If you’ve watched the new Wonka, you may be asking yourself… did Timothée Chalamet really sing in the movie? The actor, who plays the titular character, is involved in several musical numbers throughout the film—and he’s been candid about the experience ever since landing this major role.
During an interview on the red carpet with Extra, Chalamet—who has a background in theater—explained his family’s ties to the performing arts. “My mom is a dance teacher and my grandmother was a dancer, my sister’s a dancer, so I was always sort of around it,” Chalamet explained. “But there’s a big difference between being around it and having to do it.”
The Dune actor went on to joke about the singing that takes place in Wonka. “I tried. It’s a lot of Auto-Tune,” he quipped, before clarifying that he wasn’t being entirely serious. “No, I’m kidding!” he said.
Now, fans are still questioning if the voice they’re hearing in the film is really his. So, does Timothée Chalamet really sing in Wonka? Here’s everything we know.
Does Timothée Chalamet sing?
Yes, Timothée Chalamet sings—and Wonka isn’t his first rodeo when it comes to musical performances. During his time at LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in New York City, the young actor played Oscar in the musical Sweet Charity, along with the Emcee in Cabaret. He has since showed off his singing abilities in the 2019 romantic comedy, A Rainy Day in New York.
As it turns out, these weren’t the performances that caught the eye of Wonka director Paul King. Back in high school, Chalamet put together a now-viral performance for his statistics class. In the video, which now has over 5 million views on YouTube, Chalamet is seen rapping and dancing while referring to himself as Lil Timmy Tim.
Wonka director Paul King saw Chalamet’s video and the rest, as they say, is history. “It was a straight offer because he’s great and he was the only person in my mind who could do it,” King told Rolling Stone in a July 2023 interview. “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 for Timmy Chalamet that he could sing and dance really well,” the Paddington director added. “And 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.’”
King has since compared Chalamet’s vocals to “White Christmas” singer Bing Crosby. “He’s got a beautiful singing voice,” he told Total Film for the September 2023 issue of the magazine. “The person it reminded me of was Bing Crosby. There’s quite a range, because it does go from a couple of bigger, showstopper-y sort of things, to moments of real, pure emotion and he can do it all.”
Did Timothée Chalamet do his own singing in Wonka?
Given his musical experience, Chalamet did end up singing his own vocals in Wonka. The actor sings a total of six songs in Wonka, including “A Hatful of Dreams,” “You’ve Never Had Chocolate Like This,” “For a Moment,” “A World of Your Own,” “Sorry, Noodle,” and “Pure Imagination.”
While this wasn’t Chalamet’s first time singing for a project, he did admit in an interview with Vanity Fair that Wonka was a different experience altogether. “This was the most physically challenging project I’ve ever done,” Chalamet told the publication in December 2023. “I can’t say the singing and dancing comes easy. I’ve been around musical theater my whole life, and danced a little bit in high school, but this was on a different level.”
“It’s different doing it on film,” he continued. “You’ve got to keep being in the center of the frame while dancing, you’ve got to rehearse for months, you’ve got to be on for every take—take 12 and all the other takes—and dance with professional dancers, who are icing their ankles. That’s how serious they were taking it. So it was a big challenge.”
For Wonka, Chalamet spent three months in choreography boot camp learning dance numbers with different styles of dancing—including tap dancing, the waltz, and a flying sequence that saw him being harnessed in the air alongside his castmate, Calah Lane. The actor also did vocal training with British music supervisor James Taylor, along with vocal coaching with Eric Vetro, who has worked with stars such as Ariana Grande and the cast of La La Land.
“The thing about him is that he’s very, very naturally musical. He has a lot of music in him,” Vetro told People of Chalamet ahead of Wonka’s premiere in December 2023. “But what’s really special about him, he’s such a brilliant actor that he brings that side of his talent into the singing. So, he’s really singing as a character and bringing those songs alive.”
It wouldn’t be a Willy Wonka story without a performance of “Pure Imagination,” the song first sung and popularized by Gene Wilder in the original 1971 film, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. For Chalamet, the song was an opportunity to honor Wilder’s performance. “Singing ‘Pure Imagination,’ that almost felt sacrilegious to go near, cause Gene Wilder does it so perfectly,” he told Vanity Fair in December 2023.
“Gene Wilder’s version is the best, as it should be, and the song is sort of the centerpiece of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory,” he continued. “But my version of the song is sort of the send-off in our movie. The song is the same, but the messaging is a little different.”
Our mission at StyleCaster is to bring style to the people, and we only feature products we think you’ll love as much as we do. Please note that if you purchase something by clicking on a link within this story, we may receive a small commission of the sale.
Jenzia Burgos
Source link
