Netflix has announced the cast of Guillermo del Toro's stop-motion animated musical, Pinocchio (which is completely unrelated to the live-action version Disney has in development).
Some of these casting additions have previously been reported, though there are some surprises. Newcomer Gregory Mann will star as Pinocchio with Ewan McGregor as Cricket and David Bradley (Game of Thrones) as Geppetto. Other cast members includes Tilda Swinton, Christoph Waltz, Finn Wolfhard (Stranger Things), Cate Blanchett, John Turturro (The Batman), Ron Perlman (Nightmare Alley), Tim Blake Nelson (Watchmen), and Burn Gorman (Enola Holmes).
According to an officially released synopsis, del Toro's film draws on the classic Carlo Collodi tale and "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."
Del Toro and Mark Gustafson (Fantastic Mr. Fox), while the former 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 set to debut in theaters and on Netflix. Principal photography began last Fall and has continued uninterrupted during the pandemic. "After years of pursuing this dream project, I found my perfect partner in Netflix," the filmmaker says in a press release shared earlier today.
"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."
No release date has been confirmed, but more details should now follow in the coming weeks.
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