Guillermo del Toro fans won’t have too much longer to wait for his next project – stop-motion animated musical Pinocchio, which will soon be landing on Netflix, it has been confirmed.
With a starry voice cast featuring Ewan McGregor, Cate Blanchett, and Tilda Swinton, del Toro’s adaptation of the famous fairytale will (naturally) have a darker slant and will be set during the rise of Fascism in Mussolini’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,” del Toro said in a statement when the film was given the go ahead back in 2018. “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.”
Hollywood Ron Perlman will voice the character Mangiafuoco, a theatre director and puppet-master better known to Walt Disney viewers as Stromboli.
The star told RadioTimes.com: “I’m pretty excited about how [del Toro] set the film, where he set the film, the socio-political implications of the use of this sort of made-up boy, make-believe boy. You know, well, once again, it’s del Toro, the mind of del Toro working in ways that no one else would think of.”
Here’s everything you need to know about the Netflix stop-motion adaptation of Pinocchio.
When will Netflix’s Pinocchio be available to stream?
Netflix’s Pinocchio is set to premiere in December 2022, though an exact release date is yet to be announced.
Netflix’s official Twitter account confirmed the news alongside some footage of the upcoming stop-motion animation.
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, a stop-motion, musical reimagining of Carlo Collodi’s iconic story will premiere this December and features an all-star voice cast: pic.twitter.com/kyqQKGNBI7
— Netflix (@netflix) January 24, 2022
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio cast
“After years of pursuing this dream project, I found my perfect partner in Netflix,” del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth) said in a statement. “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. We all love and practice animation with great passion and believe it to be the ideal medium to retell this classic story in a completely new way.”
According to the official synopsis, the film will draw on the classic Carlo Collodi tale, with the stop-motion musical following “the extraordinary journey of a wooden boy magically brought to life by a father’s wish.”
It continued: “Set during the rise of Fascism in Mussolini’s Italy, del Toro’s Pinocchio is a story of love and disobedience as Pinocchio struggles to live up to his father’s expectations.”
Casting announcements have already been made, with newcomer Gregory Mann taking on the role of the wooden boy Pinocchio himself.
Meanwhile Ewan McGregor (Beauty and the Beast) plays companion Cricket, and David Bradley (Harry Potter, Game of Thrones) as Geppetto, Pinocchio’s creator and father.
Other casting includes: Tilda Swinton, Christoph Waltz, Cate Blanchett, John Turturro (The Batman), Finn Wolfhard (Stranger Things), Ron Perlman (Nightmare Alley), Burn Gorman (Torchwood), and Tim Blake Nelson (Watchmen).
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Pinocchio on Netflix trailer
The first teaser-trailer for the Netflix Pinocchio musical film has dropped. Watch below:
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