Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Oompah Loompah problems

Auntie Sal bought the boys Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory on DVD (the 1971 Gene Wilder version, not the latest Johnny Depp version). Working in the factory are a tribe of unusual humans, called the Oompah Loompahs. They have orange faces and green hair. And they are 3 feet tall. One of the extras on the DVD is the obligatory "making of", with these interesting interviews shedding light on casting the Oompah Loompahs.

[Deeply tanned greying 3 foot tall actor, voice like Sir Laurence Olivier] Of course we were shooting in Germany, and there was terrible trouble finding actors of smaller stature who could speak English, so a number of us were brought over from Britain...

[Cut to producer Mel Stuart, broad Brooklyn accent]. We had a lotta problems gettin' the midgets...

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