Look, I love Guillermo del Toro as much as the next guy. He’s funny, enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and his best films – like PAN’S LABYRINTH – are some of the best films ever made. Even his lesser films (like MIMIC) have charm and craft to them. However, having said that, I originally had no interest in his stop-motion PINOCCHIO film. Not saying I thought it would be bad, or that I wouldn’t seek it out at some point, just that I felt he could be using his time and talents elsewhere (as accumulating projects he’ll never finish is something else del Toro is known for).
Anyway, at the Venice Film Festival, this is what Guillermo del Toro said about the animated film during a press conference:
I have puppets and ready-made concepts but lack the money. It is also true that I try to complicate my life alone, because when I wanted to make Hellboy nobody liked the idea of a superhero movie, for Pacific Rim nobody wanted to see giant robots fighting monsters and the Labyrinth of the Fauna, no one wanted to produce A film about that era of Spanish history. I admit that wanting to tell the story of an anti-fascist Pinocchio during the rise of Mussolini, I also do not make life easy. I need $ 35 million. If you had them you would make me a happy Mexican.
Wait, an explicitly anti-fascist PINOCCHIO? That sounds awesome! Nevermind, sign me up! And in our current political climate,
that plotline is even more resonant! I knew I should’ve never doubted the G-man. Let’s hope he can raise those funds! Kickstarter anyone?
So what do you Schmoes think? You down for an explicitly anti-fascist PINOCCHIO? Either way, sound off below!