The Megyn Kelly Show - The Stars of ＂Willy Wonka,＂ on Childhood, Wilder, and Hollywood ｜ Ep. 41

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00:00:33.520 Welcome to The Megyn Kelly Show.

00:00:35.440 Your home for open, honest and provocative conversations.

00:00:43.420 Hey everyone, I'm Megyn Kelly. Welcome to The Megyn Kelly Show.

00:00:47.840 OMG, you're just not going to believe what we have for you today.

00:00:50.520 Like I've been looking forward to this my whole life.

00:00:54.680 My whole life.

00:00:56.900 We have got Peter Ostrom and Julie Dawn Cole,

00:01:01.640 better known as Charlie Bucket and Veruca Salt from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

00:01:07.220 Now let me tell you, months ago, I was sitting down with my team and they were saying,

00:01:12.300 what's your dream list? Like who are your dream guests?

00:01:14.780 You know, and for a long time it was Bashar al-Assad.

00:01:18.800 It's a weird turn because I really think I would do a good interview of him.

00:01:22.960 But on a lighter note, it was these two.

00:01:27.800 I idolized them.

00:01:29.020 I grew up breathing this movie.

00:01:32.760 There is no movie that compares to this one when it comes to importance in my own life.

00:01:38.120 And I threw it out there.

00:01:40.080 You know, I don't know.

00:01:40.760 It's like, is that going to work on a podcast?

00:01:42.920 Will people listen to that?

00:01:43.820 I think they will.

00:01:44.420 I think it's a cult hit and people will feel my love for it and understand why I think it has a larger cultural significance.

00:01:50.060 But I don't know.

00:01:51.520 Then a couple of weeks later, my executive producer, Steve Krakauer, sends me the update on the guest bookings.

00:01:56.380 And it's like, okay, on this date, we have this person.

00:01:58.740 On that date, we have another person.

00:02:00.000 And on this date, we have Peter and Julie Dunkel.

00:02:02.120 I'm like, what?

00:02:03.420 What?

00:02:04.320 He just threw it out there like it wasn't even a thing.

00:02:07.200 Because we don't know each other well enough yet for him to understand how life-changing that would be for me.

00:02:14.040 And I've been looking forward to it every day.

00:02:16.440 My kids and I talk about it every day.

00:02:17.880 My husband, Doug, and I talk about it.

00:02:19.100 I've talked about it every day up until this day of taping this show.

00:02:23.140 So just a word on this movie, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, why it means so much to me.

00:02:30.320 There are many reasons, and I'm going to get into some of them with my guests.

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00:04:02.500 I grew up watching this movie religiously every time I could.

00:04:07.200 This is before the day of, like, on demand, where you could just watch it whenever you wanted.

00:04:10.720 You had to work for it back in the 80s, and I did.

00:04:13.960 And my connection to the film now is almost religious.

00:04:17.800 Like, it's truly important to me.

00:04:19.920 I will not watch this if I'm channel surfing and it's on.

00:04:23.020 It feels sacrilegious to me.

00:04:24.480 Like, that's not the way this film ought to be treated for me, given my history with it.

00:04:28.360 I want to preserve its specialness, its rarity, its magical journey.

00:04:36.020 That's how it feels to me.

00:04:37.480 And it's life lessons, which are what I believe has made it such an enduring hit.

00:04:43.960 That even those down on their luck could see their whole lives change with just one turn

00:04:52.440 of good fortune if they're kind, if they're loving, and if they don't give up on this

00:05:00.220 beautiful world.

00:05:01.260 And so now, to quote Mr. Willy Wonka, some of my dreams become realities, and some of my

00:05:09.840 realities become dreams.

00:05:12.220 Without further ado, Peter Ostrom and Julie Dawn Cole.

00:05:16.780 Oh, my God.

00:05:20.540 Hello, Megan.

00:05:22.340 Oh, my God.

00:05:24.300 I'm literally crying.

00:05:25.640 I'm crying.

00:05:26.520 I have been looking forward to this my whole life.

00:05:29.840 Don't cry.

00:05:30.820 Don't cry, Megan.

00:05:33.080 I know.

00:05:33.860 I just turned 50, and you still have this effect on me.

00:05:37.660 It's so crazy.

00:05:38.940 You know, it's...

00:05:39.260 I'm sure you get this all the time, because the movie is so important to people like me.

00:05:45.660 I know I'm not alone.

00:05:46.760 I know there are huge fan clubs.

00:05:49.580 And I wonder what it's like to be on the receiving end of that kind of admiration.

00:05:56.640 I'll start with you, Peter.

00:05:57.800 I guess as time goes on, I realize that the film did have an impact.

00:06:04.300 That people, you know, will relate the very first time they were in a movie theater, they

00:06:10.500 saw Willy Wonka.

00:06:11.800 And it usually has to do with a significant other, like their brother or their parents.

00:06:17.740 But it has a special spot in their memory.

00:06:23.000 And I'm amazed at the impact that the film has made on people's childhoods.

00:06:29.600 And that being said, I think Julie and I are both humbled by the response that people still

00:06:38.280 give us.

00:06:38.940 And it's a great feeling.

00:06:42.620 We sort of call it the Wonka effect.

00:06:45.380 And, you know, you meet people, and you're doing stuff, and you may be talking to somebody,

00:06:48.820 and they're having a rotten day, and maybe they're a little bit grumpy and grouchy.

00:06:52.580 And then you happen to sort of, you know, Wonka comes up in the topic of conversation, and

00:06:57.360 you just see something happen in people's eyes.

00:07:01.380 And then, oh my gosh, oh my gosh.

00:07:04.060 And so, yeah, we call it the Wonka effect.

00:07:06.220 It's very nice.

00:07:07.960 You know, first of all, I'm so excited.

00:07:10.580 I'm slightly nervous.

00:07:11.920 I am absolutely thrilled that you said yes to coming on.

00:07:15.380 I was terrified that you wouldn't like me and wouldn't want to talk to me.

00:07:19.520 And it was going to be so heartbreaking.

00:07:21.500 I'm a huge fan of yours.

00:07:23.780 You're nervous, Megan.

00:07:25.060 I'm nervous.

00:07:25.780 Stop it.

00:07:27.260 That's too much for me.

00:07:29.480 I'm so honored to be having this conversation.

00:07:32.280 It's just to be talking to two people who did such an amazing job, and it brought me

00:07:37.560 and my family so many hours of enjoyment over the course of my life.

00:07:41.500 It really does mean something to me.

00:07:43.600 And I, you know, now I didn't know all the facts about the film.

00:07:46.860 I'm not in the cult, I guess.

00:07:49.140 Maybe I'm in the cult, but I'm not in the official fan club.

00:07:51.460 I don't know.

00:07:51.800 I'm preparing for this.

00:07:53.500 I found out you guys have done like a retrospective or the cast watched the movie while commentating

00:08:00.420 on it.

00:08:00.700 There have been books.

00:08:01.320 I looked at my assistant, Abby.

00:08:02.520 I'm like, it's as if you don't love me at all.

00:08:04.540 How did I not know?

00:08:05.500 But it wasn't a huge, huge hit when it first was released on June 30th, 1971 by Paramount

00:08:16.240 Pictures, right?

00:08:17.280 I wouldn't call it a dud, but it was open to lukewarm reviews at best.

00:08:23.880 And then, you know, kind of quickly vanished and really wasn't picked up again until it

00:08:31.840 was released on video, on VHS.

00:08:36.060 And then people kind of slowly kind of rediscovered it.

00:08:39.920 So when was that?

00:08:40.920 The 80s?

00:08:42.060 Yeah, it would be the 80s.

00:08:43.220 We had a slightly later release in the UK.

00:08:46.680 It was December here.

00:08:47.580 It was a Christmas film release here.

00:08:49.520 And it kind of came and went and disappeared within, you know, three or four weeks.

00:08:53.460 If you remember back then, you know, movie theatres didn't have the multiplexes that we

00:08:57.140 do now.

00:08:58.160 And, you know, movies came and, you know, if they were successful, you know, they would

00:09:02.160 sit in the movie theatre for two or three months.

00:09:04.740 And I think we were there for like three weeks and it disappeared.

00:09:08.120 And, you know, that was it.

00:09:09.600 Okay, well, not so.

00:09:11.520 The reviews in the UK, I remember one said, it's fun, but not very funny.

00:09:15.380 That was one headline.

00:09:17.580 You got the last laugh on that.

00:09:19.200 But I'll tell you, that's when I, so I was born in 1970, so I didn't see it when it first

00:09:24.260 came out, but that's when it came out into my life in the 80s.

00:09:28.320 And what I remember is my best friend, Kelly McGinnis and I setting the alarm.

00:09:34.980 She would sleep over.

00:09:35.720 We would set the alarm for five in the morning when it just happened, whenever it was playing

00:09:39.400 on TV.

00:09:39.860 But no matter how early, how late, we would set our alarms.

00:09:44.620 We would sit with our popcorn and watch it together.

00:09:47.860 And today, it reminds me of that, reminds me of my snowy winters in upstate New York with

00:09:54.700 my family, with my best friend, and a little bit of magic around every corner.

00:10:01.800 You know, it's like unexpected pleasures and visual delights.

00:10:07.240 And, you know, as you guys might say, a hefty dose of pure imagination.

00:10:15.580 And how extraordinary that you did not know that Charlie Bucket was a near neighbor of

00:10:20.240 yours, also in upstate New York.

00:10:22.900 I know.

00:10:23.880 Oh, my God.

00:10:24.420 I feel a kinship.

00:10:26.140 When I learned, Peter, that you were living just outside of Syracuse, New York, just north

00:10:30.180 of Syracuse by Watertown, I was like, it was meant to be.

00:10:32.580 We were meant to be close.

00:10:33.880 He's in my head.

00:10:37.660 That's true.

00:10:38.760 But that's the clip of the movie.

00:10:40.420 Like the one that, Wonka doesn't really always make me cry, although pretty much every time

00:10:44.740 I cry in one spot or another.

00:10:46.060 But the spot that gets me every time is when you guys walk into the chocolate room and the

00:10:52.420 the beginnings of the song.

00:11:06.700 And as you're playing that, everybody is visualizing the green and the candy canes and the lollipops

00:11:13.420 and the river and the purple jacket and skipping down those steps.

00:11:17.180 Everybody can see it.

00:11:19.200 That's right.

00:11:20.060 What was it like to see it in person?

00:11:23.120 I mean, I realize it's not the experience we had watching it, but do you remember as

00:11:27.440 kids walking into that chocolate room?

00:11:29.820 The true story is that all of us walked into that set for the very first time when we took

00:11:38.280 that very first take because Mel Stewart wanted it to be a surprise.

00:11:42.740 All of us, except one person, had not seen the great chocolate room.

00:11:48.720 That person being Julie, who, and I'll let her finish the story, but somehow she got, she

00:11:55.220 snuck in.

00:11:56.740 And so her expression wasn't quite as original as Paris and Denise's and Michael's and myself.

00:12:05.720 No, mine was not quite so authentic.

00:12:08.660 Yeah.

00:12:09.400 In my defense, you know, I'd gone out earlier as Pete did as well.

00:12:14.260 We were recording our songs.

