Guillermo del Toro and The Jim Henson Co. have agreed to proceed with the director’s long-planned stop-motion animated feature version of Pinocchio.
According to Variety, Pathe has signed on to develop and produce the project, which will be made in stereoscopic 3D and is set to begin production later this year.
Del Toro has been developing the story with Matthew Robbins, who is writing the screenplay, and will produce with Lisa Henson and Jason Lust of Henson Co. and Allison Abbate.
Gris Grimly and Mark Gustafson will direct the film, with Gary Ungar, Francois Ivernel and Cameron McCracken as executive producers. Nick Cave has signed on as music consultant .
Puppets and 3D will be developed in the United Kingdom by MacKinnon and Saunders.
“I believe that our tale of Pinocchio recaptures the darker, more daunting aspects of the book that have been missing from previous film incarnations and takes advantage of all the allegorical aspects of the tale,” Del Toro said.
