`WILLY WONKA' DIRECTOR SWITCHING FROM SWEETS TO SWEATS

`WILLY WONKA' DIRECTOR SWITCHING FROM SWEETS TO SWEATS

LOS ANGELES (Wireless Flash) -- The man who directed "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" is switching from sweets to sweats with his latest picture. Director Mel Stuart has just completed work on a documentary about the world's hardest marathon, the "Badwater 135" -- a 48- hour, 135-mile trek from Death Valley to Mount Whitney. One of the runners profiled in the film is a 64-year-old man whose wife perks him up during the race by waving a can of his favorite beer in front of his face. But the grueling journey wasn't just tough on the runners, it was hard on Stuart as well -- he claims he started hallucinating a few days into shooting from the lack of sleep. The new documentary, which is titled "Running On The Sun," will be released as soon as Stuart finds a distributor.