Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is a 1971 American musical fantasy family film directed by Mel Stuart and starring Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka. It is an adaptation of the 1964 novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. Dahl. The film tells the story of an only child Charlie Bucket, who receives a Golden Ticket and visits Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory with four other children from around the world.