Guillermo del Toro says his new film is a truly universal monster movie

Soon, director Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio will be upon us. The December Netflix release will be different from other adaptations, and, now, del Toro is explaining how the piece appeals to him and why it has a strong crossover nature for people.

The acclaimed artist makes the comments in a new Collider article filed after the outlet and others were treated to a behind-the-scenes look at his stop-motion project. Del Toro compared the piece to the likes of Frankenstein as a truly “universal” story that can be used to comment on anything and be twisted and turned in all kinds of ways to avoid what is expected of it.

“Those are characters where, even if you haven’t read the story, you know the story, or you think you know the story. Therefore, you can use them as metaphors for science, for human emotions, and for many, many things. I’m 58, and when we started this process with Pinocchio, it was about 15 years ago or more. I thought it could be a great tool to talk about how precious and fragile we are as humans, and how much we need each other. I wanted to find a way to tell that story, in a way where you think you know it, but you don’t. We endeavored to create something where you will recognize some of the beats, but many of them are reversed, pointedly and poignantly. If we did our job right, it should work like that.”

Elsewhere in the article the artist also reveals Ewan McGregor got cast because those behind the piece think he has a warm voice and personality. Del Toro also says Cate Blanchett plays a monkey and has no lines and joined up due to the good experience she had working with him on Nightmare Alley. Meanwhile, for the animation, they wanted to make it as authentic to humanity as possible.

“The eight rules of animation were, let’s try to animate mistakes, animate failed acts, animate characters listening, animate micro-gestures, avoid pantomime, etc. They all coalesced in what I think is a unique piece of stop-motion acting. We attempted to be naturalistic and very emotional. The movie is tackling very adult notions, but it can be watched in a family environment. It’s beautiful and moving and has an incredibly warm heart, but it deals with notions and emotions and things that will take you back to the real world.”

Pinocchio, a reimagining taking place in Fascist Italy, will release on streaming worldwide this Dec. 9. Its cast also includes Gregory Mann as the titular character, David Bradley as Geppetto, Christoph Waltz as Count Volpe. Tilda Swinton as the Wood Sprite and Ron Perlman as the Podesta. It comes on the heels of Disney’s recent live-action remake of its earlier animated version, which was not warmly received by those who reviewed it.