Wonka releases first snap of Hugh Grant as an Oompa Loompa

Wonka has released a teaser image of Hugh Grant's Oompa Loompa character alongside Timothy Chalamet's version of the iconic chocolatier.

The highly anticipated movie is heading our way later this year featuring a star-studded cast including Hugh Grant, who is playing one of Willy Wonka's workers, the ever-recognisable Oompa Loompa.

A first-look image was released exclusively to People, where we can see Hugh as a smaller version of the character, so it looks like we're deviating from the previous adaptations as Hugh's character is small enough to fit inside a jar!

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Aside from that, it looks like they're keeping things similar to the 1971 movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, as Hugh's version of the character has green hair, orange skin, and a purple suit.

The image was shared alongside a second sneak peek, which sees Timothée Chalamet holding on to costar Calah Lane as her character Noodle begins to float into the air.

They're the only two preview images we've got so far, but with the movie heading our way in the winter, we only have a few more months to wait before it's finally on the big screen.

Speaking to People about the project, director Paul King has given us a little more information about the plot, and how it differs from its predecessors.

He revealed: "The film tells the story of a young Willy Wonka, who comes to an uptight European center of chocolate with all these very fancy chocolate shops that sell candy at sharply inflated prices," he says. "He brings this riot of color and energy and the future, and a lot more joyous sense of it."

"We try to evoke that through these kind of dance sequences there. And there's a couple of really big numbers in there, and there's an amazing sort of zero-gravity set piece [and] some really lovely numbers."

Paul King also revealed they had an "on-set chocolate maker", which is definitely something you don't get to experience at your average workday!

He added: "We had this incredible chocolatier. She made these incredible concoctions, and we would taste them. They tasted much better than they needed to, because obviously, actors are good at pretending things, but the miracle was they tasted every bit as good as they looked."

In Wonka, Hugh Grant, Timothée Chalamet, and Calah Lane are starring alongside Keegan-Michael Key, Sally Hawkins, Rowan Atkinson, Olivia Colman, and Jim Carter, so it's a star-studded line-up.

Filming on the project has taken place Lyme Regis in Dorset, Eltham Palace in southeast London and Bath in Somerset. Filming is also taking place at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden, where the Harry Potter films were shot.

Wonka is set to be released on Friday, December 15, 2023.