00:12:15.400 And so we were on location before some of the others and hanging around for costume fittings

00:12:20.580 and what have you.

00:12:21.320 And I believe it was Harper Goff, who was the set designer, said, oh, yeah, come in and have

00:12:26.560 a look around as they were constructing the set.

00:12:29.060 You know, do you want to see it?

00:12:29.920 Well, of course I did.

00:12:30.660 So, you know, how exciting seeing this and that.

00:12:33.660 And then our director, Mel Stewart, said he didn't want any of the kids to see the set

00:12:39.880 before.

00:12:40.420 It was a closed set.

00:12:41.360 And that was that because he wanted our original reaction.

00:12:45.180 I was scared and rather obedient.

00:12:47.040 So I just kept quiet.

00:12:49.180 So I picture you looking at the other guy saying, I want to go in first and don't you dare stop

00:12:54.520 me.

00:12:55.160 Yes.

00:12:56.000 Veruca always goes first.

00:12:57.840 No one was going to mention anything.

00:12:59.480 No one was going to mess with her.

00:13:00.820 So, OK, I know you've been asked these questions, but I've got to ask for myself.

00:13:04.020 Could you eat anything in there?

00:13:06.160 No.

00:13:08.000 So the short answer is no.

00:13:09.620 So everything that we did eat that we actually put in our mouths was edible, but not, you know,

00:13:15.720 obviously there was lots of material that was not edible.

00:13:21.080 How about those mushrooms you were eating, Julie?

00:13:23.040 What is that?

00:13:23.560 What was that cream on top?

00:13:25.500 Well, I had the watermelon that I had to smash open on the rock, which I absolutely hated.

00:13:31.640 As a child, I didn't like chocolate.

00:13:33.660 And it was, you know, chocolate flavored things.

00:13:35.580 And I hated it.

00:13:36.840 And it was a sort of cold, wet, slimy.

00:13:39.740 It was disgusting.

00:13:40.980 So, you know, smashing it.

00:13:42.040 And I think they wanted me to smear it all over my face.

00:13:45.340 And, you know, A, I thought that was not very ladylike.

00:13:48.680 And B, I thought this is going to make a hell of a mess with my hair and everything else.

00:13:52.840 So I was just sort of gently licking at it.

00:13:54.940 But he kept saying, look like you're enjoying it.

00:13:57.000 And I was going, I'm not.

00:13:57.900 I'm not.

00:13:58.480 But, you know, the other things like Denise, Violet had the gummy bear that came down from 1.00

00:14:05.020 the tree and they replaced the gummy bear's ear, which was the piece that she bit and 0.76

00:14:11.520 ate that, whereas the rest of the gummy bear was not edible.

00:14:14.700 I mean, that would be a few pounds in that if it was a real one.

00:14:17.020 So, Peter, do you remember, since it was your first time, walking in there and seeing

00:14:20.760 it and what your reaction was?

00:14:22.860 I do.

00:14:23.660 And not only that set, but every set that they produced, you know, it was just fascinating.

00:14:33.020 And, of course, I had never made a film before.

00:14:36.220 That was my first experience.

00:14:37.800 But as quickly as it went up, it came down and you moved on to the next scene.

00:14:42.920 And I enjoyed that as much as of making the film, just the whole, you know, the process,

00:14:50.600 the experience of watching everybody involved in production do their job, you know, for,

00:14:57.120 you know, and, you know, Megan, for every two people in front of the camera, you've got

00:15:01.760 50 people behind the camera that if they don't do their job, you know, nothing happens.

00:15:07.640 They're as important as the people in front of the camera.

00:15:11.540 So I enjoyed the whole process, you know, and just, you know, listening to pure imagination

00:15:18.000 that that was just almost 50 years.

00:15:21.300 Well, it was, it was 50 years ago this fall.

00:15:24.980 You know, I was still, Julie was probably, well, no, we were probably both still there.

00:15:29.120 I think I got done December 12th, December 13th.

00:15:33.580 I think I had just finished and I was, I was heading back to the UK at this point.

00:15:37.880 Let's go back to when you were children and you were, you were auditioning for this film.

00:15:42.200 You, you were living in Cleveland, right, Peter?

00:15:46.080 Correct.

00:15:46.620 And I, I had worked at the, at the Cleveland Playhouse.

00:15:51.300 Um, and that was one of the theaters that, uh, the casting agency, Marion Doherty out of New York City, um, decided to contact because of their, they had a good reputation for having, um, good children's theater.

00:16:07.060 Um, Joel Gray, uh, Margaret Hamilton, they got their start at the Cleveland Playhouse.

00:16:13.700 Margaret Hamilton being Wicked Witch of the West and Wizard of Oz.

00:16:18.020 Um, and then Joel Gray, um, at any rate, they contacted, uh, the Playhouse and I just, I was in the right place at the right time.

00:16:26.720 You know, they gave me, or the casting agency asked if they had anybody that they might recommend and my name was given to them.

00:16:35.480 And, and, uh, at that point, uh, we had no scripts.

00:16:39.480 They, uh, sent a representative, um, from New York out to Cleveland.

00:16:45.180 And so this was like May of 1970.

00:16:49.560 I was just completing sixth grade and we, I just read from the book into the tape recorder and she took a few, uh, took a few Polaroid pictures and, uh, basically said, you know, don't call us.

00:17:05.240 We'll call you if we're interested.

00:17:06.820 We'll take that back to Mel Stewart, our director and Stan Margulies, our producer and David Wolper.

00:17:12.960 And, and, you know, we'll, we'll contact you if this goes any further.

00:17:17.420 And they did contact me probably in July and they had kind of given me, well, no, I guess I did in July.

00:17:25.160 I went to New York for an actual screen test and, um, had to, I am not a singer at all.

00:17:34.200 And, uh, but I did have to sing.

00:17:36.160 I think I sang my country tis of thee or something like that.

00:17:40.400 And, uh, they just kind of shook their heads and said, don't worry.

00:17:44.580 We're not going to use your voice anyway, which in the end they did, which was kind of fun, but they kept my, my, uh, they, um, my singing part was, uh, kept getting smaller and smaller and smaller.

00:17:59.640 As, as time went on, Jack Albertson carried the day or carried this song that he and I did.

00:18:05.780 Please tell me that when they told you you got the role, they did it with a golden ticket.

00:18:09.580 No.

00:18:09.740 So after that, I went to summer camp and they basically said, you know, you're still, we're still interested in you, but Charlie is really skinny.

00:18:21.020 You've got to lose some weight.

00:18:22.480 And I wasn't, I wasn't, I wasn't, you know, I'm still skinny, but so I went to summer camp, you know, riding horses and, and hiking and climbing and doing all the things you do at summer camp.

00:18:35.360 You know, trying not to eat because I wanted to, you know, lose more weight and came back after, came back after camp.

00:18:44.100 And actually I went to, uh, uh, Chautauqua, New York, cause that's where the, um, Cleveland Playhouse had their summer theater and did, I think I did, uh, uh, Wilderness, um, for them in August.

00:18:58.780 And then it was shortly thereafter, probably around August 10th that they actually called and said, you know, you're Charlie and you've got to be in Munich in 10 days.

00:19:10.040 It was a short period of time and, uh, off we went.

00:19:15.240 Meanwhile, Michael, who plays Augustus Gloop was given exactly the opposite instruction.

00:19:19.180 Eat, eat as much as humanly possible.

00:19:22.160 Exactly.

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00:20:30.820 What about you, Julie?

00:20:32.100 So you were you were 12 as well when you got the part?

00:20:34.460 Yeah.

00:20:35.540 Pete and I are a week's age difference.

00:20:38.560 I'm a week older.

00:20:39.880 I'm sad to say.

00:20:40.620 So, yeah, the same age.

00:20:43.900 And I'd gone to theatre school in the previous September.

00:20:48.020 I'd been at school for a while, a drama school in London.

00:20:52.660 And, you know, when you're at theatre school, you have lots of auditions.

00:20:56.260 If you're lucky, you get some of them.

00:20:57.520 And so I had been in a production of Peter Pan in London over the Christmas period.

00:21:04.980 My very first ever job, first ever audition and stepped on the stage and, you know, got that role, which was lovely.

00:21:11.200 It was a tiny little part.

00:21:12.140 It was Liza the Maid in Peter Pan.

00:21:14.220 But it was a production with Hayley Mills, who was my absolute idol, you know, as a child, you know, watching her in all those movies.

00:21:20.600 I was just like, oh, my goodness, I'm on stage with Hayley Mills.

00:21:23.740 I used to have pictures of Hayley Mills on my bedroom wall. 0.99

00:21:26.960 And there I was, my very first job working with her.

00:21:29.500 So that was extraordinary.

00:21:31.140 And there'd been a few other auditions for things, but I wasn't getting close with any of them.

00:21:37.000 Every time you would go for an audition, they would say, you know, what have you been in?

00:21:41.240 And I'd say nothing, you know, I'm a beginner.

00:21:43.540 And they would say, thank you, goodbye.

00:21:46.100 So along came the auditions for Willy Wonka.

00:21:49.500 And at this point, I didn't even know what it was.

00:21:51.380 You know, it was just all the girls of the school were lined up in the hall.

00:21:54.420 You know, you, you, not you, real capital, cool stuff.

00:21:57.220 Too tall, too small, too fat, too thin, too dark, too short, all of that.

00:22:01.680 And then, you know, got shortlisted.

00:22:03.860 We had a different casting director in the UK.

00:22:06.340 I had Mary Selway.

00:22:09.040 And so then I was shortlisted and, you know, come back, come back.

00:22:13.080 And then I began to find out what this movie was about.

00:22:16.280 And they sent me out with the school bus driver to get a copy of the book.

00:22:19.840 And I read the book overnight and thought, wow, this is just amazing.

00:22:23.600 And I do, I still have that copy of the book, which I had all the cast signed at the time.

00:22:28.120 So I've still got that.

00:22:28.960 And read it and thinking, my goodness, this is just amazing, this chocolate room and the illustrations, which, you know, everybody, well, hopefully will remember Quentin Blake's illustrations, which are just so wonderful.

00:22:39.820 And so when I went to audition the next day for the final penultimate, I think it was, test with Mel Stewart, the director and producer, Stan Margulies, I thought, right, you've got to get smart this time.

00:22:50.980 So when they asked me what movies I'd been in, I lied.

00:22:54.160 And I made up a bunch of stuff.

00:22:56.900 And I told them, yeah, well, it's very Veruca, isn't it, really?

00:23:00.280 But I think I said I'd been in Oliver, which I hadn't, but I knew some of my school friends had and a couple of other movies.

00:23:09.480 I just made things up.

00:23:10.460 And I thought, well, they'll never find out.

00:23:11.800 And we didn't have the internet.

00:23:12.500 Yeah, you were being Method, right? 0.70

00:23:14.300 Don't they call that Method?

00:23:15.220 That's Method.

00:23:15.780 Yeah.

00:23:16.160 Yeah.

00:23:16.720 So that's, I mean, obviously Veruca is the most fun part in the movie.

00:23:21.640 And like, I don't know.

00:23:23.140 I was going to ask you, Peter.

00:23:24.820 Can I call you Pete?

00:23:25.700 Is Pete a thing?

00:23:26.980 Yeah, that's fine.

