to the descriptions of the characters’ physical appearance and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory did not escape the changes – Augustus Gloop can now only be described as ‘huge’.