Sweeter than fiction! All of the candy in the latest Wonka film was edible, director reveals - after cast of the 1971 classic had to put up with 'stinky' and 'disgusting' fake chocolate

Every sweet which is consumed in the latest Willy Wonka film can actually be eaten - its movie director has revealed - and there was even a full-time chocolatier on set.

Speaking to Radio Times, as reported by the Telegraph, Paul King, who also worked on the beloved Paddington films, revealed that 'everything consumed in the movie is properly edible and tasty, even the flowers and leaves'.

Wonka - which will be released in the UK on December 8 - will explore the origin story behind Roald Dahl's beloved, whacky confectionary protagonist. 

And Paul said an expert was on hand to make sure that - unlike previous adaptations where actors later recounted working with a fake 'stinky' and 'disgusting' chocolate river - the sweets in the film taste as good as they look. 

Gabriella Cugno - a high end pastry chef and chocolatier - lent her talents to bring the fantastical creations in the movie to life. 

Paul recounted one moment when he felt inspired by the 1971 Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory film.

'There was an amazing thing on set one day. I was remembering the bit where Gene Wilder eats a teacup,' he told the outlet. 

'And I was like, "Oh, if only I'd thought of this, we could have a chocolate cup that Willy could make".' 

With only an hour to go before they had to start filming, an 'unfazed' Gabriella produced 'half a dozen perfect little cups and saucers, made of what looked like different blue leaves'.

Paul was also full of praise for her 'hoverchocs' - which in the movie, delightedly, make people fly. The chocolatier created between 700-900 of the sweets for the film. 

Speaking in past to Entertainment Weekly, she recounted how she and Paul would brainstorm the candy.

'At the first show and tell, I showed [Paul] about 10 different chocolates from the script, but I would make maybe five different variations of one chocolate,' she explained.

'One of the variations would be a really wacky version or a really soft version. I would look at Paul and what's he gravitating towards for this particular scene?

'Each chocolate is so different. I would slowly understand what his vision is.'

The commitment to edible chocolates comes as cast members from the 1971  adaptation have in past opened up about the 'disgusting' chocolate river used in the movie. 

Michael Bollner - who played Augustus Gloop- told Polygon in 2021: 'It was actually not chocolate. It was terribly cold. It was stinky water! And it was all day long, jumping in and jumping out, and being around with wet clothes.'

Julie Dawn Cole (Veruca Salt) called the river 'disgusting stuff that had been sitting there for three weeks'.

'It had the lights on it, and people were emptying their coffee cup dregs into it,' she added.

According to PEOPLE, Gene Wilder himself said that 'about a third' of the sweets consumed on set were actually edible. 

However, the infamous teacup scene which he chews was made out of wax - and the actor had to brave chomping on it until the take was finished. 

Answering fan questions on Reddit nine years ago, Paris Themmen - who played Mike Teevee - said that 'in general, if we ate it on film it was real, and if not, it was fake'.

He added: 'The gummy bears in the Pure Imagination room were mostly plastic with a gummy ear. This is an example of how they did it.'

Paris also revealed, however, that they did eat 'several types of candy on set'.

'My favorite candy was actually the 'gum' that Violet eats and is a three-course meal,' he told social media.

'That actually wasn't gum but was a very tasty toffee-based candy. It was used in close-ups so they didn't have very many of them, and after I ate a couple I asked for a third one and they wouldn't give it to me.'

Writing in Pure Imagination: The Making of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, director Mel Stuart also praised Harper Goff on creating the artistic vision behind the film, saying: 'Harper and his crew covered the grounds with a fantastic carpet of brightly colored shapes containing candy.

'There were giant mushrooms filled with whipped cream, chocolate-bearing trees, and a host of other delights.'

Meanwhile, according to Metaflix, the 2005 Tim Burton movie - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - saw Nestle provide 1,850 real chocolate bars, such as the one the children find their golden tickets in.

The company also gave away 110,000 fake ones for the scene depicting them being made in the factory.

The special effects company which worked on designing the infamous chocolate river - Vickers Laboratories - also opened up about the process.

Speaking to Chemistry World, CEO Julian Driver explained how 1.25 million litres of artificial chocolate was needed for the endeavour.

'Hydroxyethyl cellulose is a gelling agent which causes the water to thicken,' he added.

'We were able to control the viscosity of the final product by varying amounts of this material.'

Julian continued: 'We were asked to secure it for six weeks, and filming took twelve weeks - so towards the end we were putting all sorts of biocides in there to stop it going off... They were just asking for it to go rancid!' 

The origin tale on Willy Wonka - based on Roald Dahl's 1964 novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - hits UK theaters December 8 and US theaters December 15.

Wonka also features Keegan-Michael Key, Matt Lucas, Sally Hawkins, Rowan Atkinson, Olivia Colman, Hugh Grant, and newcomer Calah Lane.

Timothee earned $9M to portray the titular character after beating out Tom Holland, Donald Glover, Ezra Miller and Ryan Gosling for the role.

The eccentric genius, who delighted in punishing naughty children, was memorably originated by Gene Wilder in Mel Stuart's 1971 beloved classic Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.