The cast of "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" reunited on Wednesday's "Today" show 44 years after the film hit theaters to commemorate the anniversary of Roald Dal's musical adaptation of the classic children's book, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Six of the original cast members, including Peter Ostrum (Charlie Buckets), Paris Themmen (Mike Teavee), Julie Dawn Cole (Veruca Salt), Rusty Goffe (Oompa Loompa), Denise Nickerson (Violet Beauregarde) and Michael Bollner (Augustus Gloop), came together to relive the memories they shared together in the 1971 film.
"We think of ourselves as part of a family," said Themmen. "Maybe a bit of a dysfunctional family, but a family really."
All of the cast members, excluding Goffe, moved on from acting after the film. "Everybody could be so lucky to have an experience like this and then to go in a completely different direction!" said Ostrum, who is now a veterinarian by profession, according to E! News.
The group also revealed that they thoroughly enjoyed playing spoilt brats on the film. "It's fun to be bad and to be encouraged to be bad," recalled Cole, according to Today. "Usually your parents are telling you, 'Don't do this. Don't do that.' And we had Mel Stuart, our director, saying, 'Be meaner.'"
Even though the cast had a blast during the filming of the movie, it wasn't all rainbows and butterflies. The infamous chocolate river in the film wasn't so sweet after all.
"I'm sorry [the river wasn't made of liquid chocolate]. It was water," said Bollner.
"It was disgusting," added Goffe.
Watch the interview below:
