Get ready to hear the name Calah Lane! The young actress stars in the Timothée Chalamet-led movie musical, Wonka — which she revealed is her “first big film.” We sat down with Calah, who spoke about her reaction to booking her role of Noodle, working alongside the Dune actor and being apart of the cast she calls a “huge Wonka family.”
Keep reading for our exclusive interview with Calah.
“First of all, it was lots of screams,” she recalled to J-14 exclusively on her reaction to booking Wonka. “We were in my mom’s room, my mom and dad’s room, and the director called us is what happened. And he was like, ‘We would love for you guys to come back to England for something.’ And we were like, ‘Is this for another screen test? And he was like, ‘No, you booked it.’ And we just screamed to the top of our lungs.”
However, the young star — who is only 14 years old — admitted that her knowledge surrounding the famous chocolatier was … a little lacking.
“I watched the Johnny Depp version, and I thought that it was the original,” she revealed. “I really did. But once I got the audition, then my mom actually showed me the [Gene Wilder version] because that’s kind of embarrassing.”
Walking onto the Wonka set, which includes Oscar-winning actress Olivia Coleman, the legendary Hugh Grant, and of course, Timothée — Calah recalled she was “definitely nervous” as it was her “first big film.”
“I was only 12, so I was just, I was in that state of mind because I was the youngest on set,” she said. “And so I was like, ‘Everyone’s going to treat me like a little kid. That was my state of mind.”
Once she got on set, however, she realized she had nothing to worry about — revealing that they “became a huge Wonka family.”
As for what it was like working with the leading man himself?
“It was so fun. We would always play around on set,” she said of Timothée. “I loved watching him be Willy Wonka. I remember just observing him sitting back and observing what he would do to get himself into the role. And he did a really good job. But we also, we did really fun things too. We had Thanksgiving together, which was fun.”
Not only did the two costars bond — they also learned a lot from one another. “I’m like a Michael Jackson ultimate fan,” she said, before revealing that she taught Timothée the “Thriller” dance while on set.
And what does she hope audiences take away from the musical?
“It’s a magical movie, and it’ll teach you about following your dreams and not letting anybody stop you in your life.”
Watch Calah and Timothée sing and dance in Wonka, which is out in theatres everywhere now.
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