In October it was announced that Academy Award winner Guillermo del Toro (The Shape of Water, Pan’s Labyrinth) was finally going to make his take on Pinocchio at Netflix.
But if you were expecting something similar to Disney’s 1940 animated classic, then you haven’t been paying close enough attention to del Toro’s work. His fairy tales tend to exist in much darker worlds. And that will be no different here, as del Toro says his version is not suitable for the whole family. For a lighter take, you’ll have to look to the live-action remake Disney is currently developing.
Del Toro talked about the project recently, including whether it’s a political film, comparisons to Frankenstein’s monster, and his decade-long quest to get the film made. You can see what he had to say below.
The Shape of Water and Pan’s Labyrinth director Guillermo del Toro has been trying to make his own version of the Pinocchio for a long time now. In fact, it’s a passion project he’s wanted to do his entire life.
Now del Toro is finally getting to make Pinocchio. And better yet, he gets to make it the way he’s been trying to make for years. A stop-motion animated feature inspired by Gris Grimly‘s illustrated version of the Carlo Collodi tale, made with the help of none other than The Jim Henson Company (though they won’t be making the puppets, that will be Mackinnon & Saunders). The film is happening at Netflix which makes all the sense in the world with del Toro behind Trollhunters and an upcoming horror anthology there, and The Jim Henson Company’s Dark Crystal project set up there. And the best part? It sounds like this one is ready to go with production expected to begin this fall.
As we all know, Guillermo del Toro has enough projects lined up to last him the rest of his life. You’d think that this would stop him from adding more, but now it looks like he’ll have his hand in another project; this one will be a feature-length stop-motion version of the cherished tale of Pinocchio based on a book illustrated by Gris Grimly.
This version of the tale — whose main character gained popularity with U.S. audiences thanks to Disney’s animated version in 1940 — would be brought to life by the puppets created by the Jim Henson Company, or at least that’s what Del Toro’s is working on having.
We are trying to get a full stop-motion version of Gris Grimly’s PINOCCHIO off the ground, with the Jim Henson Company. The idea came from Gris, and everybody loves his book about it. The original story is far more perverse and spooky and semi-necrophilia vibe to it in certain aspects. Gris certainly has that vein in him, he wants to do this with that original spookiness in it, we are trying to get it going. The Jim Henson Company is the behind it and we are currently working on the screenplay! Its not coming to a screen near you any time soon, even if it were to begin today it would be about three years in the making, but we are working to make it happen. A full-scale puppet universe takes time.
Students of the Unusual™ comic cover used with permission of 3BoysProductions
The Mercuri Bros.™ comic cover used with permission of Prodigal Son Press