Appearances
Role in the original novel
In the original novel, Augustus is described as an enormously fat boy who has "fat bulging from every fold, with two greedy eyes peering out of his doughball of a body." His mother encourages his eating habits, saying that eating is his hobby, and that his habits are better than him being "a hooligan." She is blissfully unaware of the results of unhealthy eating, thinking that Augustus wouldn’t eat if he didn’t need or want to. Although his mother is generally permissive, in the novel she yells at him to obey Mr. Wonka to stay away from the chocolate river, saying, "You will be giving that nasty cold to everyone in the country."
Role in the films
Augustus was portrayed by Michael Bollner in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Although he eats constantly, he isn't as big as portrayed in the book or 2005 adaption, has decent table manners and is polite to the other kids. He is considerate enough to give an appropriate interview to reporters in a restaurant where he is eating with his parents and even expresses concern for Wonka by saying that making all the chocolate he and the other kids could eat is going to cost Wonka a fortune in fudge, implying that he knows a little about economics and business. Mrs. Gloop rationalizes her son's eating to reporters, saying it was inevitable that he would find a Golden Ticket and it is better than being a "hooligan", while Mr. Gloop is far more uncouth. When reporters ask for Mr. Gloop's feelings about his son's finding, he thinks it is food and chews the head off the microphone.
At the Chocolate Room, Augustus drinks from, and accidentally falls into, Wonka's chocolate river. He is sucked up a chocolate pipe that leads to the 'Fudge Room', and is nearly turned into a chocolate covered strawberry!
In the 2005 adaptation, Augustus is portrayed by Philip Wiegratz and isn't nearly as vocal as the other children. His gluttony is greatly emphasized as he is always consuming chocolate, which is sloppily smeared around his mouth. His diet of just chocolate and meat (his overweight father is a butcher like in the first movie) renders him obese with a lumbering, slow walk, and he discovers the Golden Ticket in his Wonka Bar only after accidentally biting off and nearly swallowing one of the ticket's corners. He is aloof and cruel toward Charlie in the one instance when they interact, as Augustus offers him a Wonka Bar as they are walking towards the entrance to the Chocolate Room and then retracts it, telling Charlie he should have brought one of his own. When told by Wonka to "enjoy" the Chocolate Room, Augustus begins to gorge himself on the room's various contents before moving on to the chocolate river, ignoring his mother's subsequent protests and Wonka's warning that the liquid chocolate can't be touched by human hands. Augustus soon loses his balance and falls into the river, and is sucked out by the extraction pipe and whizzed off to the "Boiler Room." He is also heavier in this film.
In the play "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory," Augustus is a combination of the boys in the book and the 2005 movie, with his song from the 1971. He is very gluttonous and says little. His mother feeds him massive amounts of food to train him for the "Eating Olympics." According to the song "I Eat More" he gorges himself on such large amounts of food that at the end of the day he is too bloated to fit through the dining room door. His home town is mentioned to be Frankfurt, Germany.
His hometown of Düsseldorf is briefly seen resembling a southern German town during winter, with wooden houses and a backdrop of snowcapped Alps mountains. However, the real Düsseldorf is actually the capital city of the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia in the lower Rhine plains, and is also located near the industrialized metropolis of Ruhr Valley. In the 2005 film's video game, Wonka says at the beginning of the Wriggle Sweets Room level, "That Bavarian bully has done it again!" which is geographically incorrect, though Wonka may not really care.
Augustus's Endgame
In the novel, after he falls into and is sucked out of the chocolate river, Augustus's body shape is altered dramatically: he becomes extremely underweight from being squeezed through the pipe.
His fate in the 1971 film was not visualized, with only Wonka's insistence to Charlie that all four bad children would remain intact.
In the 2005 adaption, his physical stature is relatively unchanged after his journey into the Boiler Room. However, he is partially covered in chocolate, which he eats off himself as he leaves the factory, much to his mother's consternation. It is impiled through dialogue that Augustus is now made of chocolate.
Augustus leaving the factory in the 2005 film
Augustus Gloop song
(1971)
Oompa Loompa Doopa-Dee-Doo I've got a perfect puzzle for you! Oompa Loompa Doopa-Dee-Dee If you are wise, you'll listen to me! What do you get when you guzzle down sweets? Eating as much as an elephant eats? What are you at, getting terribly fat? What do you think will come of that? I don't like the look of it! Oompa Loompa Doopa-Dee-Dah If you're not greedy, you will go far! You will live in happiness to, Like the Oompa Loompa Doopa-Dee-Doo! Doopa-Dee-Doo!
(2005 Version)
Augustus' song is sort of an Indian style with the exception of the sitar. It is sung after he gets sucked up into the pipe
Augustus Gloop! Augustus Gloop! The great big greedy nincompoop!
Augustus Gloop!So big and vile. So greedy, foul, and infantile
'Come on!' we cried, 'The time is ripe
To send him shooting up the pipe
But don't, dear children, be alarmed;
Augustus Gloop will not be harmed,
Augustus Gloop will not be harmed
Although, of course, we must admit, he will be altered quite a bit.
Slowly, the wheels go round and round, and cogs begin to grind and pound;
We boil him for a minute more,
Until we're absolutely sure
Then out he comes! And now! By grace!
A miracle has taken place!
A miracle has taken place!
This greedy brute, this louse's ear,
Is loved by people everywhere!
For who could hate or bear a grudge
Against a luscious bit of fudge?"
Song Recap
Augustus' song was the same as everyone else's but half step in pitch
Oompa Loompa Doopa-Dee-Doo
I've got a perfect puzzle for you!
Oompa Loompa Doopa-Dee-Dee
If you are wise, you'll listen to me!
What do you get when you guzzle down sweets?
Eating as much as an elephant eats?
What are you at, getting terribly fat?
What do you think will come of that?
I don't like the look of it!
Oompa Loompa Doopa-Dee-Dah
If you're not greedy, you will go far!
You will live in happiness too,
Like the Oompa Loompa Doopa-Dee-Doo!
Doopa-Dee-Doo!
West End Musical and Broadway Retool
In the West End and Broadway version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Augustus and Mrs. Gloop are much more cheery and goofy than any of their past incarnations. Although Augustus isn't really mean to anyone in this version-however he does call Wonka stupid at one point, his gross and greedy nature is what justified his comeuppance. In the song "More of him to Love," Mrs. Gloop justifies the reason why she spoils Augustus, the main reason being, "There's more of him to love." In both London and Broadway, while in the Chocolate Room, Augustus meets his downfall by drinking out of the chocolate river. Augustus's fate is left ambiguous, in both the London and Broadway version. Although keeping many of the same aspects of his West End Musical Counterpart, Broadway Augustus is actually played by a young adult.
