'The script was 15 pages of AI-generated gibberish': Willy Wonka actor breaks silence on disastrous event
28 February 2024, 18:56 | Updated: 28 February 2024, 19:07
The actor hired to be Willy Wonka for the "disappointing" event has broken his silence on social media.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
The 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 to a "dirty old warehouse"
Stuart Sinclair, 29, who travelled two hours from Dundee with his three children to the event described it as "an absolute shambles of an event".
He told the Courier newspaper: "There was a guy wandering around apparently dressed as Willy Wonka but he didn’t seem interested."
Now, Paul Connell, the actor hired to play the whimsical chocolate factory-owning character has spoken out on TikTok in a series of videos.
The 31-year-old comedian criticised the script he was given, branding it as "15 pages of AI-generated gibberish.
He said: "I'm constantly applying for more acting jobs and comedy work, then I got a phone call on Thursday saying, ‘Congratulations you are going to play Willy Wonka, we will send you over the script and dress rehearsal is tomorrow.
"The script was 15 pages of AI-generated gibberish of me just monologuing these mad things.
"The bit that got me was where I had to say, 'There is a man we don’t know his name. We know him as the Unknown. This Unknown is an evil chocolate maker who lives in the walls," he said to The Independent.
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," he added.
He ended up "cutting" things out as they were "too silly".
All of the actors were "lovely people" to tried to make the event as magical as possible, according to the comedian.
He added that organisers scolded him for spending too much time with the children and instead should "get through them as quickly as possible.'
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".
Willa Wonka event aftermath seen in Glasgow
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".
The disappointment was so great that police were called due to the sheer amount of people waiting outside the venue.
The event stopped short just halfway through the first day.
To make the situation sweeter, a GoFundMe page had been created to "help put on a fun, amazing event for the children of Glasgow who were let down by the Willy Wonka chocolate experience".
It hopes to provide children with a free day, as compensation for the “disappointed children”
The page now seems to have been taken down but £150 of the £5,000 had been raised.
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.
