Academy Award winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro is making his animated feature film directorial debut at Netflix with his lifelong passion project, Pinocchio. del Toro, who will also be writing and producing the feature, will retell the classic tale as a stop motion musical set in 1930’s Italy.
“No art form has influenced my life and my work more than animation and no single character in history has had as deep of a personal connection to me as Pinocchio,” said del Toro in a Netflix press release. “In our story, Pinocchio is an innocent soul with an uncaring father who gets lost in a world he cannot comprehend. He embarks on an extraordinary journey that leaves him with a deep understanding of his father and the real world. I’ve wanted to make this movie for as long as I can remember. After the incredible experience we have had on “Trollhunters,” I am grateful that the talented team at Netflix is giving me the opportunity of a lifetime to introduce audiences everywhere to my version of this strange puppet-turned-real-boy.”
The look of the film will take inspiration from an original Pinocchio design created by artist Gris Grimly and will have its puppets build by the same folks that built the puppets for the film Corpse Bride.
Pinocchio is a production of Guillermo del Toro, The Jim Henson Company, and ShadowMachine, which will house the stop-motion animation production. The film’s script will be co-written by Patrick McHale (Over The Garden Wall, Adventure Time) and co-directed by Mark Gustafson (Fantastic Mr. Fox) Netflix expects production on Pinocchio to begin this fall.
