Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio Makes A Heartbreaking Backstory Change
Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio is making a heart-wrenching change to its main character's origin story. The film features a star-studded voice cast, including Ewan McGregor as Sebastian J. Cricket, The World's End's David Bradley as Gepetto, and performances from Stranger Thingsstar Finn Wolfhard, Cate Blanchett, Tilda Swinton, Christoph Waltz, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson, and Ron Perlman. Newcomer Gregory Mann will voice the leading wooden boy. Pinocchio is set to release in late 2022 on Netflix.
Del Toro's film, co-directed by animator Mark Gustafson, will be a darker retelling of the classic tale. Pinocchio's trailer reveals McGregor as a stop-motion Mr. Cricket, introducing the story to the audience as different from the tale they might think they know. One key component in this regard is del Toro's choice to set the film against the backdrop of Mussolini's fascist Italy. While just how prominent this setting will remain to be seen, but sets del Toro's version of Pinocchio apart from previous tellings.
Related: Everything We Know About Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio
According to Vanity Fair, a new backstory for Pinocchio has been revealed. In del Toro's version, the wood from which Pinocchio is carved comes from the tree that sprung from the grave of Carlo, the son of Geppetto, Pinocchio's creator. Geppetto's son tragically died a few years before, and according to del Toro, Geppetto "begs for another chance at being a father" through the creation of Pinocchio. The director elaborates on the backstory:
“He begs for another chance at being a father, but he doesn’t recognize that the essence of his own child comes back in the form of this indomitable boy. The main conflict within Geppetto and Pinocchio is that
Read more on screenrant.com
