Paul King would “cheerfully” work with Hugh Grant ever day for the “rest of [his] life”.
Paul King wants more work with Hugh Grant
The 45-year-old director first worked with the British actor on ‘Paddington 2’ and knew straight away he was the right person to cast as a tiny orange-faced Oompa-Loompa in new ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ origins story ‘Wonka’.
He told Radio Times magazine: “I loved working with Hugh on ‘Paddington 2’ and would cheerfully work with him every day for the rest of my life.
“He’s one of the funniest people I’ve ever met and he certainly has a naughty side, so I think he sits very comfortably in Dahl’s universe.
“The Oompa-Loompas don’t have much dialogue in the books but they do have these long songs where they take an almost gleeful pleasure in the demise of all the ghastly children who tour the factory.
“They’re so funny and biting and scornful, and as I was reading them, Hugh’s voice kept coming into my head.
“From there, it wasn’t a huge step to go, ‘Wouldn’t it be funny to see him 18 inches high with bright green hair and orange skin?’ It was perfect.”
The director recently admitted he’s keen to revisit the characters for another movie.
He told Total Film magazine: "I would definitely like to do more. And I’d like to spend more time in this world.
"Dahl was definitely interested in taking Willy Wonka on. There’s drafts that didn’t really go anywhere, and there’s a short story. He didn’t really write sequels, but this was the one book where he clearly felt there was more in the tank there.
"There’s an awful lot more Wonka story that we have that we would like to tell.
"It’s not like 'Dune: Part One' where you go, 'This is what’s happening in Part Two.' Hopefully it works exquisitely as a stand-alone movie. But I would definitely like to do more. And I’d like to spend more time in this world, and meet some more Oompa-Loompas."
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