'Let's create the Wonka-Verse!': Willy Wonka actor from disastrous event wants to meet Timothée Chalamet

29 February 2024, 15:13 | Updated: 29 February 2024, 15:21

By Jasmine Moody

The actor and comedian, who played Willy Wonka at the woeful event, has come to TikTok, asking users to put him in touch with Wonka star Timothée Chalamet.

Paul Connell, 31, first began by thanking social media users for all their "nice comments".

He then started to talk about his "plan" to meet Timothée Chalamet, who plays Wonka in the 2023 musical fantasy film.

Paul said: "Internet, I need your help. Do you think you can put me in touch with Timothée Chalamet?"

He then explained one of his reasonings behind the desire to meet the Hollywood star: "Timothée Chalamet is on record saying that the Hull accent is the sexiest accent.

"I've got a Hull accent!", he said before enunciating words as "proof".

"I am also a Wonka! I think we can do this!

"Let's create the Wonka-Verse! Let's have an into the Wonka-Verse movie!

"Internet, please make this happen, put me in touch with Chalamet because why not - this is my life now - it's a life of pure imagination...

"...and what I imagine is me and Chalamet doing the Spiderman point, make it happen," he concluded, in reference to the popular Spiderman meme of three of the superheroes pointing at each other.

Read more: 'The script was 15 pages of AI-generated gibberish': Willy Wonka actor breaks silence on disastrous event

Read more: Actors from 'shambolic' Willy Wonka-inspired event 'humiliated' as children in Oompa Loompa costumes burst into tears

The TikTok video, which has nearly 30,000 views has been flooded with supportive comments, with one social media user writing: "Commenting for the Chalamet algorithm".

Other comments have begged the comedian to read the "AI-generated script", whilst others want to know more about the lore behind the "Unknown".

At the event, the "Unknown" was met with children's cries, as the terrified tots watched in horror as a silver-masked man emerged from behind a mirror.

“At the end of my monologue, I was supposed to suck up the Unknown Man with a vacuum cleaner. I asked them if they had a vacuum cleaner and they said: 'Yeah, we haven't really got there yet, so just improvise," Mr Connell said in a previous TikTok video.

The Willy Wonka experience was described as a "paradise of sweet treats" with an "enchanted garden containing giant sweets and mysterious sculptures" and was advertised with whimsical and bright AI-generated images.

Instead of a paradise, choc-a-bloc full of fun, children were bitterly disappointed by the supposedly sweet event as they arrived at a "dirty old warehouse"

The children in attendance were not even given any chocolate and were instead handed a single jelly bean.

Other actors like Paul have spoken out.

Cara Lewis, who said she was hired for the event over the weekend, said in a post on Facebook, that actors had one night to learn the script and were then told to "abandon it and just improvise" amid the chaos.

"Even we [actors] had been made to believe that this would be an incredible experience, however almost everything mentioned in the script wasn’t even there."

She said it was "definitely AI generated too".

Michael Archibald, who said he was also an actor for the event, took to Facebook to brand the so-called 'immersive experience' as a "last-minute s**tshow" and apologised to distraught parents.

"We had some really lovely people who I am absolutely honoured to have spent time in meeting, however with contracts signed in erasable ink and no updates on what's happening, I doubt any of us will receive a penny," he claimed.

He added: "I am deeply sorry for the fact that things turned out the way they had.

"I spoke to the police officer who was in front of the warehouse later on and gave him as much information from an inside perspective as I could.

"This event has humiliated a group of professionals and people who generally knew what they were doing and really has made them feel horrid for their public reputation.

"Lots of love being sent for everyone involved, the stage staff appeared to all be students hired last minute as well and it would have been horrible on them."

He said his "heart broke" when he saw a "wee oompa loompa kid crying".

Willa Wonka event aftermath seen in Glasgow

Organisers, House of Illuminati, said in a post to Facebook on Saturday night: "Today has been a very stressful and frustrating day for many and for that we are truly sorry."

“Unfortunately last minute we were let down in many areas of our event and tried our best to continue on and push through and now realise we probably should have cancelled first thing this morning instead.

"We fully apologise for what has happened and will be giving full refunds to each and every person who purchased tickets."

The Box Hub said it had only rented out the space and was not responsible for the experience.