While the story of the wooden boy who came to life, better known as Pinocchio, has been told many times over the years, Guillermo del Toro wants audiences to know that his recently released production, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, isn’t the same. In a behind-the-scenes featurette, the filmmaker known for crafting blockbusters including The Shape of Water and Nightmare Alley gives viewers a backstage pass to the creation of Netflix’s latest stop-motion musical feature.
Speaking during the featurette are a slew of the film’s major players including co-director Mark Gustafson, actors Tilda Swinton, David Bradley, Cate Blanchett, Gregory Mann, and Christopher Waltz, animation supervisor Brian Leif Hansen, production designer Curt Enderle, executive music producer Alexandre Desplat, and of course, del Toro.
Animation comes to life in this newly released look as del Toro, who wrote, co-directed, and produced the project, walks viewers through his adaptation, which will tell the classic story in a brand-new way. Underlying tones of fatherhood and fascism help shape the film as Blanchett says the director was able to “Trojan horse” these themes alongside the touching musical tale that we all know and love.
Meanwhile, Gustafson, Hansen, and Enderle reveal the tedious techniques that went into bringing stop-motion alive in a way that Gustafson says adds to the tale in a “really powerful” way. And then there’s Desplat, who composed the music alongside del Toro, with the latter penning the film’s lyrics. In a very on-point move, the musician chose to only use wooden instruments for his score, keeping with the overall vibe of Pinocchio.
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio will transport audiences to 1930s Italy where the Fascist government plays a major part in the story all while keeping cadence with the original Carlo Collodi 1883 novel, The Adventures of Pinocchio. If the Fascism aspect is ringing a bell for you, it’s because the theme is one that del Toro has delved into before via his 2006 fantasy film, Pan’s Labyrinth, which took place in Francoist Spain during the dictatorship of Francisco Franco. The film will also give more of a backstory to Gepetto’s life pre-Pinocchio, shedding light on the woodworker’s relationship with his now-deceased son, Carlos. Also starring in the vocal cast are the familiar voices of Ewan McGregor, Finn Wolfhard, Ron Perlman, Tim Blake Nelson, Burn Gorman, and John Turturro.
After first released into select theaters on November 9, the film has finally landed on Netflix and is being met with largely positive reviews. Collider’s own Ross Bonaime, who is certain that the world is “full up” on Pinocchio adaptations, wrote that del Toro’s innovative rendition “presents even weightier moral examinations, and brings a very real and human reaction” to the otherwise overdone tale.
The film is streaming on Netflix now. Learn more about Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio in the featurette below.
