Guillermo del Toros Pinocchio London film premiere 2023

1. The longest stop-motion animated film.
2. Cate Blanchett told Guillermo Del Toro that she wanted a part in this film during work on Nightmare Alley, but the only character that hadn't been cast yet was Spazzatura, the monkey. To Del Toro's surprise, Blanchett wanted to voice the character anyway even though they have little actual lines and spent most of the film making sounds. In the making-of documentary, Blanchett and Del Toro confirm that she enthusiastically told him "I'll do anything. For you, I would play a pencil".
3. Geppetto's deceased son is revealed to be named Carlo. This is most likely an homage to Carlo "Collodi" Lorenzini, who wrote the original Pinocchio story.
4. On November 10, 2017, Guillermo del Toro announced that the project was canceled. On October 22, 2018, however, Netflix announced that del Toro was brought on board to direct a stop-motion adaptation of Pinocchio, and del Toro himself tweeted concept art that shared identical character designs for his original Pinocchio project.
5. Unlike most versions of Pinocchio, which take place in 1800s Italy, Guillermo del Toro decided to set this version in 1930s Italy under the rule of Benito Mussolini and the National Socialist Fascist Party. This is the third time that del Toro has set a film during a real-life political conflict, after The Devil's Backbone (2001) and Pan's Labyrinth (2006) (which took place during and after the Spanish Civil War, respectively).
6. Pinocchio was the only model in the cast that was 3D printed.
7. This is not the first adaptation of Pinocchio to expand Geppetto's backstory by adding the loss of his own family. The Italian miniseries The Adventures of Pinocchio from 1972 did something similar by making Geppetto a widower and the Blue Fairy the ghost of his late wife.
8. When the film was still in production, originally Guillermo wanted John Hurt to voice Geppetto, making this their third collaboration together in film. But sadly John died on January 25, 2017 before he could begin voice work. He was then replaced by his Harry Potter co-star David Bradley, who also had replaced John for the role of Abraham Setrakian in The Strain (2014), another Guillermo del Toro production, after John called Guillermo and told him that he was sick and too busy to take the role.
9. Gregory Mann's voice changed during course of production, so his voice had to be edited to sound like it was when he started to record his lines.
10. Sebastian Cricket keeps a portrait of the pessimist philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer by his desk. In a later scene, Count Volpe is listening to the finale of Richard Wagner's 'Tristan and Isolde' which Wagner was partly inspired to write due to reading Schopenhauer.
11. According to Guillermo Del Toro, Count Volpe is a fusion of the Fox, the Cat (both known in America as Honest John and Gideon thanks to Walt Disney), and the puppet-master Mangiafuoco (aka. Fire-Eater) from the original story and the Walt Disney's version (especially in the case of Stromboli, who is an evil version of Collodi's Mangiafuoco). To drive it further home, Volpe's hair resembles fox ears, he carries a cane with a fox head decor, and his name means "fox" in Italian.
12. Alexandre Desplat had all the instruments for the recording sessions to his score be made of wood.
13. In a 2018 Syfy interview, Guillermo del Toro confirmed that the movie will be more politically focused (being set in fascist Italy) than family friendly. Del Toro also revealed that the film blends both Pinocchio and Frankenstein stories.
14. The first animated film directed by Guillermo del Toro.
15. About the characters, Guillermo Del Toro stated: " you don't have to believe they are real people. You have to believe in them as characters, and we wanted to embody the form and the character into one, we wanted to fuse them. Volpe with his sort of demonic, horn like wings on the hair. The innocence of Pinocchio, his simplicity. The sort of earthiness and beautiful old-world grace in Geppetto. We wanted to do a labor of design that told the story."
16. Despite being director Guillermo Del Toro's home country, the film was initially blocked from release in Mexico after an interview in which he lamented the state of Mexican cinema and the little interest Mexican government officials gave to new filmmakers and artists, in favor of commercial tried and tested formulas by major celebrities and corporations. The movie was finally given a very limited release in just a few cinemas all over the country.
17. Ron Perlman's eighth collaboration with director Guillermo del Toro.
18. This film was released a mere three months after Disney's Pinocchio (the live-action remake of the 1940 animated film). Rather amusingly, both films have VFX work done by Moving Picture Company.
19. The coffin-carrying rabbits being made into Psychopomps that take Pinocchio to the afterlife are a likely reference to the Black Rabbit in Watership Down, which carries out more or less the same task (albeit only for rabbits).
20. Long noses are associated with lies, hence why Pinocchio's nose grows when he does so. Count Vulpe's nose is very long, signifying that he's a major liar throughout.
21. In February 2011 Gris Grimly was asked to co-direct the movie with Mark Gustafson. However, in 2012 del Toro officially replaced Grimly.