00:23:28.620 That's dying. 0.95

00:23:30.280 Dying.

00:23:31.000 Okay.

00:23:31.860 So obviously everybody would like to play the Veruca part at one point in their life.

00:23:37.380 I want to ask you how fun it was before or after I tee up just a little sample of Veruca for the audience.

00:23:44.920 Listen.

00:23:45.480 They've been shelling flaming chocolate bars from dawn to dusk.

00:23:49.180 Make them work nights.

00:23:52.240 Come along.

00:23:53.220 Come along, you girls. 1.00

00:23:54.460 Put a jerk in it or you'll be out in your ears, every one of you. 1.00

00:23:57.720 And listen to this. 1.00

00:23:58.480 The first girl that finds a golden ticket gets a one pound bonus in her paybacking. 1.00

00:24:04.280 What do you think of that?

00:24:07.800 They're not even trying.

00:24:09.540 They don't want to find it.

00:24:10.960 They're jealous of me.

00:24:12.080 How fun was that?

00:24:16.400 Well, it was it was a lot of fun.

00:24:18.460 And it was just like just when you think you're being as mean and spoilt and bratty is, you know, it's like, no, take it up a notch and another notch and another notch.

00:24:27.300 Yeah.

00:24:27.740 I love that.

00:24:28.600 Yeah.

00:24:28.740 Make them work nights. 0.97

00:24:30.460 Just so disgusting. 0.70

00:24:32.640 Is that what they were telling you to do? 0.70

00:24:33.940 So you did it and it wasn't nasty enough.

00:24:35.720 So you had to find your deepest inner nastiest person.

00:24:38.920 Yeah.

00:24:39.360 I had to channel my inner demons or whoever my my archetype or something.

00:24:44.220 But, yeah, you know, just, you know, I'm a nicely.

00:24:47.020 I would hope my mother would say, you know, I was well brought up and well behaved.

00:24:50.980 And so, you know, being bratty like that, just, you know, it was a bit of a stretch.

00:24:57.700 You know, I would have been slapped if I behaved like that.

00:25:00.920 Of course.

00:25:02.280 Well, that what I love about it is it does show.

00:25:04.500 I mean, the whole film is about showing examples of bad behavior and where they will get you in life if life works out as it should.

00:25:10.980 You know, but Veruca is a perfect example of that because they really don't show her as a very sympathetic character in any single scene of the movie.

00:25:18.480 She's portrayed as just truly, right, and awful, like the whole time.

00:25:22.700 I don't think it's a single that she's charmless. 0.87

00:25:25.740 She's rude. 1.00

00:25:26.660 She's nasty. 1.00

00:25:27.860 She's pushy. 0.99

00:25:30.020 You're quite right, actually.

00:25:31.240 I've not even thought about that, Megan.

00:25:32.400 There's not a single scene where she's got a redeeming feature at all.

00:25:39.820 No.

00:25:40.720 I mean, you know, from outside the factory, everything.

00:25:43.700 Yeah.

00:25:43.980 Even outside the factory, you know, I want to go in first. 0.96

00:25:46.860 And she's just hideous, hideous. 1.00

00:25:49.940 And she wants everything. 0.98

00:25:51.180 She wants a boat and she wants an oompa-loompa and she wants to lick the wallpaper and have a snozzberry. 1.00

00:25:58.400 So let's talk about the scene where she gets done in, where you go down the educated educator. 0.98

00:26:06.680 What happened there?

00:26:08.420 Did you really go down something?

00:26:09.600 What was underneath that little trap door?

00:26:10.860 It depends how old you are if you ask that question, because that's the question that lots of the kids ask me.

00:26:16.040 Where did you go to when you went down the chute?

00:26:18.880 So I get asked that a lot.

00:26:20.320 So if you're a child, I will say, well, luckily the furnace wasn't lit.

00:26:24.260 You know, it's every other day.

00:26:25.320 In reality, I landed on some cardboard boxes and some mattresses and, you know, they broke my fall with that and stopped me bouncing back up.

00:26:36.160 There is a little anecdote to that, which I do tell, that we had an assistant director.

00:26:42.520 His name was Jack Rowe and his son's one was Pete Standin.

00:26:46.900 Isn't that right, Pete?

00:26:48.620 Bobby Rowe.

00:26:49.200 Bobby Rowe.

00:26:49.660 Yeah, Bobby was just standin'.

00:26:51.700 And the oldest son was an assistant on the movie, and he was probably about 16, I think, at the time.

00:26:57.800 But he was rather cute.

00:26:59.500 And he was one of the guys who was there to break my fall and stop me bouncing back up.

00:27:04.740 Well, I was more worried about Bill looking up and getting a glance of my underwear as I fell down the chute.

00:27:12.280 So next time you watch it, you might notice that my hands are kind of clamped to my side trying to hold my skirt down.

00:27:17.840 Well, that's what you think about when you're 13, don't you?

00:27:21.460 Of course.

00:27:22.600 Wait, I'm confused.

00:27:23.780 I read that you and Denise, who played Ruka, both had crushes on Peter.

00:27:30.220 Well, we did.

00:27:31.220 We did.

00:27:31.920 But he's blushing now.

00:27:32.980 I know he's blushing and he's pretending he can't hear any of this.

00:27:36.380 Pete, go and talk about something else for five minutes.

00:27:39.700 Yes, we did.

00:27:40.880 Both Denise and I had a little crush on Pete.

00:27:43.380 He didn't know any of this at the time, so he was very innocent, as it was anyway.

00:27:48.240 You know, when we talk about a crush, it was like whose turn was it to stand next to him?

00:27:52.820 And, you know, that was it, really, the extent of it.

00:27:55.540 But we were all staying in the same hotel.

00:27:58.760 The three of us were.

00:28:00.220 So I think we were a particularly kind of gang that hung out.

00:28:03.740 We were staying at the Schloss Hotel, which Pete's father found for us just outside Munich.

00:28:09.060 It was a beautiful Bavarian-style hotel, and it had a river that ran down, you know, nearby.

00:28:15.400 And the only thing, of course, that we were allowed to do, I don't suppose we'd be allowed to do it now.

00:28:18.360 We used to go down to the river every night and skip stones.

00:28:21.740 So Pete is the master at, you know, bouncing stones on the river.

00:28:25.600 And Denise and I would go down there and say, oh, Pete, show me how to do it.

00:28:29.880 And we had many a lesson, but we learned nothing.

00:28:33.740 Meanwhile, they were both experts.

00:28:35.180 They didn't need you at all.

00:28:36.180 They just wanted to spend extra time with you.

00:28:37.520 I want to talk about that scene because I heard that you had a birthday celebration on this set, Julie,

00:28:43.320 and that they gave you one of those golden eggs.

00:28:46.880 They did.

00:28:47.480 They did.

00:28:48.520 It was interesting bringing that back through the airplane on the way home, you know.

00:28:52.260 Have you got anything to declare?

00:28:53.680 Yes, a golden egg.

00:28:56.000 But yes, it was my 13th birthday, you know, shot over a week.

00:28:59.460 But the very last day, I believe, was my birthday.

00:29:02.540 And, you know, so singing, you know, happy birthday and then, you know, shoved me down the chute.

00:29:07.780 So, yes, it was a memorable 13th birthday.

00:29:10.580 So, yeah, I remember very well, October the 26th.

00:29:12.720 Now, Pete, since your birthday was a week later or earlier, did you, no, yeah, later, did you, did you get an egg?

00:29:18.900 What did you get?

00:29:19.900 I don't think so.

00:29:21.120 What I do remember, I think, for my birthday was going to Oktoberfest.

00:29:27.720 Yes.

00:29:28.340 And that was great fun.

00:29:31.540 That's pretty good.

00:29:32.840 Yeah, that was 12 turning 13 at Oktoberfest, drinking beer with Frawley Becker.

00:29:40.500 Fizzy lifting drinks?

00:29:42.300 No fizzy lifting, no.

00:29:43.920 No fizzy, right, exactly.

00:29:46.040 Drinking beer with Frawley Becker, our dialogue coach, so, from the film.

00:29:52.240 So, you know, again, I go back to the film was great.

00:29:56.360 But as a 12-year-old kid, you know, moving to Munich, Germany from Ohio, that was like icing on the cake.

00:30:04.180 That probably was the cake.

00:30:05.880 That was just a remarkable experience.

00:30:10.260 And Munich, at that point, they were right in the middle of building all over the city, getting ready for the 72 Olympics, which was really, you know, coming out, you know, for Germany and Munich.

00:30:23.440 And it was just an exciting time to be there and, you know, to look back at that experience.

00:30:31.260 It was like being like a foreign exchange AFS student, you know, when you're 12 years old.

00:30:36.700 It was the perfect city in which to shoot because it did have an amorphous kind of look.

00:30:41.100 You weren't exactly sure what you were looking at.

00:30:43.720 Even the cars seemed relatively nondescript.

00:30:46.660 You could tell it was in America, but you didn't know exactly where it might be.

00:30:50.800 Was that all Mel Stewart?

00:30:52.720 Because that was a great, that was so well done, just to keep it unclear where you were.

00:30:57.060 Well, yeah, I think it was.

00:30:59.020 They had just finished Wolper and Mel Stewart, if it's Tuesday, this must be Belgium, just several months prior to that.

00:31:09.300 So kind of their crew was in Europe.

00:31:12.600 And I think that that probably had something to do with making the film there.

00:31:17.940 Also, we were always told, I have no idea how much of it is true, but if we had gone to California, there would have been more child labor laws and we couldn't have worked as hard.

00:31:31.920 I have no idea, but it makes a great, great story.

00:31:36.460 Good old Hollywood.

00:31:39.240 Right, exactly.

00:31:40.600 How about, I mean, every actor gets asked this question, but when you've starred in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, you really, this is a serious one.

00:31:49.980 Did you steal anything from the set?

00:31:53.580 You get first.

00:31:55.440 Did I?

00:31:56.040 No.

00:31:57.300 No, I didn't.

00:31:59.260 Seriously, I didn't.

00:32:00.360 I was given, I was given the clapstick, the very, our very last scene, Mel Stewart.

00:32:08.140 I asked him because I liked, you know, memorabilia, stuff like that.

00:32:12.360 And I thought it would be a great, you know, thing to have.

00:32:14.920 And he gave it to me.

00:32:16.700 I had no idea that it wasn't the only clapstick that they had used, but it was one, it was used, you know, quite often.

00:32:25.500 I should have known.

00:32:26.920 Charlie Bucket doesn't steal.

00:32:28.120 I mean, this is like the whole point of the movie.

00:32:30.320 Charlie is honest.

00:32:31.980 Verruca, but Verruca.

00:32:34.060 Verruca, on the other hand. 0.96

00:32:35.820 Verruca, on the other hand. 0.96

00:32:37.180 Well, yes.

00:32:39.940 In the clip that you first played, you know, there were a stack of Wonka bars and all sorts of things.

00:32:45.880 And, you know, they were just burning them afterwards.

00:32:47.880 And I didn't have any family on set with me in Germany.

00:32:51.240 So I wanted to take souvenirs home.

00:32:53.020 And I, you know, say, oh, can I, can I, can I take a couple?

00:32:55.320 Sure, help yourself.

