'Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory' cast reflects on film's 50th anniversary

By Megan Stone

Fifty years ago today, "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" opened in theaters. To celebrate the movie's milestone, four of the film's original cast members joined together to honor the beloved classic.

Peter Ostrum, who starred as Charlie Bucket, sat down with "Entertainment Tonight" to reflect on the movie's anniversary, which was adapted from the 1964 Roald Dahl novel. He was joined by Julie Dawn Cole, Michael Bollner and Paris Themmen -- who played Veruca Salt, Augustus Gloop and Mike Teavee, respectively.

Ostrum talked about the movie's long-lasting legacy, despite the film being met with lukewarm reviews when it premiered.

Wolper Pictures

Gene Wilder and the cast of the film appear in the 1971 classic, "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory."

"It just continues to have a life of its own," he said with a grin, referencing the 2005 reboot that starred Johnny Depp and the upcoming "Wonka" origin film starring Timothée Chalamet.

All four cast members also reflected on the late Gene Wilder, who played Willy Wonka, and agreed his performance will be hard to beat.

"Let's face it, Gene Wilder, in particular, is a pretty amazing performance to have to be measured against," Themmen said.

Wilder died of complications from Alzheimer's disease in August 2016. He was 83.

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Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka and Peter Ostrum as Charlie Bucket on the set of the 1971 film "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory."

The cast also reminisced about walking on the fantastical set for the first time, with Themmen saying, "All of it was pretty much the way you would expect that it was, especially the chocolate room."

Speaking of chocolate, Bollner recalled performing the movie's most dangerous stunt -- falling into the "chocolate river" -- and getting sucked up in a giant tube.

Noting that the water was "cold and stinky," Bollner divulged, "They put the tube around me with a crane and put the water ... up to my mouth, and I was totally stuck in the tube. I couldn't move anything and the guys around me, I had to depend on them that they would stop the water at the right time, otherwise I would have definitely drowned."