‘Wonka’: The hilarious reason why Timothée Chalamet got the job without auditioning

Timothée Chalamet’s high school musical performances appear to have gone on his permanent record.

‘Wonka” director Paul King has revealed to Rolling Stone that the “Dune” actor was able to beat out the likes of Donald Glover, Ezra Miller and Ryan Gosling for the role of the famed chocolatier Willy Wonka — without auditioning — on the strength of a few YouTube clips of an all-singing, all-dancing young Chalamet.

NYC native Chalamet attended Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, graduating in 2013.

King was surprised by “how good he was,” realizing he’d found the right whimsical fit for the “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” prequel musical.

“It was a straight offer because he’s great and he was the only person in my mind who could do it,” King said. “But because he’s Timothée Chalamet and his life is so absurd, his high school musical performances are on YouTube and have hundreds of thousands of views. So I knew from stanning for Timmy Chalamet that he could sing and dance really well.”

“When I spoke to him he was quite keen. He’d done tap dancing in high school and he was like, ‘I’d quite like to show people I can do that,’” King said.

The film, set to be released in December, borrows from author Roald Dahl’s chocolate-covered world to tell an imagined story-before-the-story..

Starring alongside Chalamet is Hugh Grant as an Oompa Loompa, adorned with green hair, orange skin and an unstoppable tune in his heart. Grant was another no-brainer choice, as King had fond memories of working with him on “Paddington 2.”

“He’s the funniest person I know. It was a very happy moment when you go, ‘Oh, I think your voice can sit with this judgmental, sarcastic, mean-spirited character,’” King said. “Trying to write down character traits and find their voice outside the songs, I realized, ‘That’s what Hugh sounds like. Hugh is an Oompa Loompa.’”

To take on “Wonka,” King had to let go of the beary lovable Paddington. Director Dougal Wilson is now working on “Paddington in Peru,” the third film in the franchise.

It was a bittersweet goodbye for King.

“I love Paddington very much and it’s very odd, like watching a child go out into the world. Dougal Wilson’s a genius and I’m sure he couldn’t be in better hands, but it is a very odd and not entirely pleasant experience to feel that I’m not there to protect Paddington because I love that character so much,” King admitted.

“But I also wanted to do something that was just different, from a personal point of view. And to tell people that I like chocolate as well as marmalade. A lot of people have kindly given me marmalade over the years. And I like marmalade, but I really like chocolate.”