Are you ready for another live-action retelling of a classic animated Disney movie? If you are then, you’ll be happy to learn Disney has added Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Cynthia Erivo to Pinocchio. The two are playing the roles of the Blue Fairy and Jiminy Cricket, respectively. Robert Zemeckis will direct the feature upcoming project.
Erivo and Gordon-Levitt join Tom Hanks, who is playing the part of Geppetto. Hanks has been attached to the project since 2018. The latest retelling of Pinocchio will be a combination of live-action and heavy visual effects. Flora and Ulysses’ Benjamin Evan Ainsworth will voice the title character Pinocchio, and Keegan-Micahel Key will voice the character, Honest John. Rounding out the cast is Lorraine Bracco, who is voicing Sofia the Seagull, a brand new character. Pinocchio is set to begin production this month in the U.K. and will debut on Disney+.
This is not the first live-action adaption of the original 1883 novel of the same name by Carlo Collodi. Back in 1996, The Adventures of Pinocchio starred Martin Landau, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Rob Schneider, Udo Kier, Bebe Neuwirth, David Doyle and Geneviève Bujold. The movie was both a critical and commercial failure. Some ten years before this retelling was eventually made, director Steve Barron and Jim Henson were considering the idea for a live-action version of Pinocchio. However, when the two approached Disney with the idea, they were turned down. A few years later, producer Lawrence Mortorff sent Barron a script for a movie based on Carlo Collodi’s novel. It was at this moment the project finally got off the ground.
Disney’s live-action Pinocchio has been in gestation since 2018, but it seems like now the project is well on its way to get made. More news to come on the newest Disney live-action endeavor.
