Cate Blanchett, Ewan McGregor, Tilda Swinton & More Round Out Cast For Guillermo del Toro Netflix ‘Pinocchio’ Movie

Anthony D'Alessandro
·2 min read

Oscar winner Guillermo del Toro’s stop-motion animated musical movie Pinocchio for Netflix has set its cast with newcomer Gregory Mann in the title role, Ewan McGregor as Cricket and David Bradley (Harry Potter franchise, Game of Thrones) as Geppetto.

Other cast includes Oscar winners Tilda Swinton, Christoph Waltz and Cate Blanchett; Finn Wolfhard (Stranger Things); John Turturro (The Batman); Golden Globe winner Ron Perlman (Nightmare Alley); Tim Blake Nelson (Watchmen); and Burn Gorman (Enola Holmes).

Based on the classic Carlo Collodi tale, the feature 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.

“After years of pursuing this dream project, I found my perfect partner in Netflix,” said del Toro, who is directing with Mark Gustafson (Fantastic Mr. Fox). “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.”

Principal photography began last autumn at ShadowMachine’s studio in Portland, OR, and production has continued uninterrupted during the pandemic.

Del Toro and Patrick McHale wrote the script. The song lyrics are by del Toro and Katz, with music by Oscar 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 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.

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