Original Willy Wonka Actor ‘Shed a Tear’ After Hearing Gene Wilder’s AI Voice in Netflix Show

An actor who starred alongside Gene Wilder in 1971’s Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory revealed he got emotional on the set of Netflix’s Wonka’s The Golden Ticket. The Charlie and the Chocolate Factory-inspired reality competition series digitally recreated Wilder’s voice using artificial intelligence.

Rusty Goffe, who played one of the iconic Oompa Loompas in the original film, joined the cast of the new series. When asked about hearing the recreated voice of Wilder, who passed away in 2016, Goffe reflected on the emotional moment.

“I did shed a tear when I first heard it, because I loved the man so much. But then I thought he wouldn’t want me to do that. He’d want me to be an Oompa-Loompa, get out there, do the job. Yeah, that was Gene. He was a lovely, lovely man,” he said.

What is Netfilx’s new Willy Wonka show about?

Wonka’s The Golden Ticket takes the premise of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and gives it a reality television update.

The official description of the show reads, “In this high-stakes social experiment inspired by the beloved Roald Dahl novel and 1971 film, twelve lucky Golden Ticket recipients, each with a partner of their choosing, will step through the gates of Wonka’s Chocolate Factory and into a world of pure imagination and delicious mischief. Once inside the fantastical, unpredictable landscape of the factory, contestants must navigate a series of Wonka’s games and challenges, designed to test them physically, mentally, and morally.”

The competition features a massive financial prize. The winner of the challenges receives a “lifetime supply of money,” structured as a six-figure annual payout for 30 consecutive years. As Wilder’s AI-generated voice reminds viewers during the show, the prize totals $6 million over three decades.

Regarding the use of his voice for the game show, The Gene Wilder Estate, through his wife, said, “We are delighted that Wonka’s The Golden Ticket celebrates the warmth and imagination that he brought to the role, introducing that magic to a new generation while honoring the fans who have cherished it for decades.”

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