Gene Wilder?


In trivia it states SS approached GW about appearing in the film but he declined (obviously old Halliday but maybe young too via CG)

unfortunate as it'd have been a fitting end to GWs career/life plus the obvious connections of RP1/Halliday with Wily Wonka and GWs screen persona in general. Plus the Pure Imagination theme

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Gene Wilder passed away in 2016, so when was he approached?

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I'm going to guess before he died.

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That's a good guess.

I don't disagree - I think he would've been a cool old guy Halliday and I can imagine the Pure Imagination song in the film. But describing his declination of the role as 'unfortunate' is odd. He likely passed on the film because he was suffering from Alzheimer's disease, which he was diagnosed with in 2013. Sure, he kept the condition private, but we know everything now postmortem, so it seems kind of a weird to label his absence from the film as unfortunate.

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well ok his condition was unfortunate and it causing him to pass on the role was unfortunate too

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Fortunately, though, he is no longer suffering. May the One True Wonka rest in peace.

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