The cast of Guillermo del Toro’s stop-motion animated version of “Pinocchio” has been reported about for a while now. But we have yet to hear an official word from the filmmaker or Netflix about the full all-star cast, until now.
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According to Netflix, Guillermo del Toro’s upcoming version of “Pinocchio” is going to have a pretty great cast, including some newcomers and some A-list veterans. The full official cast includes Ewan McGregor as Cricket and David Bradley as Geppetto. Joining them are Tilda Swinton, Christoph Waltz, Finn Wolfhard, Cate Blanchett, John Turturro, Ron Perlman, Tim Blake Nelson, and Burn Gorman. And leading the whole thing will be Gregory Mann as the puppet that dreams of being a boy, Pinocchio.
“After years of pursuing this dream project, I found my perfect partner in Netflix,” said del Toro. “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.”
Del Toro isn’t doing this alone, as he’s joined by co-director Mark Gustafson. Gustafson is probably best known for his years in animation, including serving as animation director on Wes Anderson’s “Fantastic Mr. Fox.” “Pinocchio” marks his first feature film directing experience. Patrick McHale is on board as a co-writer alongside del Toro, and Alexandre Desplat is set to compose the score.
It’s unclear when Netflix will release “Pinocchio,” but we do know from interviews that production has been going on for quite some time. McGregor has said that he’s already almost completely done with his vocal duties on the film.