00:32:56.100 I think I asked politely and please.

00:32:59.080 And the British accent does help sometimes.

00:33:01.500 And so, you know, yeah, I had a few bits and pieces.

00:33:03.940 But I somehow ended up with an everlasting gobstopper.

00:33:08.180 And I don't know how that happened.

00:33:10.260 Really?

00:33:11.460 Do you still have it?

00:33:13.080 No, I don't.

00:33:14.740 What happened?

00:33:15.920 Julie, tell the rest of the story because it's, you're forgiven for this.

00:33:20.100 Which bit are you meaning, Pete?

00:33:23.320 That the proceeds of that everlasting gobstopper went to your daughter.

00:33:29.160 Yes, it did.

00:33:30.200 Oh, so you sold it.

00:33:31.700 I did.

00:33:32.220 Was it to a man named Slugworth?

00:33:34.420 Yeah, yeah.

00:33:35.320 It might have been.

00:33:36.760 Yeah.

00:33:37.260 And paid for her wedding dress.

00:33:40.060 So there we go.

00:33:41.500 Yeah.

00:33:42.000 So it was a fair exchange, I think.

00:33:44.640 How big was it?

00:33:45.300 Did it fit like in the palm of your hand?

00:33:47.420 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:33:48.100 And you wouldn't want it. 0.98

00:33:48.780 I mean, it was just, you know, a piece of rubbish. 0.95

00:33:50.540 I mean, yeah, it was cardboard.

00:33:51.700 It was like the lid that you make coffee cups out of, you know, that kind of molded plastic

00:33:55.800 stuff.

00:33:56.660 You know, and I'd had it in the bottom of a trunk for years.

00:33:59.100 I'd even stood on it at one point and broke it and had it mended and that kind of thing.

00:34:03.340 I think both you and I, Pete, didn't we both have scrumdiddly umptious bars?

00:34:06.940 Because we also did trick-or-treating.

00:34:09.280 And we were there for trick-or-treat, which we did around the studio lots, all the different

00:34:14.000 sets and, you know, having this great big bag full of candy, of gummy bears and all

00:34:19.800 sorts of things, and including some Wonka bars in there.

00:34:22.420 They would chuck those in as well.

00:34:24.240 I ate most of them, but I, yeah.

00:34:27.360 I can't believe that.

00:34:28.820 I can't believe you're just throwing out there that you went trick-or-treating on

00:34:32.620 the set of Willy Wonka when you were 12.

00:34:35.660 You peaked too early.

00:34:37.480 What in life can compare?

00:34:39.280 That's amazing.

00:34:40.820 The one problem with the everlasting Godstaffer was it didn't really look like it was going

00:34:45.420 to fit in your mouth well.

00:34:47.120 No, it wouldn't.

00:34:48.000 You know, all those sharp edges, it would be terrible.

00:34:50.320 It would be terrible.

00:34:51.040 It just wouldn't work.

00:34:52.000 Now, I know that you get asked this, but I want to ask you about the remake.

00:34:56.920 To me, it was sacrilegious.

00:35:00.180 I never saw it.

00:35:01.840 I won't let my children see it.

00:35:03.640 I don't think anything needed to be redone.

00:35:06.380 I don't think it was a tribute.

00:35:07.840 I think it was a glommer, and it looked creepy.

00:35:11.300 And while the real Willy Wonka had like an element of creep to it, just like a little bit

00:35:16.760 to freak you out here and there, it wasn't creepy in the way the Tim Burton remake was.

00:35:22.080 So what did you see the movie?

00:35:24.620 I'll ask you, Pete, did you see the movie, the remake?

00:35:26.780 And what'd you think?

00:35:28.060 I did.

00:35:29.100 And it, but it's a totally different film.

00:35:31.660 You know, it's Tim Burton.

00:35:32.740 And, and there were parts of it, you know, that I enjoyed, but it's, you know, you really

00:35:38.040 can't compare the two.

00:35:40.400 But just from a selfish point of view, it kind of really helped us because people, you know,

00:35:48.080 kids saw that film, but their parents said, no, no, no, you've got to see the original.

00:35:52.840 And so it kind of, they brought, they dusted us off again, brought us off the shelf.

00:35:59.240 And now we were introduced to a whole, you know, the next generation, you know, or the

00:36:04.400 third generation.

00:36:05.240 So in a strange way, it kind of helped us.

00:36:08.020 So it's, but I enjoyed it, but it's, it's so different from, from the original.

00:36:14.060 What'd you think, Julie?

00:36:14.960 Well, I agree because, you know, it was, I think we were around about the 30th anniversary

00:36:19.220 or something when that version came out.

00:36:21.060 And, you know, I remember thinking, oh, that's sad, you know, but Hey, we've had 30 years

00:36:25.160 where we've been, you know, at the top of the tree with this, as it were, and time hand

00:36:29.960 over the baton to somebody else, but that didn't happen.

00:36:32.740 And people got very partisan and they got quite cross.

00:36:36.660 And, you know, whereas I think we're a bit more philosophic about it, you know, the fans

00:36:40.780 and people like you are quite upset.

00:36:43.760 How dare they?

00:36:44.580 How dare they?

00:36:45.660 It's like messing with your childhood memories.

00:36:48.180 Don't do it.

00:36:49.700 Totally.

00:36:49.860 Totally.

00:36:50.400 It's funny.

00:36:51.220 It's interesting.

00:36:52.720 We're, we're actually every Christmas, my family over like the holiday will dress up

00:36:58.460 as something, you know, whether it's, I could be anything when the year we did the Incredibles,

00:37:02.820 stuff like that.

00:37:03.680 And I will disclose that this year I'm, I'm breaking the surprise because, but when my kids

00:37:09.300 hear this, they'll already know we're, we're going as the cast from Willy Wonka.

00:37:13.340 And who are you going to be, Megan?

00:37:16.140 Who are you going to be?

00:37:17.420 I'm either going to be Grandpa Joe.

00:37:19.460 I, my daughter has to be Veruca Julie.

00:37:21.280 She has to like, she'll never forgive me if she's not.

00:37:23.680 Um, so I either have to be, uh, uh, Denise, um, or I have to be Grandpa Joe, right?

00:37:29.800 So I either going to be Violet Beauregard or Grandpa Joe.

00:37:32.420 We'll figure it out.

00:37:33.220 But my, um, you know, as, as we're getting ready for it, I'm getting my assistant to help

00:37:38.980 me find costumes that look like the original and not super cheap costumes.

00:37:42.520 And she keeps forwarding me damn things from the, the remake.

00:37:45.660 I'm like, all right, Abby, first, I didn't know about the cast doing the voiceover of 0.52

00:37:51.020 the film and I didn't get any of the book.

00:37:52.300 And now you send me an Augusta's gloop with a red and white horizontal stripe.

00:37:56.300 What, what is going on?

00:37:58.440 No, I love it.

00:37:59.280 I love the fact that the dress that I wore, the red dress is iconic.

00:38:03.220 Um, and you know, it's been rocked by a few celebrities year before last Dolly Parton

00:38:08.460 did it for Halloween.

00:38:09.640 Uh, this year it was Sharon Osbourne. 0.82

00:38:11.520 I got sent pictures of Sharon Osbourne rocking it.

00:38:13.820 And I love the fact that other, other people are doing it and it's kind of gone timeless.

00:38:18.600 One time I've got a, I've got a copy of the dress that I had made for something, not because

00:38:23.080 I want to wear it.

00:38:23.920 I hasten to add, but it was made for a joke thing that I was doing.

00:38:28.060 And I was walking along the street and I had it over my arm and somebody just pointed at

00:38:31.660 the dress and went, Oh, Veruca Salt. 0.68

00:38:33.740 It's such an iconic dress.

00:38:35.480 It's really extraordinary.

00:38:37.200 What did they say when they found out it was actually?

00:38:39.780 Veruca Salt they were talking to.

00:38:41.100 Yeah.

00:38:41.460 Then they looked rather shaken and shocked and, uh, you know, yeah.

00:38:45.800 Yeah.

00:38:46.320 You get the, Oh my goodness.

00:38:47.520 Oh my goodness.

00:38:48.000 Oh my goodness.

00:38:48.580 You know, for five minutes.

00:38:50.680 So can I ask you about that?

00:38:51.960 Do you, obviously we're not on camera.

00:38:53.880 I've seen other interviews that you've done.

00:38:56.160 And I wouldn't say you guys are instantly recognizable as the children you were in that movie.

00:39:02.120 Do people, do you have to tell people it's me?

00:39:05.640 I think I'm a little bit luckier because with makeup on a following wind, you know, sometimes

00:39:10.480 you can get away with it.

00:39:11.800 Guys, Pete, you do look, you do not look like a 12 year old boy anymore.

00:39:15.440 Do you?

00:39:16.100 Peter, do you give him the big reveal?

00:39:17.300 Like, Hey, do you ever see, do you ever see Willy Wonka?

00:39:19.680 No, no, I don't reveal, I don't reveal, um, no, it doesn't, I'm a shy guy.

00:39:31.280 It just doesn't come up and my kids aren't impressed anymore either.

00:39:36.020 So one time, I think it was roundabout when you're talking about the audio commentary that

00:39:41.940 we did and we had been doing a convention in New Jersey, uh, chiller for, for Halloween.

00:39:47.900 And Pete had gone into Greenwich village to see the parade and what have you.

00:39:53.240 And didn't you, you got on the subway, Pete, didn't you?

00:39:55.520 With four, four guys and he had a photo taken with them, you know, a selfie and they had

00:40:02.420 no idea who he was.

00:40:04.440 Oh my, you didn't tell them?

00:40:06.680 They were good.

00:40:07.380 No, I don't understand this lack of vanity.

00:40:11.620 Um, but, but it's something you've lived because I, I know after that movie, you were a hot

00:40:19.520 ticket and you pieced out of Hollywood when you were probably the biggest child star going

00:40:25.840 at the moment, or at least one of them.

00:40:27.260 Why?

00:40:28.460 It wasn't, uh, it, I enjoyed doing it, but it just, it didn't seem like it was something

00:40:34.920 that, uh, I was chosen to do for the rest of my life and just, you know, other doors

00:40:41.960 opened for me and I kind of followed, you know, those paths.

00:40:46.180 Um, but I look back, you know, with, you know, just fond memories of this film.

00:40:51.800 And again, so thankful, you know, of the happiness that it brings to people, um, like yourself and,

00:40:58.320 and, you know, other, uh, folks out there that, you know, still love seeing this film.

00:41:03.500 More with Peter and Julie in just one second.

00:41:07.140 But first I got a crash course into home title theft, and you better pray this thing never

00:41:12.060 happens to you because it can ruin you financially.

00:41:14.860 Here's how the crime happens.

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00:42:21.120 Now we want to quickly bring to you a feature we call Asked and Answered here on The Megyn

00:42:25.660 Kelly Show, where we try to answer some listener questions that have been sent in.

00:42:29.620 And our executive producer, Steve Krakauer, has got the first half of the equation.

00:42:34.020 What's going on, Steve?

00:42:35.040 Yes, Megyn, great questions coming in at questions at devilmaycaremedia.com.

00:42:40.520 Those have been good.

00:42:41.460 We've read some of those in part of the show.

