I Want it Now! by Cole Julie Dawn

Author:Cole, Julie Dawn [Cole, Julie Dawn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Biography
Publisher: BearManor Media / Ocean View Publishing
Published: 2011-07-12T05:00:00+00:00

By this point, Peter and I were no longer speaking to one another, and when we were invited by Gene to board the boat (“Mesdames et messieurs, maintenant nous allons faire grand petit voyage par bateau. Voulez-vous entrer le Wonkatania?” or “Ladies and gentlemen, now we are going for a great little boat trip. Do you want to come on the Wonkatania?”), I embarked with zest and then sat looking disinterestedly and pointedly away from Peter. There are frames within this scene in which Peter looks at me and I deliberately look away without making eye contact. That moment remains trapped in time for all to see. Of course, my annoyance passed quickly, and it wasn’t long before I was back pursuing his attention.

When filming wrapped on the Chocolate Room scenes, the river was drained and the Wonkatania was transported to another soundstage. Stagehands began dismantling the stadium set and making way for the next film production, Bob Fosse’s Cabaret, and the magical Chocolate Room began its transformation from a tangible place to images on film. There was a deep sense of loss as the enchanted landscape withered, reverting to a plain open soundstage.

***

Once the Wonkatania was in place on the new set, it was elevated onto a large scaffold frame about twenty feet in the air. The only way up to the boat was by ladder. Once seated on this raised platform, we were stranded, unable to even use the restroom for long stretches during filming. It was during this period that I pleaded the most with Roy to perform his rendition of “Now, you’ve heard of Hiawatha?” again and again and again. We were trapped on this boat for hours together, and that generous and gracious man kept me amused during the long idle periods.

The stage backdrop was a theater-size projection screen where unsettling psychedelic images flashed in rapid succession, giving the impression that the Wonkatania was traveling through mind-twisting passages. While some of the dark imagery—gruesome pictures of a chicken being slaughtered, reptiles, and other creatures—made it into the final film print, much darker images, including one of a large-bore needle being injected into an arm, were never used. A portrait of Slugworth flashed by, very 1940s film noir, along with many other dark themes captured in our own expressions. Stagehands shook the scaffolding to give the illusion of motion, and large mounted light systems helped illuminate the cast members.

“Round the world and home again, that’s the sailor’s way!” Gene commenced this scene by quoting from William Allingham’s Homeward Bound, and his performance was so convincing that some of us actually became a little fearful during the segment. It is not one of my more happy memories of the production, due in part to the working conditions. Imagine having to see those disturbing images for hours on end. It was not a comfortable process, to say the least.

The Wonkatania’s arrival at the exterior entrance of the Inventing Room took place on a completely different soundstage. Although simple

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