Oscar winner Guillermo del Toro’s stop-motion animated musical film Pinocchio has finalised its cast. Netflix announced the cast in a press release. Newcomer Gregory Mann will star as Pinocchio, with Ewan McGregor as Cricket and David Bradley (Harry Potter franchise, Game of Thrones) as Geppetto. Other cast includes Academy Award winner Tilda Swinton, Academy Award winner Christoph Waltz, Finn Wolfhard (Stranger Things), Academy Award winner Cate Blanchett, John Turturro (The Batman), Golden Globe winner Ron Perlman (Nightmare Alley), Tim Blake Nelson (Watchmen) and Burn Gorman (Enola Holmes).
The movie is based on the classic tale by Carlo Collodi, described as a “story of love and disobedience as Pinocchio struggles to live up to his father’s expectations” during the rise of fascism in Mussolini’s Italy.
Pinocchio has been in production since 2019 and throughout the pandemic. However, del Toro’s project had been floating around before being rescued by Netflix.
“After years of pursuing this dream project, I found my perfect partner in Netflix,” said del Toro 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.”
The film is scripted by del Toro and Patrick McHale and directed by del Toro and Mark Gustafson (Fantastic Mr. Fox). The song lyrics are by del Toro and Katz, with music and score by Academy Award winner Alexandre Desplat. The original design for the Pinocchio character is created by Gris Grimly, while the puppets are being built by Mackinnon and Saunders (Corpse Bride).
Pinocchio is produced by del Toro, The Jim Henson Company’s Lisa Henson, ShadowMachine’s Alex Bulkley and Corey Campodonico, as well as Exile Entertainment’s Gary Ungar and co-produced by Blanca Lista of The Jim Henson Company and Gris Grimly. Other crew includes production supervisor Melanie Coombs, co-production designers Guy Davis and Curt Enderle, animation supervisor Brian Hansen, puppet supervisor Georgina Hayns, director of photography Frank Passingham, art director Rob DeSue, and animatic editor Ken Schretzmann.
The film will be released on Netflix as well as in theaters.