22. In interviews, Guillermo Del Toro has stated that in his version, Pinocchio's nose grows not just when he lies but when he is not true to himself. This adds an intriguing interpretation to the way his nose 'grows' organically - it is a visual indication that his grip on his personhood is fading away and he is in danger of returning to the base materials from which he came. It's also thematically connected to writer Patrick McHale's best-known work Over the Garden Wall, which also ends with a child gradually turning into a tree because he believes he is "bad".
23. Pinocchio asks his father Geppetto in the church why the townspeople like the wooden Christ on the cross, but not him. In the next two scenes, Pinocchio is subjected to two of the three temptations visited on Christ by Satan, as described in Chapter 4 of St. Matthew's Gospel. First, the temptation of Hunger: Pinocchio is tempted by a puppet called Mr. Diavolo (the Devil) with popcorn and hot chocolate. Second, the temptation of Power or Fame: Count Volpe puts him on a high place and shows him the kingdoms of the World which he could master. Thanks to his true-to-form naivete, the wooden boy succumbs immediately to both temptations.
24. Guillermo Del Toro reached out to Patrick McHale to co-write a new version of the screenplay after being impressed by his animated series Over the Garden Wall. Guillermo Del Toro and family also enjoyed Adventure Time, which McHale also worked on it, and Ron Perlman had voice acted for.
25. Geppetto fussing over how the pine cone Carlo chosen isn't perfect because it's missing a scale, framing how his perfectionism will be problematic with the imperfect Pinocchio.
26. The Italian fascist slogan "Credere, obbedire, combattere" (Believe, obey, fight) is displayed prominently on a wall in the town.
27. In the year 2022, voice actor Tom Kenny has performed for both the worst and best received animated adaptations of the story of Pinocchio, voicing Geppetto in the Lionsgate released Pinocchio: A True Story.
28. Paul Thomas Anderson was originally on board to direct before dropping out.
29. The scene of Geppetto making Pinocchio is reminiscent of several movie adaptions of Frankenstein, which is fitting since both are about an artificially made human who (at least in this version of Pinocchio and the original Frankenstein novel) is at first rejected by his creator. Thankfully for Pinocchio, Geppetto changes his mind about his creation, sparing him from the agony that the Creature had to endure from Victor.
30. One of the workers in Count Volpe's circus troupe reuses a concept design for a more traditional, Stromboli influenced, Mangiafuoco that was seen prominently in the film's initial promotional concept art.
31. During early production of the movie, actors Christopher Walken, Daniel Radcliffe and Tom Waits were considered to have their voices in the film, but left due to schedule conflicts and the production for the film switching to Netflix.
32. Geppetto tells Pinocchio that when he lies, his nose grows. Before he gains some Character Development, Pinocchio is a Horrible Judge of Character and trusting to a fault. When a fed-up Geppetto calls him a burden, Pinocchio believes him immediately because he didn't see Geppetto's nose grow. This is at least partially why Pinocchio is so gullible; because he initially never sees other people's noses growing, he assumes that other people are saying exactly what they think and aren't being dishonest.
33. Frequent Guillermo del Toro collaborators Ron Perlman and Burn Gorman both appear in this film. This is also Cate Blanchett's second del Toro film after Nightmare Alley (2021).
34. Christoph Waltz played a Geppetto-like character in the film Alita: Battle Angel. Producer James Cameron was inspired to make that film after Guillermo Del Toro recommended him the manga.
35. The pears that Geppetto buys for himself and Carlo are a shout out to one vignette in the original story where Geppetto was trying to teach Pinocchio the importance of eating your food, even the parts you may not like.
36. the Pale Man and Faun from Pan's Labyrinth (2006) can be seen depicted in the church's stained glass windows.
37. Composer Alexandre Desplat worked previously on two movies directed by Matteo Garrone, who directed the 2019 live-action version of "Pinocchio."
38. Pinocchio's creation is compared to Frankenstein's Monster, right down to Pinocchio being new to everything like an actual infant. At one point, Sebastian calls out Geppetto on focusing more on making Pinocchio the perfect replacement for Carlo, instead of recognizing what he already had. Frankenstein was guilty of the same folly. In the book, the monster was a rather decent specimen. The reason Frankenstein rejected it was that he was disturbed by the look of his eyes.
39. The Wood Sprite giving life to Pinocchio (who in the book came from an enchanted tree stump the Blue Fairy had nothing to do with) and getting Sebastian to be his guide is cue taken from the Disney movie, as is Count Volpe convincing Pinocchio to join the showbiz like Honest John does and having him sing and dance in a number not too different from the "I've Got No Strings" scene.
40. Mark Gustafson's directorial debut.
41. Count Volpe's song is a good thematic lead-in to the movie's overall themes - after all, a core principle of fascist movements is dreaming up an idealistic (fictional) past state to which it is imperative to return.
42. When Geppetto shoves Pinocchio into the closet early on, a pair of blue gloves are stuck to his face which resemble the white gloves the Disney version wore.
