Tom Hanks Is in Talks to Play Geppetto in Live-Action Disney Film Pinocchio
Tom Hanks is set to bring one of the world’s most beloved adoptive fathers to life!
The Oscar-winning actor, 62, is in early talks to star as Geppetto in a live-action remake of the Disney classic Pinocchio, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The remake comes 78 years after the original animated film captivated audiences in February 1940. The original centered around the woodworker Geppetto (voiced by Christian Rub) who sees a falling star and wishes his puppet of a little boy, Pinocchio, to life.
Pinocchio must prove himself worthy of being a real boy when he falls into the clutches of Honest John who leads him astray to the sinful Pleasure Island. With the help of Jiminy Cricket, who serves as his conscious, he sets about finding his father and his home.
This is the latest Disney remake in the works following the studio’s release of trailers for the live-action films The Lion King, Dumbo, and Aladdin — all of which are set to be released in 2019.
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Paddington director Paul King is helming the remake — and he isn’t the only one making a film based on the lonely puppet. Oscar winner Guillermo del Toro is writing and directing a stop-motion animated musical based on the story of Pinocchio for Netflix.
Pinocchio was the second film made by Disney after 1937’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. It became the first animated film to win at the Academy Awards, taking home the gold statue for Best Music, Original Score and Original Song for “When You Wish Upon a Star.”
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Disney has already achieved massive success with live-action remakes such as 2017’s Beauty and the Beast which made over $1 billion at the world box office and 2016’s The Jungle Book which grossed just under $1 billion at the world box office.
Hanks is also set to have a busy year starring as Fred Rogers in the upcoming untitled film and picking up the mantle as Woody in Toy Story 4.
