Dwayne Johnson Says Tim Burton Considered Him to Play Willy Wonka: 'Sure Meant a Helluva Lot to Me'
Dwayne Johnson is looking back at a time when he almost played Willy Wonka.
The proud dad of three, 48, shared a video of the 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory on his Instagram account where he reminisced on being approached for the titular role for Tim Burton's 2005 reboot, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
"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," the actor wrote in the caption. "That’ll be my next project 🤣."
Johnson continued, "Some cool history - back in the early 2000’s, iconic director, Tim Burton had considered me to play Willy Wonka is his remake, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I remember thinking 'HOLY S—, IM IN' 🎶 😳🙋🏽♂️."
"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," he explained. "The role, of course went to Johnny Depp, who at that time was the biggest star in the world. The rest was history."
The Baywatch star added, "And down the road I went. The fact that Tim even considered me (albeit I’m sure he considered for all of 7 seconds:) sure meant a helluva lot to me as I was just breaking in to the business with no idea what the future had in store. I’ll always raise a glass 🥃 to the dreams that don’t come true, because sometimes they’re the best thing that never happened. #BigBrownBaldTattooedWonka🍫💪🏾."
The 2005 film starred Depp, 57, as the imaginative candy maker, with Freddie Highmore as Charlie. The cast included AnnaSophia Robb, Julia Winter, Philip Wiegratz and Jordan Fry as the other children who win golden tickets into Wonka’s factory, and Helena Bonham Carter, David Kelly, Missi Pyle and Deep Roy as the Oompa Loompas.
While Johnson may not have starred in the children’s film, he has had major roles in other kids films since then including Moana, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Jumanji: The Next Level and the upcoming Jungle Cruise alongside Emily Blunt.
