News

Guillermo del Toro Eyes Pinocchio

Ultra-busy director Guillermo del Toro has stuck his, ahem, nose into a darker version of Disney's classic puppet tale, Pinocchio. Del Toro is working with the Jim Henson Company to develop the story and will take a producer role on the film.

Jim Henson Company’s Brian Henson and Lisa Henson will produce the picture alongside Del Toro, who is currently working on the script with Gris Grimly, who illustrated a version of the puppet whose nose grows whenever he tells a lie, in 2002. Grimly and Adam Parrish King will co-direct this film.

Del Toro has said that he believes the project will take three years to complete. Francis Ford Coppola tried to direct a version of the story in the 1990s, but it went nowhere and eventually ended up in court, with Coppola suing Warner Brothers when they wouldn’t allow him to set the film up at Columbia. Pinocchio first appeared in print in the 19th century and was popularized by the Mouse House in the 1940s with a feature film production.

—The ARTISTdirect Staff
12.01.08