Rusty Goffe Wept Hearing Gene Wilder's AI-Recreated Voice

Rusty Goffe, the 77-year-old actor who played an Oompa-Loompa in the 1971 film "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory," says he "shed a tear" when he first heard Gene Wilder's voice recreated by artificial intelligence for Netflix's new game show "Wonka's Golden Ticket."

"It was lovely hearing his voice again, because I loved that man," Goffe told Variety in an interview conducted ahead of the show's Sept. 23 launch. "He was a gentle, fantastic character, very funny, very, very kind, and to hear him in the show, I was so pleased that Netflix had done it."

The AI recreation of Wilder's voice, which has drawn some controversy, was made with the blessing of the actor's widow. Wilder died in 2016. Goffe, for his part, offers no ambiguity about the result. "He is Mr. Wonka. He is Willy Wonka. Gene Wilder is Willy Wonka," he said.

Asked whether hearing the AI voice felt uncanny, Goffe dismissed the suggestion. "It's just him standing there," he said. "I did shed a tear when I first heard it, because I loved the man so much. But then I thought he wouldn't want me to do that. He'd want me to be an Oompa-Loompa, get out there, do the job."

"Wonka's Golden Ticket," which streams on Netflix, runs nine episodes and follows 12 contestants through a series of increasingly outlandish challenges on Wonka-themed sets, including the famous elevator and the edible candy room, complete with chocolate waterfall. The prize, billed as a "lifetime's supply of money," amounts to roughly $3 million, calculated as an annual six-figure salary paid over 30 years.

Netflix acquired the rights to Roald Dahl's literary estate five years ago. The show marks the platform's latest extension of the Wonka property into unscripted television.

Goffe appears alongside his son, Ben Goffe, a 33-year-old actor whose credits include "Artemis Fowl" and, as his father notes, Shakespeare. The elder Goffe said he gave his son no advice for the role. "None whatsoever. I was an Oompa-Loompa. You're the new one. Learn — on the job!"

The new production departs from the 1971 film in one visible respect: the Oompa-Loompas, as contestants are told during the show, "come in all shapes and sizes now." Goffe described the cast: "We had one bodybuilder, big guy, a tall guy, three ladies, a small man, and Ben. It was wonderful to have this diverse [cast of] people."

Returning to the chocolate room after more than five decades left Goffe struck by the rebuild. "It was bizarre, going into the studio, into the chocolate room, in fact. And it was all modern," he said. "They still had a river. They still had a waterfall."

The original 1971 set, he recalled, was far less appetizing. The river was "just dirty water, it smelled because we were pouring real cream and real sugar into it, and with the hot lights, it was melting." Michael Böllner, who played Augustus Gloop as a child, still fields questions about it. "[In a German accent] 'It vas stinky vater!'" Goffe recounted, adding that Böllner was not part of the new production.

Goffe also confirmed, with a pause, that he kept at least one piece of the 1971 set: a real golden ticket. "My children's inheritance," he said.

The call from Netflix came through his New York agent. "[I said] 'Being in "Wonka?" That was a long time ago.' And they said 'Yeah, they still want you,'" Goffe recalled. He said he quickly adapted to the game-show format, in which the Oompa-Loompas kept deliberately expressionless so contestants could not read answers from their faces.

Goffe said he remains astonished by the endurance of the original film, which he credits entirely to its fans. "I am still absolutely amazed how big it still is," he said, noting that convention-goers, mainly in the United States, still tell him they leave newer Wonka films singing "Oompa-Loompa doompa dee do." "If it wasn't for the fans, it'd be gone."

The new show now bookends a career that began on the 1971 soundstage. "I started my career on 'Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory' and now I am pleased to announce to Variety that I've ended my career on 'Willy Wonka's The Golden Ticket,'" Goffe said — before signing off the Zoom call with a line of his own: "Have a scrumdiddlyumptious day!"