Guillermo del Toro, The Jim Henson Co behind new Pinocchio

From DHD – Guillermo del Toro is teaming with The Jim Henson Company and Pathe to create a 3D stop motion animated adaptation of Carlo Colodi’s Pinocchio. Gris Grimly – whose illustrations for a 2002 version of Pinocchio served as the basis for the project – will co-direct with Mark Gustafson. Del Toro and Matthew Robbins developed the story, with Robbins penning the screenplay; Del Toro will produce, along with The Jim Henson Company’s Lisa Henson, Jason Lust, and Allison Abbate.

The puppets and 3D elements will be developed with McKinnon and Saunders, the UK-based facility that worked on The Fantastic Mr. Fox, and Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride.

Del Toro said of the project: “What we’re trying to do is present a Pinocchio that is more faithful to the take that Colodi wrote. That is more surreal and slightly darker than what we’ve seen before.”

Production will begin later this year.

Book Jacket:

Once there was a lonely woodcutter named Geppetto-who dreamed of having a boy of his own. So one day he carved a boy out of wood and named him Pinocchio.

When the puppet comes to life, it’s Geppetto’s dream come true.

Except Pinocchio turns out to be not such a nice boy after all. Pinocchio enjoys nothing better than creating mischief and playing mean tricks. As he discovers, being bad is much more fun than being good.

For a while, anyway.

Happily for Pinocchio, he will learn that there is much more to being a real boy than having fun.

A magical tale that has entertained children of all ages for more than a hundred years, this lavishly and gorgeously illustrated new edition is the perfect introduction of a timeless classic to a new generation of readers.

And that’s no lie!

You can read an excerpt here.