00:42:43.340 But we are also gathering listener questions at our social media accounts, Twitter, Facebook,

00:42:48.060 and Instagram at megynkellyshow.

00:42:49.900 Follow us there.

00:42:50.580 Ask questions.

00:42:51.220 We look at those as well.

00:42:52.380 This one came to us from Jessica Ray on Instagram.

00:42:55.040 And she wants to know, when did you know that Doug was the one?

00:43:00.620 That's a good question.

00:43:02.500 You know, it wasn't like the lightning bolt, like, ah, you know, exactly.

00:43:07.640 I know exactly this is the one.

00:43:08.820 But there were several moments when we were dating where it was like, oh, wow.

00:43:12.840 Right.

00:43:13.240 I think that's what you're looking for.

00:43:14.460 The, oh, wow.

00:43:15.880 Um, and I think probably the, yes, I'm going to get married to this person is, I don't

00:43:22.440 know, maybe more fictional than not.

00:43:23.960 Although there was kind of a moment.

00:43:25.320 So I'll tell you about it.

00:43:26.000 I think I've told this story in the show before, but maybe you didn't hear it.

00:43:29.020 Um, when Doug and I were dating, um, a good long while into the relationship, uh, when

00:43:35.180 he, he spent his first night at my townhouse that I had just recently bought.

00:43:39.580 It was the first and only place I ever owned all by myself.

00:43:42.820 And, um, he was sitting there, he had on jeans and a white t-shirt and his hair was all messed

00:43:48.020 up.

00:43:48.260 And he looked over at me and he said, by the way, if you don't want kids, you should tell

00:43:53.900 me soon.

00:43:55.580 Oh, I was like, I, I mean, that was a very dreamy moment for, for the two of us there

00:44:03.060 because, you know, it's like most guys are like, you know, they don't want to be pressured

00:44:08.120 on the kid front.

00:44:08.900 And the women are typically like running after the men. 1.00

00:44:11.000 I realized we're not all like this, but I have enough friends who are sort of like looking

00:44:14.000 at their biological clocks, wondering, and enough guy friends who are like, ah, I don't

00:44:17.620 want to marry somebody who's under that kind of a pressure cooker situation that I get

00:44:21.860 the dynamic.

00:44:22.820 And when Doug and I were first dating, uh, I don't know, I was 35 and he was 35 or four.

00:44:30.720 I can't remember.

00:44:31.760 Anyway.

00:44:32.440 Um, the point is I was getting a little lung in the tooth.

00:44:34.820 So somebody might have that concern about me, but it was actually kind of exactly the

00:44:38.880 opposite.

00:44:39.220 I went into the relationship thinking, I'm not sure if I want kids.

00:44:42.460 Um, it's a whole longer story, but I just wasn't sure.

00:44:45.220 But he looked at me, he said that.

00:44:47.960 And I actually told my stepsister that night, I think I met the man I'm going to marry.

00:44:52.580 And I was right.

00:44:53.760 And then, you know, it's been so many moments thereafter little, little things, you know,

00:44:57.700 big things and little things, the birth of our children, you look over at him and you

00:45:00.660 see that face and you think, yes, um, I don't know moments when he's like incredibly great

00:45:05.680 with our kids.

00:45:06.400 Those, those just reinforce your love so much moments where he challenges me, where I try

00:45:10.080 to get away with some intellectual sleight of hand and he won't allow it.

00:45:14.260 One thing he's very good at that.

00:45:15.820 I recommend to all you guys is, um, if I'm feeling mad and I don't want to tell him what

00:45:20.360 I'm mad about, you know, how we women are, he does not allow that.

00:45:23.620 He comes right over and he's like, what's going on?

00:45:25.720 And I'm like, nothing.

00:45:26.420 And nine out of 10 men I know are like, okay, good.

00:45:29.280 Bye.

00:45:30.640 If you let them off the hook, they're like, thank you. 0.96

00:45:33.480 Meanwhile, the woman that just keeps steaming, like screw him until she calms down. 1.00

00:45:38.340 This is my own history anyway.

00:45:39.800 So he will come over and he'll say, no, something's wrong.

00:45:43.660 Let's talk about it.

00:45:44.600 And he's very quick to say like, this is what I'm feeling, you know, and I'm getting that

00:45:48.360 from you.

00:45:48.840 Right.

00:45:49.060 So we get into it and we don't, it doesn't always turn into an argument, but it's, we communicate.

00:45:53.320 Uh, and just knowing that he actually does want to know will sort of diffuse the situation

00:45:57.980 right from the start.

00:45:58.880 Anyway, sorry to ramble on, but he definitely is the one.

00:46:02.140 And it has been made clear to me in a series of moments over what now is, I mean, we're

00:46:07.720 going on, going on our 15th year together and, um, man, it's everything.

00:46:13.100 So thank you for asking.

00:46:14.780 And, uh, I hope you have the same in your life.

00:46:17.760 Okay.

00:46:18.200 Don't forget it's questions at devilmaycaremedia.com.

00:46:23.260 Uh, and now back to Peter and Julie.

00:46:28.580 I just love the fact that it's, um, it plays a, uh, you know, a special part in so many

00:46:33.580 people's lives that it's got them through tough times, you know, and I, you know, people

00:46:38.640 have told me stories of post 9-1-1, you know, this movie got me through some dark times and

00:46:44.960 I'm sure probably just in the recent months it's happened again.

00:46:47.920 So it's, uh, it's sort of the, the, the chicken soup of movies.

00:46:52.860 Oh, that's so right.

00:46:54.220 Oh, I like that.

00:46:55.100 I like the way you put that.

00:46:56.520 I feel the same.

00:46:57.820 I, it's one of those things where whatever I'm feeling, if I, if I put it on, I always

00:47:03.580 feel better.

00:47:04.580 And it's to the point now where I just, I will never watch it haphazardly.

00:47:10.400 I won't, you know, like we have three young kids, so we've got the movies in the car.

00:47:14.020 There, that's not one of them.

00:47:15.580 They know they're not allowed to watch that.

00:47:17.300 They know that's a special movie that we only watch on special occasions.

00:47:21.660 And now we watch it on my birthday every year.

00:47:25.180 And my sweet daughter, she's nine.

00:47:28.400 She just said to me, cause I just had my birthday in November.

00:47:30.920 She just said to me, mama, she was like, when I'm a grownup, I'm going to watch this every

00:47:35.460 year on your birthday and think of you.

00:47:37.100 Oh, oh, invite us next year, Megan.

00:47:39.900 Invite us next year.

00:47:40.760 When's your birthday?

00:47:41.760 When is your birthday?

00:47:42.460 November 18th.

00:47:45.460 Oh, my daughter is the 15th.

00:47:48.300 I'll come to you.

00:47:50.060 Yes.

00:47:52.240 I'll make you dinner and you can watch it here and Pete and I will sing along.

00:47:56.680 But what's great is, you know, there's, there's countless stories like that, that it just,

00:48:03.520 it's, it's amazing.

00:48:04.500 You know, you ask me if people recognize me and they don't, although probably a year

00:48:10.780 and a half ago, two years ago, I was at the Syracuse airport and I was working on my laptop

00:48:16.020 doing work.

00:48:16.860 And this guy was sitting down probably three seats from me and he, he just came over to

00:48:24.860 me and he goes, I just want to thank you for the film.

00:48:29.660 And he, and I just smiled and he smiled and he went back to his seat, you know, just like,

00:48:37.840 wow, thanks.

00:48:38.640 You know, that's the kind of stuff that, you know, like, man, you know, looking back,

00:48:44.540 it was obviously well worth it.

00:48:47.160 Yeah.

00:48:47.460 You did something that mattered and it's, it just doesn't cure cancer.

00:48:51.780 It doesn't help sick animals. 0.75

00:48:53.120 Like I know you do now, Pete, you're a veterinarian, but it did help a lot of people in small and

00:48:59.980 profound ways.

00:49:01.080 And I, I'm sure as an actor, you just never know, cause I know Julie, you, you went on

00:49:05.260 to have a career as an actress.

00:49:06.840 You just never know whether you're working on a project that's going to turn into that.

00:49:10.540 I'm sure you weren't thinking that.

00:49:12.560 Absolutely not.

00:49:13.400 No, we were, you know, you were happy to be working and cast in something that was fun.

00:49:18.000 So, you know, when you're 12, you're not thinking about the next 50 years, are you?

00:49:21.920 And, you know, to be fair, you know, even 25 years ago, I'm thinking, well, you know,

00:49:25.980 that's interesting.

00:49:27.360 Five years more, maybe.

00:49:28.380 And here we are 50 years, you know, am I getting it?

00:49:31.060 It's going to be wheeled out on my Zimmer frame.

00:49:36.440 Yeah.

00:49:37.020 Well, you're both 63 now, right?

00:49:39.140 Is that both 63?

00:49:40.120 Yeah, correct.

00:49:40.800 Yeah.

00:49:41.260 Okay.

00:49:41.920 And so you've gone on, as I said, Pete, you're a large animal veterinarian.

00:49:46.520 Right.

00:49:47.120 Our clinic, it's a mixed animal practice, but I primarily do large animals.

00:49:52.300 So cattle and horses, mainly dairy cattle.

00:49:56.420 In a small town.

00:49:57.680 I mean, it's not, you certainly eschewed the fame and stardom of Hollywood, even though

00:50:02.860 I, I know you were offered a three picture deal at the end of Wonka.

00:50:07.160 So it's extraordinary to me that you knew at that young age at 13, when let's face it,

00:50:13.320 most of us are looking for social affirmation.

00:50:15.580 You just didn't want to do it.

00:50:16.720 You know, you just didn't.

00:50:17.840 You must have known yourself extraordinarily well, even back then.

00:50:21.040 I guess that's correct.

00:50:22.220 And I had good, I had support from my parents, you know, and I tried to kind of carry that

00:50:28.460 on with my children from the standpoint.

00:50:31.760 Um, is I kind of like to think of it as a banquet or a smorgasbord.

00:50:39.260 You, you present as many opportunities for your kids as possible, and they're going to

00:50:45.680 pick and choose, um, what turns them on, you know, what, what, uh, really excites them.

00:50:51.680 And I just knew that, you know, the theater, um, was probably not where I belonged.

00:50:58.180 And, and again, I had other, other opportunities, but as a parent, what's really hard is I'm sure

00:51:05.480 my father was disappointed because he always wanted to be an actor.

00:51:09.500 And that's what, after he retired as a lawyer, that's, he did.

00:51:13.960 And, and in New York, and it was fun to watch him perform.

00:51:18.360 Um, but I'm sure he was disappointed.

00:51:21.980 You know, I was, I said, nah, I just don't think that this is my cup of tea.

00:51:27.380 This is where I need to be.

00:51:29.580 So that's, I mean, speaking of what turns you on, were you a total chick magnet after this

00:51:34.020 film came out?

00:51:35.320 No, not at all.

00:51:39.140 What?

00:51:39.740 No, no.

00:51:41.300 If I was, I didn't know it.

00:51:43.040 I didn't appreciate it.

00:51:45.700 Truly.

00:51:46.400 That's what you loved about him, right?

00:51:47.860 He's, he's humble.

00:51:49.000 He had no idea.

00:51:50.000 He had no idea.

