Once We Were Knee-Deep in Chocolate with Bill Roe | Episode 28

About this episode

Bill Roe shares his unique experiences from working on iconic film sets to his role as Supervising Director on The Rookie.

Bill Roe was eleven years old when he rode a trolley to Bavaria Studios, waved to the guard, and went to work scooping foam out of the chocolate river on the set of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Five decades later, he's the Supervising Director on The Rookie, and Nathan and Alan finally have a microphone in front of him. As it turns out, the man who was present for some of the most iconic moments in American film and television has never once sat down for an interview. Some lucky bastard is going to be the first to ask him all about his incredible career. Alan and Nathan are those bastards. Follow Once We Were Spacemen wherever you get your podcasts. Listen to extended episodes a whole week early by joining our Patreon. Once We Were Spacemen is a Collision33 production.

People in this episode

Hosts: Nathan Fillion, Alan Tudyk

Guest: Bill Roe

Topics covered

• film history
• television
• interviews
• chocolate river
• career stories

Keywords

• Bill Roe
• Willy Wonka
• The Rookie
• chocolate river
• film career
• interview
• Once We Were Spacemen

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: The Rookie, Once We Were Spacemen, Collision33

Books & works: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

More episodes of Once We Were Spacemen

• Once We Scared Aunt Jeannie | Episode 31 · June 10, 2026 · 1h 21m
• Once We Were Late Clowns with Edi Patterson | Episode 30 · June 3, 2026 · 2h 1m
• Once We Had A Nice Fist Fight | Episode 29 · May 27, 2026 · 1h 5m
• Once We Drove Cross-Country | Episode 27 · May 13, 2026 · 57 min
• Once We Borrowed Kayaks with Jon Huertas | Episode 26 · May 6, 2026 · 1h 6m
• Once We Had Bad Haircuts | Episode 25 · April 29, 2026 · 1h 13m