A PLASTICS firm is going up in the world after making five great glass elevators for the eagerly-awaited new Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie.Project Plastics in Colchester works in a variety of fields, usually making products for a wide range of day-to-day purposes.

A PLASTICS firm is going up in the world after making five great glass elevators for the eagerly-awaited new Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie.

Project Plastics in Colchester works in a variety of fields, usually making products for a wide range of day-to-day purposes.

Sales manager, Janson Tidy, said: “We have produced work for television and films before, but when you're working on something and you know that in a few days time someone like Johnny Depp will be standing in it, there's quite a buzz around the place.”

The new film, directed by Tim Burton, features the Hollywood star as Willy Wonka, the eccentric factory owner immortalised in Roald Dahl's classic book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

The company's involvement began when Project Plastics were approached in 2004 by one of their customers, Inplas Fabrications, of Uxbridge.

They were asked to help fabricate the plastic for the great glass elevators, which were actually made from acrylic.

“This was a very high profile job and took all my staff's craftsmanship to produce,” said Fred Tidy, production director of Project Plastics.

Although the elevators were a large job to undertake Mr Tidy added: “This was only a small part of the overall work we did with Inplas on this movie.”

They also contributed to the machinery that takes care of the group of nasty children who accompany Charlie as Mr Wonka shows him the wonderful worlds inside the factory.

The giant pipes that suck up the gluttonous Augustus Gloop and the nut machines that deal with Veruca Salt were both partly fabricated by Project Plastics.

The two companies had worked together before to help produce Lady Penelope's car for last year's Thunderbirds film. The latest link up requires even more involvement and a lot of quite understandable secrecy.

Janson Tidy said: “We have got some more fantastic projects on the go, but I'm just not allowed to reveal what they are.

“When the film companies ask us to make something for one production it can often turn up in something entirely different. Sometimes they don't tell us at all. It's quite exciting.”