Calah Lane (hair: Tiffany Daugherty; makeup: ShaDara Holmes; styling: April Lim)
Emily Malan
Calah Lane is relishing her life of pure imagination after starring alongside Timothée Chalamet in Warner Bros.‘ anticipated holiday release Wonka.
The musical, which hit theaters Friday, features the 14-year-old actress as Noodle, a hard-working but underprivileged orphan who has never tasted chocolate until she ends up in the same boarding facility as Chalamet’s dessert-adoring Willy Wonka. Depicting the early years of the character who originated in Roald Dahl’s 1964 novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, director Paul King‘s movie also stars Hugh Grant, Olivia Colman and Keegan-Michael Key.
Lane, who earned a Critics Choice nomination for her breakout role, grew up in Fort Worth, Texas, and first showed an interest in performing when her mother filmed her belting out a Michael Jackson hit at age 2. After that, she landed a supporting part in a production of Annie at age 4 and later appeared on Kidding, Hollywood, This Is Us and Family Reunion, in addition to a pair of Jimmy Kimmel Live! episodes on which she sang background vocals.
The actress tells The Hollywood Reporter that she had only seen Tim Burton’s Johnny Depp-led Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) prior to her audition and assumed that it was the first Wonka movie, having not been aware of the 1971 film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory that starred Gene Wilder. As it happened, she didn’t even realize what she was getting into when she first threw her hat in the ring.
“I got an audition, and I had no idea it was even for Wonka,” Lane recalls. “My name was Nutmeg. It said ‘Untitled Project,’ and I think Willy Wonka’s name was like Jimmy or something. I found out that it was for Wonka when I went to England for a screen test.”
Lane first connected with Chalamet for a virtual screen test and then met him during a rehearsal after booking the part. The actress praises her co-star for making her feel at ease: “Sometimes it’s hard for me to get into character. When I watched him on set, I was like, ‘Wow, he can do this really, really, really good.’ And I kind of learned from that. But he’s very fun on set.”
The pair share frequent scenes together and got plenty of time to connect, including during a memorable musical number involving a giraffe and another trapped in gallons of liquid chocolate. The latter scene was first rehearsed in a brown lotion, and then later, the elixir contained actual chocolate.
“Even though it was chocolate, they were like, ‘Please do not eat it,’” Lane remembers about the film’s team. It’s safe to say the liquid left a lasting impression in more ways than one: “My hands were yellow, and my feet were yellow, and it was really weird.”
Speaking of chocolate, the role required consuming plenty of the confection. “I ate so much chocolate because we would do take after take after take,” she says. “It wasn’t bad chocolate, which was good because they actually had a chocolatier on set. There was so much detail in the chocolate, and it was so great. She made all the chocolates by hand.”
Needless to say, Lane isn’t complaining. “I love chocolate, so I’ll eat 30,000 pieces if I could,” she quips. (Luckily, the role didn’t require putting away quite that much.)
As for her career path, Lane, who continues her schooling from home, says she would enjoy trying an action role or possibly a Mean Girls-type high school project. And if she has another gig that requires singing and dancing, she would be more than capable, considering she even taught Chalamet some fleet-footed moves during their downtime.
“I taught him the ‘Thriller’ dance,” Lane says proudly. “I’m the No. 1 fan of Michael Jackson. I know everything.”