The Hollywood Show: ‘Willy Wonka’ Stars Set the Record Straight on Wild Fan Theories
Candy genius and stickler for discipline — or murderous schmuck? Depending on who you ask, Willy Wonka could be either. Played with panache by Gene Wilder in the trippy 1971 kids’ classic Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, the proprietor of the Wonka Chocolate factory and king of the Oompa Loompas enchanted kids with the greatest house ever, filled with sugary wonders and magic inventions. Unfortunately for us sensitive souls in the audience, a little bad behavior could also turn those wonders into the stuff of nightmares or maybe even make the offending child disappear for good.
Like many films that stretch our imaginations to the limit and entice us to watch them over and over again, Wonka fans went looking for deeper meanings in those moments, inspiring conspiracy theories for generations to come.
Julie Dawn Cole (Veruca Salt) and Paris Themmen (Mike Teevee) spoke on a panel at the 2025 Hollywood Show about their take on a few of the most popular — and sinister — Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory conspiracy theories. Here’s what they said.
No seat on the boat for Augustus Gloop
This theory taps into the idea that a murder-minded Wonka already knew the gluttonous Gloop and his doting mother wouldn’t be along for the chicken-chopping boat ride down the chocolate river after Augustus falls in. After all, the little blue and white vessel with the carousel top only had enough seats for the folks left behind.
“Have you ever heard this one?” Themmen said. “That scene had just enough seats where the cast [member] out was that one?”
“Maybe we’ve just been sitting on someone else’s lap,” Cole cracked.
“Think that the way that we look in that boat,” Themmen expounded. “If you can have a little ‘nanny cam’ looking at all of the living rooms of all the people watching, I think [they] had that same face,” Themmen continued. “‘What the hell is happening? Am I okay? Is everything okay here? He’s lost it! He’s lost it!’
“We all feel the same way about that scene.”
The Chocolate Room mushrooms had a little extra “magic”
One popular theory was that the terrifying boat ride was caused by the luscious creamy filling in the chocolate room’s adorable red and white toadstools. Mike Teevee’s mom really went to town on that stuff, but no telling if everyone else took a dab too, hence the mortifying boat trip that followed.
“Was it a trip from the mushroom? Because your mother — I’ve heard that one,” Cole pressed Themmen. “They’re psilocybin mushrooms. They’re the shape, and the red and white.”
Actually, those mushrooms are Amanita muscaria, or fly agaric, and they can indeed cause hallucinations, making them a popular species for fairy tales and video games. But neither Cole nor Themmen believed Dahl, the film’s director, Mel Stewart, or Wilder were the least bit interested in incorporating drug culture.
“I don’t think it was any of that,” Cole said. “Roald wrote a story about four horrid children and one good child.”
Themmen took it from there. “That’s what he wrote. That’s it. Neither Mel Stewart, nor Gene nor any of ’em were doing drugs or into drugs. If you look at this 1970 genre, the artistic genre of the time, we look back and we go, ‘Wow, it’s psychedelic. Maybe they were all tripping!’ But you had TV shows like H.R. Pufnstuf and Lidsville and all of that stuff.”
Grandpa Joe’s lengthy pinkie nails
Eagle-eyed viewers noticed that Jack Albertson’s Grandpa Joe appears to have slightly longer nails on each of his pinkie fingers. In the 1970s, when the film was released, this style sometimes carried connotations, particularly with the era’s drug culture and cocaine use. Today, that small detail has sparked plenty of chatter online, with viewers playfully speculating about its meaning.
So could Willy Wonka have actually been the long, strange trip of a bunch of stoned adults? Not in this case, anyway.
According to Themmen, in Wonka creator Roald Dahl‘s novel, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, on which the film was based, “Grandpa Joe had a long pinkie nail, which actually was because he used to play the guitar.
“People will find mystery and mischief where they want to find it,” Themmen mused.
What’s your favorite Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory rumor or conspiracy theory? Let us know in the comments below!
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Kid Stuff
June 2018
Unleash your inner child by reliving your favorite kids TV shows, cartoons, toys and more!
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