00:51:53.080 How about you?

00:51:53.820 Did it, how did it change your life, Julie?

00:51:55.820 At the time?

00:51:56.740 At the time?

00:51:57.480 Not at all.

00:51:58.120 I went back to school.

00:51:59.320 It came, it went, it died down.

00:52:01.080 I played some other, uh, parts at school while I was still at theater school.

00:52:05.120 A couple more brats I played.

00:52:07.240 And then, you know, at sort of 17, 18, when everybody was going off to college, university,

00:52:13.580 I got a role in, um, a TV soap, uh, a BBC soap opera called angels, which was a series

00:52:21.000 about six student nurses.

00:52:22.360 So I didn't go to a university at that point.

00:52:25.640 I, I went into a long running series, which I was in for two years, but it was very much

00:52:30.880 a career of two halves.

00:52:32.260 And at that point, you know, Willy Wonka was not something I talked about.

00:52:35.760 And in fact, it, it might've even closed doors sometimes because it was a, you know, it was

00:52:39.720 a kid's movie and not a very successful one.

00:52:42.980 So it didn't open any doors.

00:52:44.520 So it was later in the eighties when it became, began to be cool and, and led to lots of other

00:52:49.880 opportunities.

00:52:50.980 So I, I carried on acting.

00:52:52.880 I did a lot of theater work, did voiceover work.

00:52:54.960 I had my children, um, and then, um, I don't think, I mean, I kind of, parts of it, I liked,

00:53:02.600 I don't think I was ever what they call a lovey enough that I was not in love with the

00:53:07.000 industry enough to want to stay in it.

00:53:08.820 It was always, it was a job and I enjoyed it, but I didn't, somebody, another actor,

00:53:13.900 not my words said about show business.

00:53:16.320 I like the show, but I don't like the business.

00:53:18.980 And I think that's the bit that I didn't like.

00:53:21.040 I didn't like the business and, you know, some of the, the darker side of the business.

00:53:26.000 I really didn't care for that.

00:53:27.680 And I began to think, I don't want to be doing this when I'm 60.

00:53:32.920 And so a good 12 years ago, I made plans to get out and I went to university then and did

00:53:40.540 my degree in psychotherapy and became a therapist 12 years ago and work with cancer patients currently.

00:53:48.960 Wow.

00:53:49.440 Oh, so all Pete's helping animals, you're helping people and you're both healing.

00:53:55.300 You're both healing in your own way.

00:53:57.460 I, when you said you didn't, you didn't really love the, the business part of show business,

00:54:01.980 it reminded me of Gene Wilder who said something similar, you know, how he liked acting, but

00:54:10.400 he didn't like Hollywood.

00:54:11.480 He didn't like show business.

00:54:12.540 He was a private man.

00:54:14.360 He liked to hang out in his beautiful country home with Gilda when she was still with him.

00:54:19.440 And I, we have to talk about him.

00:54:21.420 Can we, can we spend some time on Gene Wilder and whether, whether anyone else could have

00:54:27.560 brought Willy Wonka to life as he did?

00:54:30.960 I, you know, now when you say it and you, you hear the bing, bing, bing of pure imagination,

00:54:35.600 you just see Gene and you see those sparkling blue eyes.

00:54:38.660 And for me, there could never be anybody else.

00:54:40.880 And the moment in the movie that gets me every time when he hugs Charlie at the end, when

00:54:46.340 they're in the elevator, that's, that's, you know, yeah, I'm welling up now.

00:54:51.640 So yeah, he had that, you know, for me, the, the, the mystery, the mischievousness, the,

00:54:57.860 the enigma, the, you know, the, the maverick that he was.

00:55:01.560 So, you know, I, I, I didn't think when I first met him that he looked like Willy Wonka.

00:55:07.220 I remember writing back to my mother and saying, he's not at all as I imagined him to be.

00:55:12.560 You know, I'd seen the, the illustrations in the book, but he had that, just that weird

00:55:18.260 offbeat, you know, sense of humor.

00:55:21.600 They, Roald Dahl wanted Spike Milligan for the part, which would have been very different.

00:55:26.860 Um, and you know, I think that was some of the, the, um, conflict that he had with Mel

00:55:31.880 Stewart because they disagreed about the casting.

00:55:34.420 Gene Wilder at the time was not a huge movie star in the UK.

00:55:38.360 Um, so, you know, Roald Dahl had quite strong feelings on that.

00:55:42.300 Um, but I can't imagine anybody else doing it.

00:55:44.980 He had, you know, such a warmth.

00:55:46.740 And yet when he had those moments of being kind of slightly sinister, they were quite scary.

00:55:52.820 Right.

00:55:53.360 He was, he was warm.

00:55:54.520 He was quirky, funny.

00:55:56.860 Little sinister, mysterious.

00:55:58.860 I love the inside jokes throughout the movie, his little comments and his little, little

00:56:01.960 asides to the, the brats all around him and just kind of just to the audience.

00:56:06.180 Right.

00:56:06.460 That's how it feels.

00:56:07.800 So what he, he was not as big a star as he would become, but he was a, he was a well-known

00:56:12.980 actor.

00:56:13.640 What, what was he like on set?

00:56:15.460 Was he, was there any sense that he was the star?

00:56:19.740 Not at all.

00:56:21.120 He was, both he and Jack Albertson were as warm and as honest and as helpful.

00:56:26.860 To everybody, not just to me, you know, uh, on that set.

00:56:31.680 So there was, you know, he had, uh, just both of those guys were a joy to work with.

00:56:38.740 And for me, you know, I mean, they kind of took me under their wing a little bit, you

00:56:43.080 know, and especially Jack, um, cause you know, we were a pair, you know, we were, we're partners

00:56:49.020 in, in, in crime, so to speak.

00:56:52.380 Um, but Jean, again, nothing but, you know, good memories, fond memories of, of, of working

00:56:59.520 with him.

00:57:00.280 I read Peter that you actually ate chocolate with him during the lunch hour.

00:57:04.660 Is that true?

00:57:05.340 We did.

00:57:05.700 We, we, we, we did.

00:57:06.880 Yeah.

00:57:07.160 We would, we would, uh, I still like chocolate and so did Jean.

00:57:12.040 And so we would share a bar, you know, going back to work in the afternoon.

00:57:17.300 So, yeah, that was fun, but that's the type of guy that he was, you know, he liked to,

00:57:22.400 you know, hang out, you know, and, and it was probably, he probably knew what he was doing,

00:57:28.680 you know, just to build up that relationship between Charlie and, and Willy Wonka, you know,

00:57:35.440 but, uh, he was genuine, you know, he was just, you know, he was good, good person.

00:57:42.040 I know he told the story on Larry King and again, at the 92nd street, why years later

00:57:46.960 that, um, he was the one who insisted that Willy Wonka come out with the cane and then

00:57:51.680 he, he would fall into the somersault and stand and people would cheer.

00:57:55.680 And then that was another surprise for you, for you all, because he wanted to keep people

00:58:00.840 guessing.

00:58:01.420 He knew it would keep people guessing about who he was and what his motivations were and

00:58:06.020 what would come next.

00:58:07.560 Um, did you, Julie, did you have any experiences with him on the set?

00:58:11.200 Where he was kidding around with you or he was playful or he was surprising?

00:58:15.140 He was, he was very kind.

00:58:17.380 Um, you know, my 13th birthday, which was the goose room, you know, back in the day, you

00:58:22.360 would have, um, a stills photographer that would come around, but they were always black

00:58:25.340 and white then, but because it was my birthday, Jean booked, um, for a photographer to come

00:58:30.220 in and take a set of color stills for my birthday.

00:58:33.160 And that was my, my gift from, from him, which, you know, it's lovely that I've got

00:58:37.800 this wonderful set of color photos, which so unusual for the, you know, for the time and

00:58:42.440 such, you know, kind things like that.

00:58:44.060 And apparently he told Rusty Goff, who's, um, what, you know, our friend and Oompa Loompa

00:58:50.160 friend, um, when Jean found out, you know, a couple of weeks into shooting that I was

00:58:55.640 the only kid on the set that didn't have any family with me.

00:58:58.780 I was out in Germany with just a chaperone that I only met at the airport.

00:59:01.860 And then we were away for three months, you know, with this total stranger.

00:59:05.700 And he was rather aghast at that and quite shocked that I didn't have anybody kind of

00:59:11.240 looking out for me.

00:59:12.260 So apparently he said to Roy and, and to Rusty, you know, guys, boys, I think he said,

00:59:17.520 boys, we got to take care of this one. 0.93

00:59:19.820 Keep your eyes open and look after her.

00:59:21.840 So it was the kind of guy he was.

00:59:24.620 I read that about Rusty that he was, he was described as quote, the head Oompa Loompa,

00:59:28.220 which I must confess in all my times of watching it, I did not know there was a head

00:59:31.620 Oompa Loompa, um, but he talks about how he had that one scene of them in, uh, with

00:59:36.900 Mike TV, when Mike TV is done off, he had to do the, the dancing and the, the somersault

00:59:41.960 or the, the cartwheel, which was just dreadful, but there was a reason for that.

00:59:45.640 Well, the, um, the choreographer who Howard Jeffrey, um, you know, was an amazing dancer

00:59:50.820 and had done choreography for, for trained dancers.

00:59:54.560 And he didn't realize that he'd got this bunch of Oompa Loompas that were cast from all

01:00:00.500 over Europe, none of whom had any dance background at all and their limbs don't move in the same

01:00:06.400 way.

01:00:06.980 So when you're doing a pirouette and a jeté and you're full height, it doesn't quite

01:00:10.340 work the same when you're a little bit shorter.

01:00:13.680 So Gene Wilder, uh, he died in 2016 at 83.

01:00:19.920 Uh, he had, he had been suffering from Alzheimer's, which they had not disclosed.

01:00:24.840 Right.

01:00:26.180 And, um, that the family put out a statement that I have to ask you about.

01:00:31.380 They, they wrote the decision to wait until this time to disclose his condition wasn't

01:00:37.660 vanity, but more so that the countless young children that would smile or call out to him,

01:00:43.160 there's Willy Wonka would not have to be then exposed to an adult referencing illness or

01:00:49.860 trouble and causing delight to travel, to worry, disappointment, or confusion.

01:00:55.200 He simply couldn't bear the idea of one less smile in the world.

01:01:01.160 Oh, was that the man you knew?

01:01:04.700 Yes, it is.

01:01:06.280 And what's a little bit interesting is Gene, for what he'll be remembered for, um, Willy Wonka

01:01:14.160 come, you know, is it, at the top of all of his credits and initially he probably would

01:01:22.020 not have wanted that or would be disappointed to think that, you know, with all his roles,

01:01:29.300 you know, with Mel Brooks, you know, and, you know, all the different things that he, he

01:01:34.640 did, you know, that he would be remembered mostly for Willy Wonka.

01:01:38.120 I think he grew into that and, and accepted that, that, uh, Hey, it, it wasn't such a bad

01:01:45.240 film after all.

01:01:46.340 And, and just the quote that you read, you know, kind of, you know, points to that, that

01:01:52.100 he did recognize, you know, the importance of that role and that, that people, you know,

01:01:57.040 think of him as, as Willy Wonka.

