The Big Picture · Discussion · Interview

‘Wonka’ and the Timothee Chalamet Movie Star Playbook. Plus: Jonathan Glazer on ‘The Zone of Interest.’

December 15, 2023/ 101 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins

Joanna Robinson joins Sean and Amanda to argue about 'Wonka' (two of them cried, one calls it cynical and not good), then walk Timothee Chalamet's career from 'Interstellar' to 'A Complete Unknown' against the Leo DiCaprio template. Then Sean's interview with Jonathan Glazer and sound designer Johnnie Burn on building 'The Zone of Interest.'

38 films across 3 segments.

AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.

‘Wonka’Sean and Amanda with Joanna Robinson, opinions split

Wonka 2023

Paul King's non-canonical Willy Wonka origin story, an 'alternate reality' prequel to the 1971 film. Amanda and Joanna both cried (twice, for Joanna), crediting King's shameless deployment of Sally Hawkins and the late arrival of 'Pure Imagination.' Sean thinks it's a fine kids' movie sold as prestige, with bad songs and worse production design, and reads Chalamet as miscast and the Oompa-Loompas as a cynical IP signal. Chalamet was up for Best Actor (Musical/Comedy) at the Golden Globes.

Paddington 2014

Paul King's first film. Joanna calls the Paddington movies two of her favorite cinema experiences; the table agrees 'Wonka' runs the same playbook, less well.

Paddington 2 2017

Held up as King's high-water mark. Sean notes its cult status is a film-Twitter bubble, boosted by its role in 'The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent,' not the wide consensus he'd assumed.

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory poster

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory 1971

The Gene Wilder version everyone measures against. Sean's core objection: Wilder's Wonka is deranged and mean-spirited, and Chalamet doesn't attempt any of that. The new film lightly borrows a song or two and the Slugworth name.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory poster

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory 2005

The Tim Burton / Johnny Depp version. Nobody defends it: 'absolutely horrifying, terrible.'

Mary Poppins 1964

Amanda's main comparison: a long, faintly anti-capitalist musical for children with a magical outsider who arrives to teach a lesson, plus varying degrees of performance from Julie Andrews to Dick Van Dyke ('Man,' per her son).

Mary Poppins Returns 2018

The more honest comparison, Sean concedes: the nostalgic-but-lesser one Amanda also openly cried at.

Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical 2022

Sean's preferred recent Dahl musical: meaner, more interesting, and closer to the source's cruelty than 'Wonka' gets.

The Timothee Chalamet Movie Star PlaybookThe career so far, measured against the Leo DiCaprio template

Men, Women & Children 2014

Chalamet's screen debut, buried as roughly the eighth lead in a widely rejected Jason Reitman ensemble. Made no impression.

Interstellar 2014

Where Sean first clocked him, as young Tom, a hair-based casting decision that pays off when Casey Affleck takes over the older role. Amanda is an open Interstellar hater; Joanna thinks it makes emotional sense but not logistical sense.

Worst Friends 2014

A pre-fame title nobody on the show has seen.

One & Two 2015

Joanna caught it at South by Southwest (Kiernan Shipka co-stars) and pitches it as 'X-Men but make them Amish.' Verdict: very bad.

The Adderall Diaries 2015

He plays a teenage Stephen Elliott, one half of a Bay Area author two-fer with 'Beautiful Boy.'

Love the Coopers 2015

Studio family Christmas comedy from the prepping-for-his-moment stretch.

Miss Stevens 2016

Lily Rabe as an acting teacher; Joanna rates it 'very good.'

Call Me by Your Name 2017

The breakout. With 'Lady Bird' it establishes his two archetypes in one year (disaffected impossible boy and wildly sensitive, sensual one), in what Sean calls one of the most significant single years any actor has had in a decade.

Lady Bird 2017

The other half of the 2017 breakout. Sean flags the fork with Lucas Hedges here (both rising, both in this film) before Hedges 'evaporated into the morning mist.'

Hostiles 2017

The Scott Cooper Western, part of his loaded 2017.

Hot Summer Nights 2017

A 2015 South by title acquired and released to catch the Chalamet wave.

Wonder Wheel 2017

His first Woody Allen film, released amid the drama that had its cast answering for participating.

Beautiful Boy 2018

The Oscar play after 'Call Me' that didn't land, one of two addiction dramas he and Lucas Hedges made in parallel (Hedges did 'Ben Is Back'). Sean thinks both are flawed.

Ben Is Back 2018

Lucas Hedges and Julia Roberts, directed by Peter Hedges. Sean's pick as the superior of the two twinned opioid dramas.

A Rainy Day in New York 2019

The second Woody Allen film, effectively deleted from culture; Chalamet later walked it back. A spirited try at a lesser Allen script, not a good movie.

The King 2019

The big Netflix historical swing: Robert Pattinson doing 'remarkable hair and accent work,' Joel Edgerton giving it his all. Sean doesn't like it but likes that it happened.

Little Women 2019

Greta Gerwig's film, and 'an all-time move.' He's excellent as Laurie, a role Joanna frames as the Christian Bale part. Gerwig tried to write him a Barbie cameo but Dune scheduling killed it.

The French Dispatch 2021

One of three 2021 films (the Wes Anderson leg of a Villeneuve / Anderson / McKay trifecta). He's in the black-and-white French-resistance segment.

Dune 2021

The franchise bet that works. Sean wasn't sure he'd buy Paul Atreides until the last 30 minutes, and did. Joanna, a self-described Dune expert on a show that coined 'spice heads,' calls him a great Paul. His 'Titanic,' the table decides: sandworms for icebergs.

Don't Look Up 2021

The Adam McKay leg: a freegan named Yule romancing Jennifer Lawrence. A Best Picture nominee and one of Netflix's most-watched, which helps the trajectory even if the film underwhelms.

Bones and All 2022

The Luca Guadagnino cannibal romance almost no one saw. Sean and Joanna both love it: a Coppola-in-the-'80s, 'Rumble Fish' kind of performance, additive even though Taylor Russell is the lead.

Barbie 2023

The cameo that didn't happen. Gerwig wrote parts for him and Saoirse Ronan, but Dune tied him up.

Dune: Part Two 2024

Named, with 'Furiosa,' as one of the movie events of 2024.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga 2024

The other tentpole the table pegs as a 2024 event (not a Chalamet film, a marker for the year).

A Complete Unknown 2024

James Mangold's Bob Dylan biopic. The riskiest move on the board for Sean, a devout Dylan fan who'll hold it to a very high standard. Perfect title; Todd Haynes's 'I'm Not There' already refracted the subject.

Jonathan Glazer and Johnnie Burn on ‘The Zone of Interest’