Arthur Slugworth is the main antagonist of the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory franchise. He is the head of a chocolate making company. After becoming jealous of Wonka, he decided to hire spies to help him steal his competitor's recipes.
In the 2005 film adaptation, he was portrayed by Philip Philmar. In the 2023 film Wonka, he was portrayed by Paterson Joseph, who also played Kamal Hadley in the Noughts & Crosses television series.
Personality[]
In the 2005 film, he is completely antagonistic, with zero redeeming qualities. In this version, he is portrayed as one of Willy Wonka’s rivals, jealous of Wonka’s success to the point of sending in spies to steal his recipes. He is shown not only to be greedy, but also evil, as evidenced by his sinister grin when follow rival candy maker Prodnose hands him a recipe card. He may also have a sadistic sense of humor, as shown when he smiles at a young boy whose candy balloon popped in his face.
Physical appearance[]
In the 2005 version, he is a middle-aged man, with balding hair and crooked teeth.
Appearances[]
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory[]
In the original novel, Arthur Slugworth is first mentioned to have developed a type of gum that could be blown to incredible sized before it popped. He is mentioned twice more, again talking about his thievery, but Slugworth and his two spies (Prodnose and Fickelgruber) were never to be seen or heard again.
2005 Film[]
Slugworth only makes a split second appearance in Tim Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He is shown in two of Grandpa Joe’s flashbacks depicting Willy Wonka’s rise to fame from a single store on Cherry Street to the amazing fifty times bigger than any other chocolate factory, described as the worst of Wonka’s rivals. He receives a secret recipe from fellow envious candymaker Prodnose. Slugworth was the last thief to steal from Wonka before he shut his doors to all everyday worker of the factory and closed it for fifteen years. He, Fickelgruber and Prodnose are never heard of again.
Wonka[]
- During the events of Wonka, Arthur Slugworth is first seen watching Willy Wonka demonstrate his "hoverchoc", fearing the flying chocolate and the threat Wonka holds, Mr. Prodnose has his assistant call the Chief-of-Police and heads down outside with the other cartel members to test-taste the hover choc. Mr. Slugworth (along with Prodnose and Fickelgruber) mocks the chocolate but regrets doing so when the hoverchoc takes effect and makes the cartel members fly uncontrollably. The chocolate cartel members vow to get revenge on Wonka. The chocolate cartel is later seen in their cathedral-based headquarters, where they blackmail the chief of police into doing anything he can to arrest Wonka by exploiting the chief's obsessive love of chocolate by offering him 1,800 boxes of chocolates. Slugworth and the other cartel members are later seen demanding the chief to get rid of Wonka, only for the chief to reveal that Wonka and his friends are living at Scrubbits' which infuriates Slugworth as Scrubbits is the same exact location where Arthur abandoned his niece Noodle and comes up with a plan to have Mrs. Scrubbit and Bleacher taint Wonka's candy and get him arrested. After Wonka's store is burned down by angry customers as a result of the tainted chocolates, Slugworth and the Cartel approach Wonka with an offer to pay off everyone's debt to Scrubbit in return that he leaves town and stops making chocolate forever. After he accepts the deal they send Wonka on a boat which they loaded with dynamite, and exploded after leaving the docks, terrorizing the town with the explosion meanwhile. While stuck in traffic due to escaped flamingos, when Slugworth hears about a recent event that happened at the cathedral through a radio, he calls Father Julius, who states that an escaped giraffe had wandered into the cathedral forcing him to leave the building as animal control was sent in to contain the giraffe. Realizing that his account book and chocolate reverse are left unprotected, Slugworth and the cartel head to the cathedral where they catch Wonka and Noddle in the act of taking the ledger as Slugworth holds the two of them at gunpoint. He also reveals that he was the one who dropped Noodle at Scrubbit’s. Slugworth then kidnapps and false imprisons the two in chocolate reserve planning to drown them in chocolate before taking Wonka's jar of Hover-Chocs which were meant for the Oompa Loompa Lofty, and eats all the chocolate before leaving. As Slugworth and the Cartel begin to leave the Cathedral, Wonka and Noddle having escaped turn in the ledger to Officer Affable as the Chief-of-Police tries to confiscate the ledger only for them to be exposed through the ledger which shows numerous payments the Cartel had made to him. With the Chief-of-Police arrested, Slugworth and the Cartel attempt to make a run for it only for the three of them to slowly hover up due to the effects of the Hover-Chocs. Holding onto the town fountain, Slugworth boasts that he, Prodnose and Fickelgruber will simply buy their way out of the justice system whether it be through the best lawyers or rigging the jury as Noodle turns a valve causing the Cartel's entire chocolate reserve to flow through the fountain causing Slugworth to lose his grip as the Cartel is launched into the air. When asked if they will ever float down, Wonka states that Hover-Chocs usually last a few minutes. However, due to the Cartel having eating the entire jar, he is unsure how long they will be hovering. It is unknown what happens to Slugworth and his associates afterwards, but they either floated down and were arrested once the effects of the Hover-Chocs passed or the effects wore off at a great height and they all fell to their death.
Trivia[]
- In the 2005 film version, the character seen is the real Slugworth himself, but in the 1971 and 2017 (Tom & Jerry special) versions, he is later revealed to be Willy Wonka's trusty employee Mr. Wilkinson, who pretended to be Slugworth and steal the formula in order to test Charlie Bucket; Charlie passes the test, as Wilkinson was only helping Wonka find an heir (who is revealed to be none other than Charlie himself, the last remaining child/winner who has not been eliminated from the factory tour).
