20 Great Movie Remakes With One Miscast Role

During a period when Tim Burton couldn’t help but dress up Johnny Depp and put him in everything, and Johnny Depp couldn’t help but take the most creepy weirdo parts he could find, we got Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Broadly following the plot of the original, the film offers updated graphics and effects, plus a kooky cast of youngsters and support that feel just about as Roald Dahl as they possibly can.

You know the story: Charlie Bucket (Freddie Highmore) is granted access to Willy Wonka’s (Depp) chocolate factory along with a troupe of absolute snots, and as the children break the rules and are gradually whittled down to one, our young protagonist is offered heirship of the Wonka factory and franchise.  

Despite Depp’s turn as, well, Michael Jackson, the film went down a treat with children and adults alike, and has stood the test of time as a fun, zany go-to in Burton’s filmography. There’s only one sticking point: the Oompa Loompas.

In 1971’s Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, they were little people with orange skin and green hair, but in Burton’s version, they are all played by Deep Roy in red spandex. Roy is a fine actor, but nothing about the performance or scale ever really works, and these Oompas lack all the charm of the originals. But this miscasting is on Burton more than it’s on Roy.