‘Wonka’ Actor Broke His Arm During Dance Sequence

For Phil Wang, landing the role of Colin in the live-action film Wonka was quite literally a “lucky break.” During an appearance on The Graham Norton Show ahead of the film’s Dec. 15 premiere, the actor revealed that he broke his arm during an on-set accident while filming a scene with Timothée Chalamet, who takes on the role of the Roald-Dahl-created chocolatier.

“We got to the day, you know, and I’m there and I’m opposite Timothée Chalamet, and we’re dancing on these tables,” Wang told the show’s co-hosts, recalling how he was “so excited” thinking, “I’m going to be Timothee’s friend. He’s going to put me in his movies.” But things took a turn for the worse when Wang “did the jump and I landed on the table, and it just broke under me.” Wang said, “I landed down like really hard, and people rushed over to me to see if I was okay.” Chalamet, meanwhile, “jumped off a table but was picked up by a gentle breeze…found him in a tree in Hertfordshire,” Wang joked.

The comedian and actor, who has appeared in shows like The Rob Brydon Show and Would I Lie to You?, said that “like a grown man, I called my mum,” who just so happens to be a joint doctor. Wang showed his mom his arm, recalling how he “was like, ‘I can’t turn my arm like this. My flamenco days are over.’ And she just instantly said, ‘That’s your radial head. You’ve fractured your radial head.’ And she turned out to be right.”

“And the next day I was back on set, and I was filming a different scene. I had my arm in a cast, and everyone was calling me very brave,” he continued. “And I see Timothée Chalamet dressed as Wonka walking across the set to me. And he comes up and says, ‘I heard your mom’s a bone doctor,’ which sounds like the setup to a ‘your mom joke.’ And I was like, ‘Am I about to get your mom’ed by Willy Wonka?’ And then I said, ‘Yeah.’ And he goes, ‘Ah, that’s a lucky break.’ And I look at my arm and was like, ‘Yeah, literally.’”

Marking the third live-action film based on Dahl’s novel, Wonka centers around the titular Willy Wonka, who has big dreams of being a chocolate maker and sets off on a magical journey full of sweets and songs, but with no shortage of nay-sayers along the way. Along with Wang and Chalamet, the film also stars Charlotte Ritchie, Hugh Grant, Olivia Colman, Keegan-Michael Key, Calah Lane, Paterson Joseph, Matt Lucas, Mathew Baynton, Jim Carter, Natasha Rothwell, Tom Davis, Sally Hawkins and Rowan Atkinson. Paul King, who directed the recent Paddington films, helms the picture and co-wrote the screenplay with Simon Farnaby. Wonka is now in theaters.