Who doesn’t know Pinocchio? The wooden puppet with an affinity for spouting lies that results in his wooden nose growing longer. Guess who else loves Pinocchio? Guillermo del Toro.
Guillermo del Toro is no stranger to directing fantasy flicks and incorporating elements of the supernatural. Known for some brilliant works, namely Pan’s Labyrinth, The Shape of Water and Crimson Peak, del Toro won both the Best Picture and Best Director awards at the Academy for his brilliant and groundbreaking work on The Shape of the Water. He has a knack for incorporating realism into the darker side of fairy tales and executes his vision brilliantly.
Set to direct his “dream project” as a part of his deal with Netflix, del Toro spoke of how directing Pinocchio had always been a prominent dream of his since 2008 while emphasising that animation is “the ideal medium to retell this classic story in a completely new way.”
“After years of pursuing this dream project, I found my perfect partner in Netflix. We have spent a long time curating a remarkable cast and crew and have been blessed by continuous support from Netflix to quietly and carefully soldier on, barely missing a beat,” said the director.
Here is everything that we know about Guillermo del Toro’s Netflix film Pinocchio.
Everything we know so far about Guillermo del Toro’s Netflix film Pinocchio
What will Pinocchio be about?
Pinocchio has been in production since 2019 at a Portland-based studio as a part of del Toro’s deal with Netflix. The film is supposed to be a stop-motion musical that follows Carlo Collodi’s original tale yet has a dark and del Toro-esque twist to it.
Set in Fascist Italy under Mussolini’s regime, the film shall follow the bizarre journey of a wooden puppet that comes to life under the influence of magic. While being a quintessential troublemaker who is not up to any good, he soon begins to struggle to be a perfect son for his father in this extraordinary journey of love and discipline.
Who is Guillermo del Toro working with?
Guillermo del Toro is set to share his director’s seat with Mark Gustafson for the project. Gustafson is revered for his stop-motion projects that include Meet the Raisins!, Fantastic Mr Fox, A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas, A Claymation Christmas Special, among many others. Del Toro has co-written the script with Patrick McHale, known for Over the Garden Wall and Adventure Time.
Who are the cast members?
Pinocchio boasts of a stellar cast. Besides newcomer Gregory Mann starring as the troublemaker himself, the rest of the cast is well-known and celebrated for their outstanding contribution to films in general. The cast includes:
- Gregory Mann as Pinocchio
- David Bradley as Master Geppetto
- Ewan McGregor as the Talking Cricket
- Finn Wolfhard as Lampwick
- Cate Blanchett as The Dove
- Christoph Waltz as the Fox and the Cat
- Tilda Swinton as the Fairy with Turquoise Hair
- Ron Perlman as Mangiafuoco
- Burn Gorman as The Carabiniere
- John Turturro as Master Cherry
When will Pinocchio premiere on Netflix?
In 2018, Netflix had announced that Pinocchio would premiere sometime in 2021. However, in January 2021, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos announced that the film could possibly be released in “2022 or later” as Netflix mainly focuses on releasing just six animated features every year.
One thing we can be sure of, is that it won’t look anything like Disney’s version of the classic tale.
