Man who played Augustus Gloop in original Willy Wonka movie says nobody recognises him now

Tax lawyer Michael Böllner, who played Augustus Gloop in the 1971 flick Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, says his clients have no idea he was in the legendary movie.

Marking the original movie's 50 year anniversary in 2021, Böllner reunited with his surviving co-stars to see what they're up to all these years later.

And during this interview, which aired on WGN Morning News in the US, Böllner revealed that the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory isn't particularly well-known in his native Germany... meaning no one really knows about his role in it.

He told the hosts: "The film is not famous in Germany. Nobody knew of the film until the version with Johnny Depp came out [in 2005].

ITV

"So when I tell people I was a part of the Willy Wonka movie, nobody knows."

Previously on an interview with This Morning, Böllner, 62, admitted that he didn't have any idea how huge the movie would end up becoming.

When asked by then hosts Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby if he anticipated the flick to be such a runaway success, he replied: "No, not at all.

"I just went down to make this movie, stayed there for a few weeks and I didn't really know what was going on. I thought, 'This is just a movie and it will fade away very quickly'."

Although he now crunches numbers for a living, Böllner admitted that he does enjoy going along to conventions and meeting up with his old castmates.

He told Holly and Phil: "Yes it's really fun. It's a kind of strange, different world for me.

"I am usually doing taxes, but having fans and being famous in the UK and USA, it's really great, fantastic."

Paramount Pictures

Böllner, who was just 12 when the movie was made, starred in one of its most memorable scenes - when greedy Augustus falls into the chocolate river and ends up being sucked into a giant pipe.

And the reality of shooting that scene was almost as grim, with the actor-turned-lawyer revealing that it was actually cold, dirty water in the 'river'.

He told This Morning: "It was cold water - terrible, stinking water. It had been there for weeks and it was very shallow, just 10cm deep.

"There was a small space of about a square metre where I had to jump in. It was dangerous because the water was not clear." Yummy.

The latest movie, Wonka, stars Timothée Chalamet as the titular confectioner and is set to land in cinemas on 15 December.

Topics: TV and Film

Jess Battison

Jess is an Entertainment Journalist with a love of all things pop culture. Her main interests include keeping up with the Twitter girlies, waiting for a new series of The Traitors and losing her voice at a Beyoncé concert. She graduated with a first in Journalism from City, University of London in 2021 and has previously worked at MyLondon.

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