Willy Wonka Willy Wonka Willy Wonka is a fictional character who appears in Roald Dahl's 1964 children's novel "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and its sequel "Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator". In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Wonka has hidden five Golden Tickets inside chocolate bars, with the finders being rewarded with a tour of his factory and a promise of a lifetimes supply of chocolate, throughout the tour four of the children, with Charlie Bucket being left as the winner. At this point Wonka reveals that the real prize is the factory, as Wonka needs someone to take over the
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (film) Jim Carrey as Willy Wonka, believing the duo could make "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" relevant to mainstream audiences, but Liccy Dahl opposed this. After receiving enthusiastic approval from the Dahl Estate, Warner Bros. hired Tim Burton to direct in May 2003. Burton compared the project's languishing development to "Batman" (1989), which he directed, in how there had been varied creative efforts with both films. He said, "Scott Frank's version was the best, probably the clearest, and the most interesting, but they had abandoned that." Liccy Dahl commented that Burton was the first and only director the estate was happy