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Timothée Chalamet didn't have to audition for Wonka because of viral high school rap videos

18 December 2023, 14:37

Timothee Chalamet stars in Wonka trailer

By Sam Prance

Timothée Chalamet was offered the role of Willy Wonka in Wonka without an audition.

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Long before Timothée Chalamet was the movie star we know him as today, there was Timmy Tim. Now, Wonka director Paul King has revealed that he cast Timothée Chalamet as Willy Wonka based on videos of him performing at high school.

Day one Timothée Chalamet fans will already know about his alter ego Timmy Tim. When Timothée was a teenager, he went to the prestigious LaGuardia High School of Music and Performing Arts and would often rap under the name Timmy Tim. If you go on YouTube, there are several viral videos of Timothée rapping original music and even covering Nicki Minaj.

And it turns out that these videos landed Timothée the role of Wonka. In fact, he didn't even have to audition for the part.

Timothée Chalamet didn't have to audition for Wonka because of viral high school rap videos. Picture: Warner Bros. Pictures / Alamy Stock Photo, Timothée Chalamet via YouTube

Speaking to Rolling Stone ahead of Wonka coming out, Paul King explained: "It was a straight offer because he’s great and he was the only person in my mind who could do it."

He then added: "But because he’s Timothée Chalamet and his life is so absurd, his high school musical performances are on YouTube and have hundreds of thousands of views. So I knew from stanning Timmy Chalamet that he could sing and dance really well."

Paul ended by saying: "I knew that was in his arsenal, but I didn’t know how good he was. When I spoke to him he was quite keen. He’d done tap dancing in high school and he was like, ‘I’d quite like to show people I can do that.’"

Wonka is a musical and Timothée performs several solo songs and duets on the soundtrack.

Timothée Chalamet - Timmy Tim - Rising stars 2012

Talking to GamesRadar+ about why he wanted to play Wonka, Timothée said: "“I love musical theater and I love song and dance. And I love old Fred Astaire movies and the original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with Gene Wilder."

Timothée continued: "I didn’t think I’d get a chance to do it, not like this. But Paul King is one of these directors that you don’t say no to."