A few years back, a rumor began burning through the internet claiming that Jeremy Allen White was the grandson of late comedy icon Gene Wilder, due to the uncanny resemblance between the two actors.
While both Allen and Wilder’s estate have dismissed the rumor, the star of “The Bear” is now admitting he’d jump at the chance to play Wilder in a biopic — if an offer were to arise.
An ‘Honor’ to Play Wilder
While promoting his new film “The Social Reckoning,” Allen dropped by NBC’s “Today,” where Craig Melvin pointed out the resemblance and asked if he’d ever consider playing Wilder onscreen.
“Absolutely, it would be my honor,” White replied, via People.
“’Young Frankenstein’ is one of my earliest film memories,” he continued.
“‘Blazing Saddles,’ he’s a genius. It would be an honor. He was a genius. It would be an honor. Yeah, I love him. I’ve always loved him,” he declared.
“I need the call,” White added
Co-host Savannah Guthrie seemingly believed that he’d already been cast as one of Wilder’s most iconic screen creations.
“I feel like he maybe already has that role,” she said. “Jeremy Allen White, do you already have the Willy Wonka role?”
White appeared taken aback, and responded, “Do I already have it? No! No, no, no. We’ll see, we’re manifesting it.”
A Striking Resemblance
It all began back in 2023 when the trailer for Timothée Chalamet’s “Wonka” was released. At the time, social media users began pointing out the pretty striking likeness that White bears to Wilder — who famously starred in 1971’s “WIlly Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” — and lamented that White hadn’t been cast in Chalamet’s role.
That led to a series of memes claiming Wilder is White’s grandfather, as well as side-by-side photos of the two in a clickbait video titled, “These Grandchildren Look Exactly Like Their Celebrity Grandparents.”
Viewing side-by-side images of the two actors, it’s undeniable that White does indeed share an uncanny resemblance to the star of such comedy hits as “Blazing Saddles” and “Young Frankenstein,” right down to the piercing blue eyes,
They’re Not Actually Related
White has consistently denied that he’s Wilder’s grandson. “Everyone’s decided I look a lot like Gene Wilder, which I agree,” he said in an interview with InStyle. “But I guess someone called me ‘Ketamine Gene Wilder’ — or called Carmy ‘Ketamine Gene Wilder,’ which I thought was weird and funny.”
In a 2024 video for British GQ, in which White confronted various misperceptions about him shared on the internet, he admitted he totally got why people could think he and Wilder might be related. “But yeah, it is crazy,” he said. Rather than be irked, however, he viewed that online speculation as a badge of honor. “I will take the comparison any day.”
When he and his co-stars in “The Iron Claw” appeared together in a BuzzFeed video, White straight-up declared, “I’m not related to Gene Wilder. I think a lot of people think I am.”
While White’s continual denials should be enough proof that the rumor has no basis in fact, there’s also another fairly substantial piece of evidence to back him up: Wilder actually never had any biological children. Wilder’s only child, Katharine Wilder, was adopted during his second marriage, to Mary Joan Schutz. When he subsequently married “Saturday Night Live” alum Gilda Radner, they tried to start a family, but experienced issues with infertility (which Radner — who passed away in 1989 after a battle with ovarian cancer — discussed openly in her memoir, “It’s Always Something”).
Rumor-busting website Snopes definitively ended the speculation by contacting Wilder’s nephew, Jordan Walker-Pearlman. “Jordan can confirm with you that as much as he admires the talent of Jeremy Allen White and believes Gene would have as well, and clearly sees the family resemblances, they are in fact, not related,” a representative for Walker-Pearlman said.
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Jeremy Allen White Says It Would Be An ‘Honor’ To Play Gene Wilder After Rumors They’re Related