Gene Wilder had one condition for accepting the role of Willy Wonka

Gene Wilder had one condition for accepting the role of Willy Wonka

Gene Wilder played Willy Wonka in the 1970s version of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, but only if the studio agreed to one major condition - Wilder got to make the wildest entrance of a character imaginable, and he got to decide what that was. It ended up being Gene - playing Wonka - hobbling down a long red carpet before pretending to fall and springing to his feet, his feebleness gone. Fans loved it, and the studio was happy they could come to an agreement.