Gene Wilder biopic role draws Jeremy Allen White’s interest
Jeremy Allen White has a dream biopic role he’s eager to tackle—and he lays out exactly why that part is so compelling.
On NBC’s Today this week, Jeremy Allen White didn’t wait for the rumor mill. After host Craig Melvin pointed out how much he resembles Gene Wilder, the The Bear star made his pitch for the upcoming Wilder biopic right there on the couch.
“Absolutely, it would be my honor. I love him, I’ve always loved him. I need the call.”
Co-host Savannah Guthrie later pressed him on whether he’d already snagged the “Willy Wonka ” part. White, 35, looked surprised and said no—more manifesting than confirming at this point.
Where the biopic stands
The project is real: Deadline reported in June that Dito Montiel will direct after securing life rights from Wilder’s estate. No casting has been announced. Wilder, who died in 2016, remains best known for classics like Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles, and White’s name has been floated often by fans and pundits as a natural fit.
Sorkin film opens this week
White is everywhere right now because he’s promoting The Social Reckoning, Aaron Sorkin’s new drama inspired by The Wall Street Journal’s “Facebook Files.” At the film’s premiere, he told Variety the story feels “incredibly important,” saying safeguards should exist around Big Tech and suggesting that third-party regulation “might be a good idea.” The movie revisits 2021, when former Facebook employee Frances Haugen released internal documents and testified before Congress.
- Mikey Madison — Frances Haugen
- Jeremy Allen White — journalist Jeff Horwitz
- Jeremy Strong — Mark Zuckerberg
Jesse Eisenberg, who played Zuckerberg in The Social Network, declined to return; Sorkin has said it hadn’t occurred to him that Eisenberg might actually pass as he moved in a different direction.
The Social Reckoning hits theaters on October 9.