Thursday
13Nov2008
Guillermo del Toro Wants to Pull Pinocchio's Strings
Thursday, November 13, 2008 at 6:40AM 
About six weeks ago, it was announced that
Guillermo
del Toro had a full schedule of movies that would take him through
2017. Between
The Hobbit films and a host of remakes (Frankenstein,
Slaughterhouse-Five), and others, del Toro was going to be very, very
busy. In fact, I think he's probably spreading himself a little too thin, knowing the scopes of most of these projects.But he's still thinking about what else he can do, including a stop-motion Pinocchio and a feature length film...starring puppets.
"We are trying to get a full stop-motion version of Gris Grimly’s Pinocchio off the ground, with the Jim Henson Company," Del Toro told Bloody-Disgusting. "The original story is far more perverse and spooky and [has a] semi-necrophilia vibe to it in certain aspects. Gris certainly has that vein in him, he wants to do this with that original spookiness in it, we are trying to get it going."
He adds, "The Jim Henson Company is behind it and we are currently working on the screenplay! Its not coming to a screen near you any time soon, even if it were to begin today it would be about three years in the making, but we are working to make it happen. A full-scale puppet universe takes time," he points out.
On top of that, there's another Puppetverse del Toro wants to explore, explaining that it came about on the set of Hellboy II, but advising that he's "not at liberty to speak about it right now." Apparently, he is allowed to say that a live-action version of the same story would have had a $7 million budget, and apparently, puppets work cheaper, so we might see a separate puppet movie down the road, too.
I have a lot of respect for del Toro, but doesn't it seem like he's getting a teensy bit carried away? I mean, he's got directing projects for the next nine years already. Slow down. A little.
Reader Comments (2)
As long as the quality doesn't suffer, I think it's great that Del Toro is putting his hands in so many projects. It reminds me of what Steven Spielberg was able to do when he was at the peak of his talent. I mean, he'd be in a trailer somewhere directing three movies at once filming on location in multiple parts of the world. And at the same time, he'd be putting his producer's stamp of approval on everything from TV mini-series to Tiny Toons Adventures. So Del Toro can pull it off. I sort of got the sense that the Hobbit is going to be amazing with him at the helm as I sat through Hellboy 2 the other night...
This Pinocchio thing has me intrigued as well, because, as we've discussed in previous posts regarding our friends over at Jim Henson, if they are indeed turning the corner and making some darker, adult themed films (like Dark Crystal and Labrynth) then I think working with top notch filmmakers like Del Toro can only mean great things...
Tell me this: Do you know if a Muppet movie qualifies for the best Animated Feature over at the Academy?
The best way to achieve good results is to focus on one project at a time and making it as good as possible.
Will, mentioned Steven Spielberg and I remember him saying that he was doing too many things at the same time and letting his preparation work slip. Spielberg, although undoubtedly successful turns out crap to quality at a ratio of 4:1.
Guillermo should take better care of his talent. Pan's Labyrinth showed that he could be on the path to greatness. He just shouldn't try to follow half a dozen paths at a time.