Known for his dark fairytales, like 2006’s “Pan’s Labyrinth” and the upcoming “The Shape of Water”, has been attached to an adult, stop motion Pinocchio film for some time. Exciting a prospect as that is, as anyone who follows del Toro’s career can tell you, the man has some bad luck getting projects off the ground.
Sadly it looks like the strings on his adaptation of the famous puppet novel have been cut.
“It’s not happening,” del Toro said in an interview with IGN, “But the idea was to do Pinocchio during the ascension of fascism in Italy, with Mussolini. It was a good time to discuss the idea of being a puppet or being a human, but you know, it’s not in progress.”
Sounds like a fascinating idea to me, especially as a fan of del Toro’s unique style. Serious, adult oriented animation is lacking in the film industry, and Guillermo, possessor of perhaps Hollywood’s most uniquely gifted mind, would have been the perfect person to help fix that.
To be fair, the original Disney version had some pretty terrifying scenes as well. Orphans turned to donkeys and forced into slavery, old carpenters swallowed up by whales, that insufferable moralistic cricket asshole (I’d of smashed Jiminy within 5 minutes of meeting his buggy ass.)
And of course, nothing in this universe will ever be as terrifying as Academy Award Winning Actor Roberto Benigni’s 2002 live action version.
Because I always envisioned a little boy puppy as a middle aged Italian man