43. The pallbearer black rabbits' job, in this version of the story, seems to be storing the dead in a shadowy, gargantuan warehouse, then playing poker in their spare time. In "Lot 36", the premier of Guillermo Del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities, Tim Blake Nelson plays an unpleasant man who is covertly plundering disused storage lockers to pay off his gambling debts (based on an incident which happened to Del Toro in real life).
44. Pinocchio burning his feet (at Candlewick's mischievous behest) is reminiscent of when the wooden boy put his feet by the fire to warm while he rested, only to find them burnt to stumps when he awoke.
45. Volpe's hair could also be based on Heihachi Mishima, because Guillermo Del Toro always plays as him on Tekken.
46. Guillermo del Toro's first, and so far only, PG-rated movie.
47. Spazzatura being a monkey who has a mook-face turn brings to mind Igor from Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night.
48. Christoph Waltz portrayed Blofeld in the last two installments of the James Bond movies that starred Daniel Craig. Guillermo Del Toro actually did some voice work for the second installment of Craig's run as 007 in 2008's Quantum of Solace.
49. Cate Blanchett, Tilda Swinton, David Bradley, and Tim Blake Nelson have all appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
50. The reason the cricket is constantly subject to amusing injuries - one of which prominently involving a hammer - is likely a nod to his fate in the original book, where Pinocchio got annoyed by him and smashed him with a hammer, and he spent the rest of the novel as a ghost. Not to mention, Sebastian is basically telling the entire story from beyond the grave.
51. In the book - and most previous adaptations - Lampwick/Candlewick is treated as simply a bad kid who pays the price for being disobedient - an unsympathetic anti-role Model. This movie's version of Candlewick, on the other hand, is given a legitimate freudian excuse, and his capacity for disobedience is treated as a much more ennobling quality
52. At the beginning of the film, Geppetto's Jesus Christ sculpture is missing its left arm. When Pinocchio comes back to life at the end, he's missing a left arm as well.
53. The entire Land of Toys plot is removed from this version of the story with the Coachman character instead being reimagined as the Podesta, a fascist government official who wants to turn Pinocchio and other young boys into soldiers for the regime. As a result, Candlewick and the other boys are never transformed into donkeys, but are instead left to an Uncertain Doom as the military training camp is bombed.
54. When Pinocchio arrives at the military training camp. There's a brief montage of boys climbing up ropes, echoing the scenes of Pleasure Island in the 1940 version, which featured a lot of boys climbing onto roofs and jumping out windows. This subtly tells the viewer that the training camp will be this story's equivalent to Pleasure Island. The difference is, in the Disney movie, it's a place where boys misbehave and run wild, while here, they're all doing exactly what they're told, and are implicitly miserable throughout.
55. Pinocchio using his nose as a means to escape from the Terrible Dogfish harkens back to the 1996 live-action film doing a similar thing, even down to one of the intentional lies being the declaration that he hates his father.
56. The movie begins and ends with a pinecone falling off a tree.
57. Pinocchio keeping Sebastian's body to rest in a box of matches that he carries inside his chest is a stealth shout-out to Charles Dickens' The Cricket on the Hearth.
58. Similarly to the original Disney movie, the Terrible Dogfish has adaptational villainy and furiously tries to swallow the heroes again when they escape, and Pinocchio commits a heroic sacrifice to save Geppetto from drowning but gets brought back to life as a reward for his selfless act.
59. Geppetto dying in the end may seem sad on the surface, but remember what kick-started this whole thing. Geppetto's biggest trauma was losing his son. Pinocchio was able to give Geppetto a happier outcome: the child got to outlive the parent
60. Unlike the original story and his many adaptations, this version of the titular character was made not out of love, but out of Geppetto's grief at losing his child, Carlo, during the Great War, and his body is highly distorted due to Geppetto building him in a fit of a drunken rage. Not only he's ostracized by the town's folk for being a living puppet (they assume is a "work of the devil" or "a witchcraft") but Geppetto constantly demanding him to behave like Carlo instead of let him be his own person, forced Pinocchio to join the circus to get some money for his father.
61. Beyond the four black rabbits in the afterlife Pinocchio dies a total of four times in the film. The fourth death was supposed to be permanent until Sebastian uses his wish to revive him.
62. When the military training camp is bombed, there's a quick shot of soldiers putting gas masks on several of the boys. The masks make their faces look stretched out kind of like donkeys.
63. Volpe promising will make Pinocchio shine like the brightest star. The thing is, stars shine because they burn, which Volpe does to Pinocchio in retribution.

Genre

Animation,Drama,Family

Cast

as Cricket

as Geppetto

as Pinocchio

as Priest

as Podesta

as Dottore

as Candlewick

as Spazzatura

as Black Rabbits

as Count Volpe

as Wood Sprite

as Mussolini

as (Carlo

as Podesta's Wife

as Twin Daughter 2

as Milliner

as Confident Boy