No shade intended towards the superstar who was filming the coming action film Subversive but the excitement at Village Roadshow Studios on the Gold Coast was over Gene Wilder and a chocolate river.
asserted
excitement → intend → Wilder
He’s the unseen host of Netflix’s Wonka’s The Golden Ticket.
asserted
He → ’ → Ticket
The latest take on the mad genius of candy – following three movies, an opera, a ballet and a Broadway show – is a reality series.
asserted
take → follow → movies
The show’s nine episodes put contestants through sticky challenges in their quest to win $US3 million ($4.2 million).
asserted
episodes → put → million
“We ended up on the Gold Coast for several reasons,” says Emer Harkin, co-showrunner and an executive producer.
asserted
Harkin → end → reasons
“The studios are phenomenal and this is what we were looking for.
asserted
we → look → what
The production company making the show for Netflix is also based out of Sydney and we’re producing the show out of Australia.
asserted
we → make → Australia
So all of those things together sort of just made it like a package.”
asserted
it → make → package
Working on anything Wonka-related was also a lure for everyone involved.
asserted
Working → work → everyone
“We’re definitely inspired by the 1971 movie,” Harkin says.
asserted
Harkin → inspire → movie
“But with that comes such responsibility.
asserted
responsibility → come → that
This is such a revered, adored text.
asserted
This → revere → ?
The movie has been such a blueprint of all of our growing up – and my Christmas mornings in particular.”
asserted
movie → grow → growing
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory wasn’t a box-office hit when it premiered in 1971, seven years after Roald Dahl published the classic Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
asserted
Dahl → premier → Charlie
But the film eventually became beloved.
asserted
film → become → ?
The story followed winners of a golden ticket, emblazoned with a “W”, as they toured Wonka’s mysterious factory.
asserted
they → follow → factory
The children who found the ticket tucked into chocolate bars were mannerless little monsters, except for lovely, impoverished Charlie, whose sole treat each birthday was a Wonka bar.
asserted
birthday → find → Charlie
Instead of casting children and their guardians in another rendition, the question became how to translate a well-known story into an engaging reality show.
asserted
question → cast → show
Netflix – which bought the rights to Dahl’s works – began with 12 adults from the US, picked from reality contestant pools.
asserted
which → buy → pools
Each received a coveted golden ticket and brought a partner.
asserted
Each → receive → partner
Duos include a mother and son, two father-daughter pairs, best friends, romantic partners, and work pals.
asserted
Duos → include → mother
One duo echoes the original story: a grandfather and grandson.
asserted
duo → echo → story
The prizemoney inspires plenty of plotting and vitriol as contestants live on the sprawling set.
asserted
contestants → inspire → set
They sleep in beds designed to look like marshmallows, and the factory is pure steampunk.
asserted
factory → sleep → marshmallows
When people need to travel inside it, they step into the Wonkavator – a contraption designed to feel like it moves horizontally, vertically and even diagonally.
asserted
it → need → Wonkavator
“We could rock it a bit and we blew air into it as well, to give people a sense that something was going on, but it’s mainly the strong visuals in there that make you feel like you’re moving,” says Chris Batson, production designer of the optical illusion elevator.
uncertain
Batson → rock → elevator
I think I put on a few kilos.’Chris
asserted
I → think → kilos
Batson, a Sydney native who lectures at the Australian Film Television and Radio School, supervised a huge art department of 120 people for this series.
asserted
who → lecture → series
He updated the Wonkatania, a boat that runs on a river of real chocolate – 102,206 litres of it – cascading from a chocolate waterfall.
asserted
that → update → waterfall
This unfolds in the 40,000-square-foot (3700-square-metre) chocolate factory, which features chocolate bricks on walkways and giant edible candy mushrooms sprouting amid edible lemony grass.
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which → unfold → grass
Last year Netflix brought a few journalists and influencers to tour this fun set.
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Netflix → bring → set
Contestants had yet to arrive, so it was just an original Oompa Loompa, Rusty Goffe, and his son Ben exploring the set.
asserted
it → have → set
Rusty Goffe reflected on how much better this river smelled than the film’s brown waterway.
asserted
river → reflect → waterway
His son taught visitors an often-underappreciated life skill: the Oompa Loompa dance.
asserted
son → teach → skill
Challenges begin with the original teams walking down a door-lined corridor, designed to throw them off balance.
asserted
teams → begin → balance
Between the scrunched-up contestants is a gumball machine that spits out purple and gold marzipan balls.
asserted
that → scrunch → balls
As they eat the sweets a cold fog shrouds the room, and whoosh!
asserted
fog → eat → room
One disappears, rushed through a door.
asserted
One → disappear → door
Those who vanish find themselves encased in a huge ball and placed in a gigantic gumball machine.
asserted
themselves → vanish → machine
The object of that challenge is to free your partner.
asserted
object → free → partner
…and 24 more, not listed.
The Aporia
