Guillermo Del Toro Dreams of Pinocchio as a Real Bad Boy
Posted by Adam Sweeney (adam@filmschoolrejects.com) on November 17, 2008
No, the Hellboy and Pan’s Labyrinth director isn’t making gay porn. Yes, he is set to create a darker version of the classic tale, Pinocchio.
Variety is reporting that Guillermo Del Toro, the filmmaker who loves all things fantasy, will be working with the Jim Henson Co. to make the popular story of a toy that turns into a boy into a stop-motion feature. The version will likely be less heartwarming and won’t have Roberto Benigni or Paul Reubens in it, thank God. Both played Pinocchio in other adaptations. Now that’s creepy.
Del Toro will executive produce and is working on a script with Gus Grimly, who also illustrated a version of Pinocchio in 2002. Grimly will co-direct with Adam Parrish King.
Del Toro is getting in on tons of projects right now, something that has me pretty pumped. He already is ready to direct The Hobbit as a two-picture project, but he also has a three-year first-look deal with Universal Pictures to develop remakes of Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Slaughterhouse Five.
It might be hard for me to be down for watching a Pinocchio film at this point, but if anyone can pull this thing off it is Del Toro. I haven’t seen a film of his that I didn’t like and the man has an eye for talent. Anybody who saw El Orfanato (The Orphanage here in America), which Del Toro helped produce, should know that.
Are you wishing upon a star for Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio? What fairy tale would you like to see re-made?
Read more articles by Adam Sweeney
