Unbeknownst to Wonka star Timothée Chalamet, the actor’s high school singing performances formed his audition for the lead role of Warner Bros’ upcoming prequel. In an interview with The Times newspaper, Chalamet said: “I sang a little bit in high school, but that doesn’t really prepare you.”

Chalamet went to a performing arts high school in New York, and with the high prevalence of recording technology and the internet in this day and age, many of Chalamet’s performances have been uploaded online, where Wonka director Paul King found them. King told the times, “Because we live in this ridiculous century, some of Timmy’s high school performances are on the internet and have been viewed hundreds of thousands of times. If mine were on the internet I would never work again.”

The upcoming prequel is set 25 years before the classic story in Roald Dahl’s book. Along with Chalamet, the film also stars Hugh Grant as an Oompa-Loompa and Oscar winner Olivia Colman as a landlady. 

Chalamet commented on the film, telling the Times that he sees Wonka as a “companion piece” to the 1974 version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: “Compared to the version we see in both [the previous] films of this broken person, for want of a better description, the most crucial element of the young Willy Wonka is this undying spirit.”