Netflix Announces All-Star Voice Cast For Guillermo del Toro’s Stop-Motion Feature ‘Pinocchio’
Netflix has announced an all-star voice cast for Guillermo del Toro’s upcoming stop-motion animated musical feature ‘Pinocchio’, alongside an impressive team behind the cameras too!
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.
Relative newcomer Gregory Mann (‘Victoria’) will star as Pinocchio, with Ewan McGregor as Cricket and David Bradley (‘Harry Potter’, ‘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 (‘Hellboy’, ‘Sons Of Anarchy’), Tim Blake Nelson (‘Watchmen’), Burn Gorman (‘The Expanse’, ‘Jamestown’).
‘Pinocchio’ also has an impressive lineup behind the cameras to match the people providing the voices. The movie is directed by del Toro and Mark Gustafson (‘Fantastic Mr. Fox’) based on a script by del Toro and Patrick McHale (‘Adventure Time’). The song lyrics are by del Toro and Katz, with music by Academy Award winner Alexandre Desplat (‘The King’s Speech’, ‘Argo’, ‘The Shape of Water’) who will also write the score. Award-winning illustrator Gris Grimly, best known for his “macabre” yet humorous books for children and young adults, created the original design for the Pinocchio character. The film’s puppets are being built by Mackinnon and Saunders (‘Corpse Bride’).
“After years of pursuing this dream project, I found my perfect partner in Netflix,” comments del Toro. “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.”
‘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; 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 theatres and on Netflix. Principal photography began last Fall at ShadowMachine’s Portland, Oregon studio, and production has continued uninterrupted during the pandemic.
We don’t yet have a premiere date for Guillermo del Toro’s ‘Pinocchio’, but we’ll let you know when we hear more.
