When Wilder auditioned for the title role in 1971's Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, director Mel Stuart offered Wilder the part practically on the spot. Wilder accepted, but under one condition—he wanted to give audiences a very special first introduction to Wonka:
"When I make my first entrance, I'd like to come out of the door carrying a cane and then walk toward the crowd with a limp," Wilder told Stuart. "After the crowd sees Willy Wonka is a cripple, they all whisper to themselves and then become deathly quiet. As I walk toward them, my cane sinks into one of the cobblestones I'm walking on and stands straight up, by itself... but I keep on walking, until I realize that I no longer have my cane. I start to fall forward, and just before I hit the ground, I do a beautiful forward somersault and bounce back up, to great applause." Stuart asked Wilder why he wanted to do it that way, and Wilder explained, "Because from that time on, no one will know if I'm lying or telling the truth." The scene in the movie occurs almost exactly like Wilder originally envisioned it.
