“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” is a stop-motion animated musical film available on Netflix since December 9, 2022. This new production, directed by Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson, adapts the classic fairy tale based on the Italian novel “The Adventures of Pinocchio” by Carlo Collodi.
The dark fantasy film marks Del Toro’s debut as a feature-length animated director. The screenplay for “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” was written by Gris Grimly, Del Toro, Patrick McHale, and Matthew Robbins, from a story by Del Toro and Robbins.
In the film, the lovable Pinocchio is voiced by Gregory Mann, Geppetto by David Bradley, Sebastian J. Grillo by Ewan McGregor, Candlewick by Finn Wolfhard, Il Dottore by John Turturro, the Spirit of the Forest by Tilda Swinton, and the monkey Spazzatura by actress Cate Blanchett, who spoke with Guillermo del Toro about being part of the film.
HOW DID CATE BLANCHET GET THE ROLE OF SPREZZATURA IN GUILLERMO DEL TORO’S “PINOCCHIO”?
During an interview with Yahoo Entertainment, Guillermo del Toro revealed that Australian actress Cate Blanchett asked him for the role of Spazzatura, even though it was the last available part.
In Guillermo del Toro’s “Pinocchio,” Spazzatura is a small monkey who initially dislikes Pinocchio but eventually becomes his friend and rescues him. According to Guillermo del Toro, he developed an excellent working relationship with Cate Blanchett during the filming of “Nightmare Alley.” So much so that the Australian actress signed on for his next film project.
“I told her, ‘All the Pinocchio roles are taken,’ and she replied, ‘I’ll do anything,'” del Toro revealed, adding, “I responded, ‘Well, there’s a monkey.’ And she said, ‘I’ll do it.'”
“This monkey is my spirit animal,” Blanchett exclaimed when she saw the designs for Spazzatura. The Australian actress then insisted on voicing all of her individual scenes, as del Toro explained.
“What’s hard to imagine with Cate is that she’s one of the best actresses of our time, she’s incredible at her craft, but she’s funny,” the director stated, adding, “She’s incredibly funny, so she tried everything, and she lent her voice to the monkey and the monkey puppets,” according to the website.