The original cast of 'Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory' look back at the film 50 years later

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory turns 50 years old on June 30! The original cast spoke to Yahoo Entertainment about their favorite memories of Gene Wilder, where they think their characters ended up, and what they think of Timothée Chalamet who was recently cast as the younger iteration of chocolate-factory owner Willy Wonka, in a prequel to the hit film.

Video Transcript

- You're going to love this, just love it.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

KEVIN POLOWY: So cool to speak to all of you. I mean, especially about this bona fide classic "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" on not just the 50th anniversary, but also with the release of this fancy brand new 4K UHD release.

I think it's only right we start with the guy right there in the title, Willy Wonka, as played by the late great Mr Gene Wilder. Sad that he left us five years ago this summer. I'd love to hear from, from each of you your most vivid memory of being around Gene, either on set or behind the scenes. Peter, can we start with you?

PETER OSTRUM: When I first met Gene, I had arrived and was filming before the other kids had got to Munich. And so I'd probably been there a week, two weeks. And we did all the outdoor running scenes first, of Charlie delivering the papers and all of that type of footage. And Gene got to see some of that. And when I met him he gave me a big hug and he goes, I am so tired of seeing you run.

[LAUGHTER]

And so right away he established a friendship that endured for, for many years. He was just down to Earth, not pretentious, you know. He was just a wonderful person to be around and to work with.

JULIE DAWN COLE: Yeah he was such a lovely, kind man, very unassuming. I think people kind of want us to tell you that he was like Willy Wonka offset, but he wasn't. He was just ordinary, average Gene hanging around having a chat. He was very kind. It was my 13th birthday while we were shooting the Golden goose room, I want it now.

And back in the day you would have stills photographer would come on set and take a set of photos. But of course they were black and white back then. But as it was my birthday, Gene arranged for a photographer to come and take a set of colored photos but my 13th birthday, which he gave me as my gift. I still have the them all and what a lovely thing to do. It was such a sweet thoughtful thing. But that was Gene, he was really kind.

MICHAEL BOLLNER: So I was on the set and everybody was talking English and I was on the great scene of, of being on Hollywood or something like that. I was just a little boy from the local area. Gene Wilder took me by the hand and we sat together on the stairway and some photographers were there. And even German newspapers.

And he did a little interview. Very limited because I don't speak any English and Gene doesn't speak any German. So it was really a little bit difficult to do this interview. So we had a little conversation because of the language barrier. But gene was so nice to me and took me by his hand and was really natural and like a real person.

KEVIN POLOWY: And Paris, I actually read that you were, a quote unquote, a notorious troublemaker on set. Gene called you a handful. Is this true? Do you corroborate this?

PARIS THEMMEN: I can corroborate that. I was younger than the others. I was 11. they were 13. And was naturally just more, sort of high spirited and rambunctious. The story that I would tell that relates to that is when I saw Gene years later and he corroborated it. He was at a place called Avon Theater in Stanford. And he was always a very nice man who was concerned with charity and that kind of thing. So they were showing Silver Streak the year that I was there, at what they called Wilder's Picks.

So I sat at the back of the room and he gave this commentary and then I went up to the front of the room afterwards with my poster in hand. And I said, hi Gene how are you doing? I'm Paris Themmen, I was Mike TV in Willy Wonka. And he said, oh you were a brat. And I thought back of course, flashed all the way back 50 years, or 40 years of that time. I said, well, you know I'm 50 something now and maybe not as much of a brat. He said, oh yeah. So he signed my poster, to my favorite brat.

KEVIN POLOWY: Have you guys spent much time thinking about, just hypothetically, where your characters would have ended up in this universe? Would Charlie and his family lived happily ever after? Did his grandparents finally get their own beds?

[LAUGHTER]

PETER OSTRUM: I can only hope so. And I think Charlie is probably still working, still running the factory. But he's looking for the next Charlie to take over the factory, you know. And trying, trying desperately to hold out against the Nestle's and the Toblerones of the world for buying him out.

KEVIN POLOWY: Julie, was Veruca still spoiled? Or did she turn the corner? Did you find herself? Did she turn into a humanitarian? What do you think?

JULIE DAWN COLE: I'm not sure. I mean, I'd like to think that she was a reformed character and she started her own foundation somewhere for impoverished children, but I suspect not. I suspect, because she didn't do any work. She never took any responsibility for anything. She got other people to do things. She was just me, me, me. Gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme. I suspect she might probably like the kind of media situation that we have where she could be, maybe have her own YouTube or be a blogger or be an influencer. And just get sent lots of free stuff. That's what she'd like. I think she'd just like all the free stuff.

KEVIN POLOWY: Michael, how about Augustus? How do you think he fared?

MICHAEL BOLLNER: Well I think Augustus will, would have opened a beer garden selling Bavarian beer, and of course, there's a very special box of chocolate from Charlie.

- Wait till I get a real one. Code 45. Pop won't let me have one yet, will you pop?

- Not till your twelve son.

KEVIN POLOWY: And Paris, what about Mike? I mean, first off, do you think he got that gun at age 12?

PARIS THEMMEN: You know, it's funny because I'm sort of anti-gun myself these days. So we have to separate the Paris Themmen from the Mike TV. Paris Themmen, not, not so much about the guns. Mike TV, complete opposite. Would love today's TV, Breaking Bad. War movies, horror movies, cowboy, all of that. Gangster movies, anything like that. So he probably would have been a TV Exec. And as I was sitting and thinking about your question, it occurred to me also that, although they don't show it, He does get sent to the taffy pulling machine, and he ends up somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 or 11 feet, 12 feet, 12 feet tall. So just think about the career he could have had playing ball, right? I mean he'd be shooting down at the basket, you know? So, yeah that's another thought from Mike is maybe he would have taken the money and, and played ball.

KEVIN POLOWY: The internet practically exploded recently when it was announced they were going to do a young Willy Wonka movie, starring the popular young actor Timothee Chalamet origin film. Excitement from you guys around this one? Any Timothee Chalamet fans? What do you, what do you guys think?

PARIS THEMMEN: I mean, one nice thing for them is they don't have to do a direct comparison, because it's a prequel rather than a remake. So, you know, he doesn't necessarily have to be as good as Gene was, which obviously is a hugely difficult thing to do. But talented actor. I don't know that he's got the wild eyes that gene has, but he's kind of got the hair, and a sort of a general look that's kind of similar.

PETER OSTRUM: You can't kill Wonka. I mean, it just gets replayed over and over again. Either the original, or the remake with Johnny Depp and, and that brought attention back to our film. Kids saw Johnny Depp's version, their parents said, you need to see the original. Anything that talks about Wonka is good for the Wonka story. You know, it's a great story and it needs to be retold regardless of who's producing it or who's making it. I'm sure they'll do justice to the character Willy Wonka. I look forward to the new version.