Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (film) sexually transmitted disease. Burton immediately thought of Johnny Depp for the role of Willy Wonka, who in August 2003 joined the film, his fourth collaboration with the director. Lurie's script received a rewrite by Pamela Pettler, who worked with Burton on "Corpse Bride", but the director hired "Big Fish" screenwriter John August in December 2003 to start from scratch. Both August and Burton were fans of the book since their childhoods. August first read "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" when he was eight years old, and subsequently sent Dahl a fan letter. He did not see the 1971 film prior
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory to buy the rights to the book and finance the picture for the purpose of promoting a new Quaker Oats "Wonka Bar". David L. Wolper and Roald Dahl agreed that the film would be a children's musical, and that Dahl himself would write the screenplay. However, Wolper changed the title to "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory". Screenwriter David Seltzer conceived a gimmick exclusively for the film that had Wonka quoting numerous literary sources, such as Arthur O'Shaughnessy's "Ode", Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest", Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" and William Shakespeare's "The Merchant