In test screenings, black activists went NUTZO over the oompa-loompas, “They’re a mockery of AFRICANS..!!!”
It went on and on and on, and the movie was very nearly not released.
They painted them orange with green hair, to make them other-worldly, the better to get as far away as possible from the African Perception.
Finally the movie could be released.
The idea for the first reveal glimpses of Willy Wonka to the curious crowds surrounding the factory as being SADLY HOBBLED, but then revealed as just a ruse, was completely the idea of Gene Wilder.
Who here thinks they could make that movie TODAY..?
Not in a million years.