10 Actors Who Were Scared Of Other Actors

We all watched it growing up and likely have some really fond memories of it, but on reflection, 1971's Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory is a rather messed-up movie.

Augustus Gloop nearly drowns in a river of chocolate before getting stuck inside an extremely tight pipe, Veruca Salt falls down a garbage chute which leads "to the furnace", and then, there's that nightmarish boat scene, where Wonka starts singing like a possessed maniac as the lights dim and scary imagery flits across the screen.

It still haunts us all these years later, and as it turns out, it was just as creepy to film as it is to watch.

Director Mel Stuart didn't tell any of the actors what to expect from Gene Wilder's performance as Wonka during this scene, which made everyone uncomfortable to begin with. Then, when Wilder started babbling on in a deranged manner, Denise Nickerson - who played Violet Beauregarde - thought he'd gone insane, and nobody needed to do much acting in order to look like they were scared and confused, because that's exactly how they felt in reality.

It was a great move on Stuart's part to keep his cards close to his chest, because all the actors in the scene felt genuinely weirded out by Wilder's crazy brilliance.