When you leave the theater after seeing the box office smash "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," please remind yourself that actress AnnaSophia Robb really is a nice person.
Why must you ask?
If you caught Robb earlier this year in the big-screen adaptation of "Because of Winn Dixie," you'll remember Robb as Opal, the sweet daughter of a lost, yet well-intended preacher (Jeff Daniels) who befriends a stray dog and changes the lives of people around her.
But in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," she convincingly plays Violet Beauregard, the bratty daughter of a lost -- as in out-of-touch -- overbearing soccer-mom-type (Missi Pyle) who wins a trip to the factory of Willy Wonka (Johnny Depp). But unlike the caring Opal, Violet is
all about Violet.
At age 11, Robb has already gotten a chance to do what most actors, much less child actors, get a chance to do in their entire careers: Play characters that are polar opposites. And to top things off, she's playing a memorable character from a book of which she's a big fan.
"I loved the book 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' and Roald Dahl's writing," Robb told me in a recent @ The Movies interview. "His books are not sugary-sweet, where everything turns out all-right in the end. They have lots of twists and turns and you never really know what's going to happen."
In the film version of "Charlie," Violet, Charlie Bucket (Freddie Highmore), Augustus Gloop (Philip Wiegratz), Veruca Salt (Julia Winter) and Mike Teavee (Jordan Fry) are five children worldwide who find a Golden Ticket in a Wonka bar -- which earns them a once-in-a-lifetime chance to tour the famous candy maker's chocolate factory.
Robb's most memorable scene no doubt comes when, against Wonka's wishes, Violet -- ferociously determined to become the world's nonstop chewing gum champ -- samples a stick of chewing gum that's not exactly up to specification. As a result, Violet turns into a giant blueberry.
And although the blueberry body is computer-generated, that doesn't mean that Robb didn't have to literally go through the motions.
"When I blowing up into the blueberry, I was 14 feet up in the air and was wearing a prosthetic face mask on that was all blue," Robb, a native of Denver, explained.
But, while some of the elements of her character were computer-generated, Robb said the set on which she worked was very real.
"It was so incredibly beautiful -- all the colors were fantastic," Robb said. "When I walked onto the set for the first time I said, 'OK, what's going on here? Is this painting?' It was so cool to be there."
Of course, the man who was in large part responsible for that look was director Tim Burton, who has more than earned himself the distinction of being a quirky filmmaker. But while outsiders and critics may view Burton as eccentric, Robb feels the quite the opposite.
"A lot of people ask me if Tim Burton is kind of weird, and he's actually quite normal," Robb said. "He's very, very calm. He's a very creative man who expresses that through his films. When you look at him, you never really know what he is thinking.
""He's a really fun guy to be around," Robb added. "He's very fun to talk to. He's cool."
If working on a Burton film wasn't an exciting enough opportunity for Robb, she also got to star opposite the director's frequent collaborator in Depp. Robb couldn't say enough about the actor who continues to stun audiences with his unique portrayals.
"He totally gets into his characters," praised Robb. "When you talk to him on set, he's just a normal guy -- really cool and really funny. But when Tim says 'Action,' he completely turns into Willy Wonka. Then when Tim says 'Cut,' he turns into this cool person again."
And because of his choices of parts and professional behavior, Robb considers Depp one of her role models.
"I really look up to him," Robb said. "He's not afraid to take risks and doesn't care what other people think."
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