10 Things You Didn't Know About Gene Wilder
9. He Hated Tim Burton's Wonka Remake
For most people's money, the Tim Burton adaptation of Roald Dahl's Charlie And The Chocolate Factory is infinitely inferior to the Mel Stuart version. It might be closer to the source material, but there's something sterile and charmless about it, lacking the wonderful strangeness of the 1971 version.
Wilder himself agreed, stating his distaste for the adaptation in a 2013 interview. Specifically, he said: “I think it’s an insult...Johnny Depp, I think, is a good actor, but I don’t care for that director. He’s a talented man, but I don’t care for him doing stuff like he did.”
Even before the film released, Wilder referred to the movie as nothing but a studio cash grab. Which is interesting, because Roald Dahl famously hated Mel Stuart's attempt.