Hugh Grant Jokes Costar Timothée Chalamet 'Gave Me Good Gossip' on the Wonka Set (Exclusive) - PEOPLE

Hugh Grant was at first skeptical about meeting costar Timothée Chalamet.

"I was a bit nervous of him. I don't like people who are too successful, and I thought his career had gone a bit too well," Grant, 63, jokes to PEOPLE of his Wonka costar Chalamet, 27.

"But I did warm to him," he adds. "He gave me good gossip."

In the musical origin story of Willy Wonka, Chalamet stars in the titular role of a magical chocolate-maker who has run-ins with an orange-and-green Oompa Loompa, played by Grant.

Chalamet says, unfortunately, he "didn't get the deluxe Hugh Grant experience" since the Love Actually actor delivered his motion-capture CGI performance off camera as Chalamet acted opposite a tennis ball for reference. "But he was close by in a tent," says Chalamet.

Timothee Chalamet and Hugh Grant on Nov. 27, 2023.

Jeff Spicer/Getty 

Says Grant of the working arrangement as he portrayed the 18-inch-tall Oompa Loompa, "I couldn't be on the set because I'm too big. But I was in a tent just nearby with my helmet on with all the cameras. A highly complicated business."

Director Paul King says he wanted "as much chemistry between" Chalamet and Grant "as possible" while filming, even if they couldn't be face to face.

"They have a kind of banter through the movie and they're sort of slowly becoming a double act as the movie goes on, and that's something I think is very hard to do if you're never in the same room together," says King.

Timothee Chalamet and Hugh Grant in "Wonka".

Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

"And the way they both like to perform is they like to try lots of different takes and try different things in those takes, and I was entirely 100% supportive of their desire to get some chemistry going," adds the director, who also worked with Grant on 2017's Paddington 2.

Explains King, "Timmy would have Hugh's voice in his head and he could hear him, but he would be acting to a bit of tape or a tennis ball on a stick or whatever the kind of best way of giving him the right eye line was."

According to Chalamet, it was "truly a joy getting to work on this stuff."

Hugh Grant, director Paul King and Timothee Chalamet.

Olivier Borde/Warner Bros

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And as for his first impression of rom-com mainstay Grant: "Before I met Hugh, I thought he was wonderfully talented and handsome and very good-looking. Then after I met him, my impression crumbled," he says with a laugh. Grant jokes back, "This broken bitter old man."

Wonka is in theaters Dec. 15.

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Hugh Grant Jokes Costar Timothée Chalamet 'Gave Me Good Gossip' on the Wonka Set (Exclusive) - PEOPLE
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