The first trailer for the forthcoming Matteo Garrone live-action adaptation of Pinocchio has arrived and it’s truly the stuff of nightmares.
Leading the cast is Oscar-winning actor Roberto Benigni (Life Is Beautiful) who will tackle the role of woodcarver Geppetto. This marks Benigni’s second crack at bringing the beloved childhood classic to life.
You may unwittingly recall his 2002 attempt at writing and starring in his own adaptation of the Carlo Collodi-helmed classic. You know, the one where the then 50-year-old Benigni played the titular role of a seven-year-old puppet.
Thankfully, this forthcoming adaptation will see nine-year-old Federico Ielapi play the wooden puppet with dreams of sentience.
Pinocchio will also star Gigi Proietti, Rocco Papaleo, Massimo Ceccherini, Marine Vacth, Alida Baldari Calabria, Maria Pia Timo, Massimiliano Gallo, Gianfranco Gallo, Davide Marotta, Teco Celio, and Enzo Vetrano.
“Easily led astray, Pinocchio tumbles from one misadventure to another as he is tricked, kidnapped, and chased by bandits through a wonderful world full of imaginative creatures — from the belly of a giant fish to the Land of Toys and the Field Of Miracles,” a description for the film reads.
Check out the trailer for Pinocchio:
Typically I resent this era of live-action adaptions of untouchable childhood classics. However, there’s a kind of whimsy, haunting magic to this trailer that sparks some kind of hope that this may be the film that cuts through all the drab, clinical remakes we’ve been forced to trudge through.
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Matteo Garrone’s previous offerings, Gomorrah and Dogman were both singular, affecting films that stayed with me long after the closing credits.
Garrone isn’t the only critically-lauded director set to tackle the canonical children’s classic. Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro (The Shape of Water, Pan’s Labyrinth) will release a stop-motion adaptation of the film next year. del Toro’s version will star Gregory Mann, Ewan McGregor, David Bradley, Ron Perlman, Tilda Swinton, Christoph Waltz, Cate Blanchett, Tim Blake Nelson, Finn Wolfhard, Burn Gorman and John Turturro.
Forrest Gump director Robert Zemeckis is also set to tackle the text with longtime collaborator Tom Hanks.
