Timothée Chalamet’s Singing Voice Compared to Bing Crosby

Wonka director Paul King has compared star Timothée Chalamet’s singing voice to Bing Crosby, whose version of “White Christmas” remains the best-selling single of all time.

King shared his effusive praise for Chalamet, who portrays a young Willy Wonka in the film, in an interview with Total Film Magazine. “[Chalamet]’s got a beautiful singing voice,” he said. “The person it reminded me of was Bing Crosby. There’s quite a range, because it does go from a couple of bigger, showstopper-y sort of things, to moments of real, pure emotion and he can do it all… I’m going to sound like a crazed fan.”

Though it sounds like there are big musical moments in the film, King is reluctant to label it as a proper musical. “The Oompa Loompas sing a lot in the book, and Dahl always uses poetry,” he said. “But I didn’t want it to just become a musical where people are singing dialogue to each other for no discernible reason. I felt like it was more like a movie with songs than a musical.”

Back in July, King told Rolling Stone that he knew Chalamet had the chops for the “proper musical sequences” in the film from being a “stan” of the actor. “He was the only person in my mind who could do it,” King said. “But because he’s Timothée Chalamet and his life is so absurd, his high school musical performances are on YouTube and have hundreds of thousands of views. So I knew from stanning for Timmy Chalamet that he could sing and dance really well.”

Still, King was caught off guard by how multi-faceted Chalamet was. “I knew that was in his arsenal, but I didn’t know how good he was,” he continued. “When I spoke to him he was quite keen. He’d done tap dancing in high school and he was like, ‘I’d quite like to show people I can do that.’”

Wonka also features a scene in which Chalamet swam in an “enormous vat of hot chocolate,” as King previously revealed. The film also features Hugh Grant, Olivia Colman, Sally Hawkins, Keegan-Michael Key, Rowan Atkinson, Matt Lucas, and more. Revisit the trailer here ahead of its December 15th premiere in theaters.

Chalamet will also have the opportunity to show off his voice from a different perspective when he does his own singing in an upcoming Bob Dylan biopic.