01:01:59.700 There were also some other things that led me to believe, um, you know, you never know why

01:02:04.760 actors want to talk about a role or don't want to talk about a role, but there were some

01:02:10.660 of the things that he said that led me to believe that he didn't really want to over

01:02:14.540 discuss Willy Wonka because he didn't want to break the magic.

01:02:18.540 Yes.

01:02:19.160 Honestly, that was one of my concerns in doing this interview, but it hasn't, it hasn't broken

01:02:23.440 at all.

01:02:26.440 So now I should be really mean and just step by feet.

01:02:30.240 Well, I did, I did wonder, I'll confess after, after we lost Gene Wilde, after we lost Gene

01:02:38.140 Wilde or Peter, whether you were thinking, Oh my God, I'm finally going to get to move

01:02:41.820 in.

01:02:42.240 I'm like, it's finally time for me.

01:02:45.580 The factory's finally mine.

01:02:47.500 I'm ready.

01:02:48.120 It's finally yours.

01:02:50.460 Enough already.

01:02:51.460 Move out.

01:02:52.700 Come on.

01:02:55.140 You mentioned that final scene and I, I agree with you.

01:02:58.240 That's, that is the one that tugs most on the heartstrings.

01:03:01.460 And I read that the, those last few minutes, uh, had to be rewritten or were rewritten at

01:03:11.000 Mel Stewart's direction before, before we talk about it, let's just listen to what we're

01:03:14.980 talking about.

01:03:15.300 This is the last, last part of the movie when they're flying above town in the great glass

01:03:19.740 Wonka Vader.

01:03:20.700 So the factory's yours, Charlie.

01:03:22.100 You can move in immediately.

01:03:23.660 And me?

01:03:24.800 Absolutely.

01:03:25.960 What happens to the rest?

01:03:27.200 The whole family.

01:03:27.820 I want you to bring them all.

01:03:33.540 But Charlie, don't forget what happened to the man who suddenly got everything he always

01:03:39.700 wanted.

01:03:40.240 What happened?

01:03:41.540 He lived happily ever after.

01:03:49.160 That's it.

01:03:50.920 That's it.

01:03:51.960 That's, that's it.

01:03:53.220 Well, there is the, the story that they didn't have a final line and, or they didn't like

01:04:00.460 what they had.

01:04:01.300 And so, uh, Mel Stewart rang David Seltzer, who was, I think in a cabin or something somewhere,

01:04:07.180 you know, like in the woods or what have you.

01:04:08.520 And they had to kind of track him down.

01:04:10.120 And he demanded that he, you know, got this final line while David Seltzer was practically

01:04:15.040 hanging on the other end of the phone.

01:04:17.780 Isn't that right, Pete?

01:04:18.460 That's correct.

01:04:19.440 He was on vacation.

01:04:21.180 Yeah.

01:04:21.740 He had left Germany.

01:04:23.320 Yes.

01:04:23.600 So is it one of those things where they came to you and said, instead of this line, you

01:04:28.060 guys are going to have this exchange.

01:04:29.300 And then Gene Wilder dropped that one.

01:04:31.720 I don't think, no, by the time that we did the scene, David had written, had written what

01:04:37.800 you heard.

01:04:38.820 So I don't think there was any disagreement, at least not to me.

01:04:42.700 No, no, I'm not.

01:04:43.680 Gene, you know, it's possible.

01:04:45.380 Gene, you know, looked at the script and said, I don't know.

01:04:48.220 So, you know, he didn't like what they had written, but by the time it came to me, it

01:04:53.960 was it was set.

01:04:55.760 So I've still got it in my script.

01:04:57.520 I still have a copy of my script and it is as went out.

01:05:01.040 But I think the ink was fairly wet when it was.

01:05:04.440 Yeah.

01:05:05.460 You got a lot of things from that set.

01:05:08.320 The list keeps growing.

01:05:09.680 Of course.

01:05:10.360 Of course.

01:05:11.100 I'm the root of salt.

01:05:11.980 But the script, you know, Roald Dahl, you know, he's, he's listed on the credits as

01:05:18.480 writing, you know, the screenplay.

01:05:20.620 He did not.

01:05:21.440 David Seltzer did, you know, Roald Dahl, you know, was, you know, had such disagreements

01:05:27.880 with Mel Stewart and Stan that he pretty much quickly divorced himself from the project.

01:05:34.860 And, and so he's there in name only.

01:05:38.400 David Seltzer really wrote the screenplay.

01:05:40.940 Poor David.

01:05:41.980 And by the way, the, the perfect line ever to end that movie with, I mean, brilliant.

01:05:47.520 Yeah.

01:05:47.880 Yeah.

01:05:48.300 If you read the book alongside it, which I have done recently, I read it during lockdown.

01:05:53.860 You'll see that lots of the script is lifted from the book.

01:05:56.820 So you can see the kind of Roald Dahl bit, but then I would imagine that some of these,

01:06:02.280 the jokes and things were the David Seltzer part.

01:06:05.080 So, yeah.

01:06:06.160 Well, what do you make of it?

01:06:08.040 Cause I heard that, um, initially there was a thought by Mel Stewart, the director of wanting

01:06:14.000 to reveal that Willy Wonka had strategically placed those golden ticket, the tickets in

01:06:20.020 order to give you Peter, AKA Charlie, the factory that this was all pre-planned and that he knew

01:06:26.580 exactly who the five children were going to be.

01:06:28.460 What's, what's your theory on it?

01:06:30.120 I know nothing about, no, seriously.

01:06:36.360 I, this is the first time I've heard about that, but, uh, I read that.

01:06:40.560 I read that Mel Stewart wanted that and then that they, they dropped the idea because, but

01:06:45.300 then they, they left the hints because how else would Slugworth, I mean, who was really

01:06:50.520 Mr.

01:06:50.860 Wilkinson have known.

01:06:52.320 He was always, he was very creepy.

01:06:54.440 He was a, he was a lurker.

01:06:55.700 Yeah.

01:06:56.060 And I, you know, I'd like to complain to the management anyway, because Veruca Salt was

01:06:59.880 the only one that didn't have a film crew there when her ticket was found.

01:07:03.880 That's a good point.

01:07:05.040 It's very unlike Veruca.

01:07:06.540 It's very unlike Veruca.

01:07:08.680 So now that you are in your sixties and maybe have grandkids as well as kids, possibly.

01:07:15.660 I've got, I have one, um, just coming up to one, uh, my, my granddaughter Amber will

01:07:20.520 be one in December.

01:07:22.440 And you both, you both have kids, no grandchildren from myself now yet.

01:07:27.180 Well, let's go back to when you did first get to show it to them.

01:07:30.300 And you see that movie through your own children's eyes for the first time.

01:07:35.780 What was that like?

01:07:37.640 I've got a very strong, I mean, I can't remember the first time they sort of grow up and I,

01:07:42.720 I remember showing it to them.

01:07:44.100 And I think my daughter fell asleep the first time and, you know, wasn't hugely impressed.

01:07:47.620 I think she was a little young, but then they kind of grew up and it was always just

01:07:50.940 part of the family folklore kind of like, oh yeah, mom was in that.

01:07:54.280 And I'm guessing it was the same for Pete.

01:07:55.960 I don't know.

01:07:56.560 But we did a convention in Florida and Pete's son, uh, Leaf and my son, Barney, they were

01:08:04.540 similar ages and they sat eating chocolate and watching it on a loop for a whole day.

01:08:10.420 I believe you remember that.

01:08:12.460 I do.

01:08:13.300 And they never wanted to see it again after.

01:08:19.000 Impossible.

01:08:19.440 I mean, they kind of grew up with it, you know, and it's, again, it's, you know, looking

01:08:25.080 back, it's kind of, you know, as my parents said, they took, you know, home movies, you

01:08:30.220 know, and it's just kind of in the, the attic, the history of, of our, our, our family.

01:08:37.780 You know, it's a great trivia question.

01:08:39.780 Whatever happened to Charlie Bucket, you know?

01:08:43.180 I mean, it's like any fan of the movie has Googled that a million times and looked at your

01:08:47.060 picture and compared it to when you were a boy.

01:08:48.680 I mean, I've made my children do that.

01:08:50.360 Oh, by the way, by the way, I have to ask you, because I asked my kids, they were almost

01:08:54.560 as excited for this interview as I am.

01:08:56.600 Um, I said, what, what would you want to ask them if you could ask them any question?

01:09:00.820 And they wanted to know if you could play another role in the movie, who's, would you

01:09:06.280 have chosen?

01:09:07.500 I wouldn't want anybody else's.

01:09:09.380 I really wouldn't.

01:09:10.440 I'm happy with what I got.

01:09:12.560 I, you know, I got a song and I got to smash things up and I got to be.

01:09:17.060 Mean and nasty.

01:09:18.880 And, and I had all the fun parts.

01:09:21.260 Um, I would not want to be in that styrofoam ball being rolled around and turned blue and

01:09:26.200 all of that.

01:09:26.700 No, that wouldn't be fun.

01:09:28.120 And, you know, being sent through TV.

01:09:31.240 Nah, I really didn't fancy that.

01:09:32.820 The fizzy lifting, I wouldn't have mind a go at.

01:09:34.840 That would have been quite fun.

01:09:36.060 Although it was quite uncomfortable, wasn't it, Pete?

01:09:38.220 It was.

01:09:40.420 They just had you suspended by ropes or what was that?

01:09:43.000 Well, uh, piano wires, very small wire.

01:09:46.060 So it was, it was easier for me than Jack.

01:09:49.920 Is there, is there somebody, if you had to switch a role?

01:09:52.680 I got to say, Jean, you know, I was being groomed for Willy Wonka.

01:09:56.780 Yeah.

01:09:58.300 It couldn't be anybody else.

01:10:00.800 I love that.

01:10:02.860 And I love how in the movie he's, without knowing he's going to have this special bond

01:10:06.520 with Willy Wonka is defensive of him in scenes.

01:10:09.120 And you can just, you can feel it coming, you know, you know, it's eventually going to

01:10:13.900 come.

01:10:14.360 I love that he kept surprising you guys that he, not only did he do the somersault, but

01:10:20.300 I guess his creepiness on the boat was unexpected.

01:10:23.100 Oh, completely, completely.

01:10:25.260 I mean, it was scripted, you know, the, the lines, but, uh, not the way he delivered it.

01:10:30.420 So great to keep you guessing.

01:10:32.440 And I also read, Pete, there was something about the, that end scene in the office that

01:10:37.340 was unexpected for you.

01:10:39.140 Is that true?

01:10:39.880 Correct.

01:10:40.220 You know, similar to the boat scene.

01:10:42.100 I mean, Jean did not let on, you know, the, um, veracity, um, the, how, how, you know,

01:10:51.040 the screaming, the yelling, you know, the high intensity, you know, that the scene would

01:10:56.660 be.

01:10:57.160 And, and again, he wanted, you know, my, my, you know, primary reaction, you know?

01:11:05.120 Um, so rehearsal was, was probably kept to a minimum.

01:11:10.220 And, and I don't recall, we didn't do very many takes, you know, uh, of that scene.

01:11:16.780 One, it was towards the end.

01:11:18.480 Well, it was at the very end of the film.

01:11:20.440 And we were, we were both like, okay, let's get this done.

