Wonka film showcases historic locations in Dorset and Oxford

The world premiere of Wonka has taken place, with the Timothée Chalamet film featuring historic locations in the south of England.

The film tells the origin story of Willy Wonka, the character first seen in Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

During filming in 2021 the production was spotted in Lyme Regis and Oxford.

Chalamet takes the role of the famous chocolatier, in a cast that includes Hugh Grant and Olivia Colman.

Chalamet received cheers when he waved at crowds in Oxford in December 2021, the first of several visits for the film crew.

Production staff and extras were seen by the Bridge of Sighs, the Bodleian Library, the Radcliffe Camera and the Sheldonian Theatre, with fake snow lining Merton Street and other historic roads in the area.

"It definitely wasn't what we were prepared to see when we got to work that day," said Alex Simms, who was cleaning the exterior of a nearby building when Wonka came to town.

"We were on a roof doing our job, and that's where you could see it all," he explained.

"Timothée Chalamet was in his purple outfit and he was constantly walking towards the building, and they probably did that about 10 times.

"You could see them blow fake snow everywhere.

"At the end of the scene you could see all the cars reverse backwards, like everything was going back in time, so they could redo it again.

"As soon as the trailer came out I wanted to watch it to see what I could recognise. I've been waiting for the release date for a long time."

He added: "I didn't really know of Timothée Chalamet as such before that day, but his name is literally everywhere now."

In October 2021 Chalamet was spotted in Lyme Regis, Dorset, in the part of the town known as The Cobb.

It had been transformed into a snow scene with a number of actors, vintage cars and a boat called Lydia Eva.

Lyme Regis councillor Daryl Turner said residents had "fully embraced" the film crew, calling it "fantastic news for the town".

He added: "There's so much activity, I've never seen so many people actually working on a set like this.

"When we had Ammonite here a couple years back it was nothing like the scale of this production."

A few mothers were found watching the filming in the hope of capturing a picture of "their daughter's crush" while they were at school.

Jan Salter said: "We think we saw Timothée on the wall, he had his hat on and was walking up and down The Cobb."

Other locations included Bath, St Albans, the Rivoli Ballroom in Brockley, south-east London, and at Warner Bros. Studios in Leavesden, near Watford.

Chalamet follows in the footsteps of Gene Wilder, who starred in 1971's Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, and Johnny Depp, who appeared in Tim Burton's 2005 adaptation.

The film, by Paddington director Paul King, will focus on the life of a young Willy Wonka before he opened his chocolate factory.

It also stars Sally Hawkins, Keegan-Michael Key, Rowan Atkinson, Matt Lucas, Jim Carter, Rakhee Thakrar, and Paterson Joseph, who was made Oxford Brookes University chancellor in 2022.

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