Watch: Netflix reveals first teaser for Guillermo del Toro’s dark take on ‘Pinocchio’

Ewan McGregor introduces Academy Award-winning director Guillermo del Toro’s long-awaited passion project, Pinocchio, in a new teaser trailer. 

Not to be confused with Disney’s upcoming live-action Pinocchio, del Toro will co-direct his stop-motion, dark fantasy musical with the animation director on Wes Anderson’s stop-motion feature Fantastic Mr. Fox, Mark Gustafson. Del Toro wrote the script with screenwriter Matthew Robbins, who worked with the director on his 2015 film Crimson Peak. French composer Alexandre Desplat will score Pinocchio after earning an Oscar for his score on del Toro’s The Shape of Water.

Best known for his Oscar-winning dark fantasy features Pan’s Labyrinth and The Shape of Water,  del Toro’s has ventured into (computer) animation as an executive producer at DreamWorks, working on films like Kung Fu Panda 2,  Kung Fu Panda 3, and Rise of the Guardians. Pinocchio will take on the darker imagery of del Toro’s filmography. It’s set in Mussolini’s Italy and reimagines the character as a mischievous boy. Netflix has described it as “a story of love and disobedience as Pinocchio struggles to live up to his father’s expectations.”

Del Toro brings to the production an ensemble voice cast, first announced in 2020, starring McGregor as Sebastian J. Cricket, David Bradley as Master Geppetto, Ron Perlman as Mangiafuoco, Tilda Swinton as the Fairy with Turquoise Hair, and Christoph Waltz as the Fox, alongside Cate Blanchett, Tim Blake Nelson, Finn Wolfhard, John Turturro, and Burn Gorman. Gregory Mann will voice Pinnochio in their first feature film.

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio will premiere on Netflix this December.