01:11:23.820 You know, time to wrap this up.

01:11:26.760 Plane, plane was taxiing down the runway at that point.

01:11:29.820 Exactly.

01:11:31.400 But again, very, very little rehearsal, you know?

01:11:35.520 So, and Jean wanted it that way and, and he hit it, you know, you know,

01:11:40.100 first or second time.

01:11:41.440 And my reaction was my reaction.

01:11:44.220 It was perfection.

01:11:44.840 And even the script, you know, for you not to say anything in response,

01:11:48.440 for you just to place the gobstopper down with the simple Mr. Wonka.

01:11:54.480 So good.

01:11:55.660 So, so perfect.

01:11:57.380 The line so shines a good deed in a weary world.

01:12:01.240 Right.

01:12:01.680 Oh my gosh, that's right.

01:12:04.020 So beautiful.

01:12:04.840 There are so many lines that sometimes you hear now and, you know, they've kind of become

01:12:09.900 almost, I don't know, like sort of little folklore, little expressions that people use.

01:12:15.940 And I think, yeah, I know where that came from.

01:12:17.620 You know, oh, he's got the golden ticket.

01:12:19.240 Yep.

01:12:19.460 Know where that came from.

01:12:20.580 And people will say that so shines a good deed in a weary world.

01:12:23.460 It gets quoted.

01:12:24.940 So I love the fact that those things happen.

01:12:28.460 That stuff's nice.

01:12:29.180 But I tell you, as you know, I mean, if you're a true fan of the movie, you're very annoying

01:12:33.500 to watch the movie with because, you know, every line.

01:12:37.440 I mean, it's like the little lines that always delighted me and Kelly McGinnis, the one I watched

01:12:42.200 it with everything, like Rachmaninoff, you know, like whatever, you know, he's in the room

01:12:47.780 is getting smaller.

01:12:48.520 No, it's not.

01:12:48.960 He's getting bigger. 1.00

01:12:49.800 Random, stupid lines that really didn't amount to anything that you just will say over and 1.00

01:12:53.920 over, of course, every line of yours, Julie. 0.99

01:12:57.340 So but let me ask you now, because I'm I'm I I you've been so generous with your time,

01:13:03.120 but I have to ask you, why has the movie endured?

01:13:08.020 There have been many wonderful films over time, including films directed at children that

01:13:14.000 have not had this kind of enduring legacy.

01:13:17.200 So what do people love about this film?

01:13:21.820 I'll do Peter and then Julie.

01:13:23.160 You can and you've mentioned this, Megan, you can watch it with your family and your kids

01:13:30.360 come away with a little bit different take on it than what you do.

01:13:35.580 The humor is is kind of targeted at various levels.

01:13:39.500 So people of all ages can watch this and take something different from it.

01:13:44.800 The fact that if you do well, you're an honest person, you know, things are going to probably

01:13:51.200 turn out OK for you.

01:13:53.040 And that's not a bad message to have, you know, going forward.

01:13:57.200 The other thing that I think that really makes the film kind of fun is all the different,

01:14:03.080 you know, smaller scenes when they're looking for the golden ticket.

01:14:07.540 You know, one of my favorite scenes is the Dan Rather scene when all the golden tickets have

01:14:13.280 been have been found and and, you know, he's lamenting that there aren't any more tickets

01:14:18.380 out there and says, you know, but there's many more important things, many more important

01:14:22.960 things, you know, important to us.

01:14:25.600 And offhand, I can't think of what they are.

01:14:28.700 You know, I mean, just those I love those different scenes.

01:14:33.520 So and the other little guy who says the guy says, I am now telling the computer exactly

01:14:38.920 what it can do with a lifetime supply of chocolate.

01:14:41.800 Exactly.

01:14:42.800 The wonderful woman whose husband has been kidnapped and she says, how long have I got

01:14:48.220 to think it over?

01:14:49.660 I just love it.

01:14:51.440 Love it.

01:14:51.880 They're all wonderful.

01:14:52.800 They're all stunning, those things.

01:14:54.880 So what do you think, Julie?

01:14:55.800 Why?

01:14:56.420 Why has it endured?

01:14:57.280 I agree with Pete because it is a moral tale, isn't it?

01:15:03.640 And we we want to believe and hope that good things happen to good people and the bad people

01:15:09.300 are going to get it.

01:15:10.060 And we like to believe that that's kind of karma taking care of itself.

01:15:14.940 And so it is the ultimate dream that, you know, yeah, if you're a nice person, then things

01:15:21.680 will come right in the end.

01:15:22.920 And yeah, we all need a little bit more of that right now.

01:15:27.280 Mm hmm.

01:15:28.440 Right.

01:15:28.840 That that's sin, you know, gluttony, greed, rudeness, idleness is not rewarded.

01:15:34.900 It's not rewarded.

01:15:35.960 It's punished.

01:15:36.580 And that the kid who does what he thinks is right, is kind, can be rewarded with a lifetime

01:15:42.540 of goodness.

01:15:43.220 Parents will love it because it's a slightly moral tale.

01:15:45.800 You know, you see, kids, I told you, don't speak with your mouth full and don't be rude

01:15:49.000 like that because you'll go down the garbage chute or, you know, be shrunk or blow up or whatever 0.93

01:15:53.500 it is.

01:15:54.040 So, you know, that's it's a moral tale for parents.

01:15:56.780 Kids quite like seeing other kids get get their comeuppance.

01:16:00.100 They do quite like that.

01:16:01.140 You know, we've all had the bullies at school and we go, yeah, good.

01:16:05.400 So, you know, we like to see that.

01:16:07.980 And then, you know, I'll be still my beating heart.

01:16:10.140 But there is Charlie.

01:16:11.420 It's true.

01:16:12.120 And who doesn't like chocolate?

01:16:17.020 Exactly right.

01:16:18.440 Listen, to quote the man in the airport who put it so succinctly.

01:16:24.720 Thank you.

01:16:26.260 Thank you so much.

01:16:28.680 So I am so emotional.

01:16:32.000 That really meant so much to me.

01:16:34.360 I don't totally have it figured out why, but I don't know.

01:16:38.700 You know, it's like I don't get overwhelmed by celebrity.

01:16:40.820 That's for sure.

01:16:41.460 I don't really care about celebrities at all.

01:16:43.400 If anything, I have a negative association with most of them.

01:16:47.040 But for them, it's about like something more.

01:16:49.760 You know, it's like when that movie came out, as they mentioned on DVD or back then it was

01:16:57.120 VHS, I had lost my dad recently and my best friend Kelly and I used to sit there and watch

01:17:04.560 it and it really was an escape.

01:17:06.240 You know, it's an escape in so many ways into something magical and wonderful and visually

01:17:11.620 delightful and just away from whatever you're trying to escape.

01:17:15.540 Back then we didn't have the iPhones or the iPads or devices.

01:17:19.300 And so it's very rare.

01:17:20.700 You can find a collection of people with whom you have nothing but a positive association,

01:17:24.740 right?

01:17:25.340 Like an actor, for example, who you just look at and have nothing but great thoughts about,

01:17:30.960 especially in today's day and age where they're they're political and they're trying to lecture

01:17:35.380 us about this.

01:17:35.920 These guys didn't do that.

01:17:38.700 And I think it's almost it's more important that Peter never went on to play another role

01:17:45.720 like maybe that's helped preserve my love for him in the film.

01:17:49.040 And I never saw Julie in another role, though she did have a successful career in acting

01:17:52.920 across the pond.

01:17:55.280 But it's almost sort of helped preserve the legacy.

01:17:59.440 And I certainly never looked at Gene.

01:18:00.980 Well, I mean, I know he did Blazing Saddles and he did Silver Streak and he did all these

01:18:03.960 wonderful movies, but like in Young Frankenstein, for me, he will always be the one role like

01:18:09.180 there could never be another.

01:18:10.560 So I I didn't expect to be this emotional.

01:18:15.460 I think you probably can relate to something to this in some way.

01:18:18.660 Maybe you have a film or a song, right, or some memory like that that just brings back

01:18:24.600 a different time.

01:18:26.380 You know, the passage of time, it always brings tears if you really think about it.

01:18:31.540 But these are bittersweet ones, right?

01:18:33.620 It was like those two actors and Gene Wilder, all of them have brought me a lot of joy over

01:18:40.400 the course of my life.

01:18:41.260 So thank you for indulging me and spending this hour with me, which was my Christmas present

01:18:48.780 to myself.

01:18:50.960 And I hope to some extent to all of you, too.

01:18:55.220 Today's episode was brought to you in part by Home Title Lock.

01:18:58.440 Put a barrier around your home to protect yourself from home title theft.

01:19:02.000 Go to HomeTitleLock.com now to learn more.

01:19:05.480 I want to tell you before I let you go that, you know, been a lot of crying on this show

01:19:09.180 and there could be reason for even more coming up on our next show.

01:19:13.600 Actually, I didn't cry, but I did laugh hard and had some really funny reactions.

01:19:18.020 In fact, my senior producer, Debbie Murphy, who's been with me for 12 years, she's a hardened

01:19:21.960 news person.

01:19:22.780 She really has no heart.

01:19:23.840 She actually told me this is her favorite interview of mine.

01:19:26.820 This next one coming up.

01:19:28.140 Canadian Debbie.

01:19:29.480 We actually got her excited.

01:19:31.420 And you know who it is?

01:19:32.280 It's Father Jonathan Morris, who is father no longer.

01:19:35.940 He left the church.

01:19:37.400 My priest left the church, leaving the status of my now baptized children in jeopardy.

01:19:42.700 It's hanging.

01:19:43.380 Does it count or doesn't it?

01:19:44.680 No, it's really not about my kids.

01:19:46.060 But it is about his story, how he became a priest, which is actually very funny in and

01:19:50.940 of itself, the way it happened, and how he just recently decided to leave the priesthood

01:19:55.540 and the woman behind the story, or at least who came into the picture.

01:20:00.620 So we have them both in an interview you will love.

01:20:03.280 Trust me.

01:20:03.720 I don't care what your faith is or whether you don't or aren't a person of faith.

01:20:07.060 You're going to love this exchange.

01:20:09.360 I don't think you're going to be able to turn it off.

01:20:10.880 So that's on Friday.

01:20:13.820 That's Christmas.

01:20:14.560 Christmas, so tune in when you have your downtime after you're like, you're punch drunk from

01:20:18.620 all the presents and the coffee and all that stuff, and you got nothing to do, and there's

01:20:21.960 some football on, and I don't know, you're looking for like a little way to escape for

01:20:26.360 an hour from all the toy trains going off and the new loud presents that the rude uncle

01:20:32.960 gave your kids that never shut up.

01:20:35.020 Come away for an hour with me on Friday.

01:20:37.340 Looking forward to it.

01:20:38.200 And before we get there, Merry Christmas.

01:20:41.260 Thanks for listening to The Megyn Kelly Show. 0.94

01:20:43.200 No BS, no agenda, and no fear.

01:20:47.860 The Megyn Kelly Show is a Devil May Care media production in collaboration with Red Seat Ventures.

The Megyn Kelly Show - December 23, 2020

The Stars of ＂Willy Wonka,＂ on Childhood, Wilder, and Hollywood ｜ Ep. 41

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