Netflix announced today the cast of Academy Award® winner Guillermo del Toro’s upcoming stop-motion animated musical feature Pinocchio. 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), Burn Gorman (Enola Holmes).
Drawing on the classic Carlo Collodi tale, this stop motion musical follows the extraordinary journey of a wooden boy magically brought to life by a father’s wish. 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.
The film is directed by del Toro and Mark Gustafson (Fantastic Mr. Fox). Del Toro and Patrick McHale wrote the script. The song lyrics are by del Toro and Katz, with music by Academy Award® winner Alexandre Desplat who will also write the score. Gris Grimly created the original design for the Pinocchio character. The film’s puppets are being built by Mackinnon and Saunders (Corpse Bride).
Pinocchio is produced by del Toro, The Jim Henson Company’s Lisa Henson, Shadow Machine’s Alex Bulkley and Corey Campodonico, as well as Exile Entertainment’s Gary Ungar; it is co-produced by Blanca Lista of The Jim Henson Company and Gris Grimly. Other credits include 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.
A lifelong passion project of del Toro, the film is set to debut in theaters and on Netflix. Principal photography began last Fall at Shadow Machine’s Portland, Oregon studio, and production has continued uninterrupted during the pandemic.
“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. 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,” says del Toro.
ABOUT GUILLERMO DEL TORO
Guillermo del Toro is one of the most innovative filmmakers of this generation. Consistently breaking creative ground with every project, del Toro continues to blur the lines with increasing frequency and ease between film and television, live action and animation.
Del Toro has been an executive producer on some of the most beloved and successful animated films including the DreamWorks Animation feature films Puss in Boots, Kung Fu Panda 3, and The Rise of the Guardians. His movies include 2018’s The Shape of Water (winner of four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Production Design and Best Score), three time Academy Award winner Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy, Hellboy II, Crimson Peak, Pacific Rim and The Devil’s Backbone.
ABOUT THE JIM HENSON COMPANY
The Jim Henson Company has remained a leader in family entertainment for over 60 years and is recognized as an innovator in puppetry, animatronics, and digital animation. Henson’s most recent television credits include Fraggle Rock: Rock On! for Apple TV+, and the critically-acclaimed Netflix Original series The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. The Company is currently in production on the upcoming series Harriet the Spy for Apple TV+, Earth to Ned for Disney+, Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio for Netflix, and a reboot of Fraggle Rock for Apple TV+.
ABOUT SHADOW MACHINE
ShadowMachine is a world renowned, award-winning production studio specializing in world-building and comedy-craft, co-founded by producers Alexander Bulkley and Corey Campodonico. With full studio facilities in Los Angeles and Portland, OR dedicated to 2D, 3D, VR immersive, and stop-motion animation, Shadow Machine’s credits include the critically-acclaimed, award-winning shows BoJack Horseman, Tuca & Bertie, and Robot Chicken.
ABOUT GARY UNGAR/EXILE ENTERTAINMENT
Gary Ungar is the founder of production and management company Exile Entertainment. Throughout his career, Ungar has focused on discovering and supporting unique cinematic voices. His film and television production credits include The Strain, Gothika, and Modigliani. His current projects include the anthology series 10 After Midnight for Netflix and series at HBO, Searchlight Television, Quibi and Sony Studios. He has worked with Guillermo del Toro since director’s first feature, Cronos.
ABOUT NETFLIX
Netflix is the world’s leading streaming entertainment service with 193 million paid memberships in over 190 countries enjoying TV series, documentaries and feature films across a wide variety of genres and languages. Members can watch as much as they want, anytime, anywhere, on any internet-connected screen. Members can play, pause and resume watching, all without commercials or commitments.
Source: Netflix
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The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.