Disney’s next big live-action film is picking up steam. Pinocchio, which has apparently been in the making since 2018, is finally moving forward with new additions to its cast. Cynthia Erivo has signed on to play the iconic Blue Fairy, who brought the puppet Pinocchio to life. This is just one of Erivo’s upcoming projects. The actress, who recently starred in HBO’s The Outsider, will next be seen in Nat Geo’s Genius: Aretha as a young Aretha Franklin and in Apple TV+ anthology series Roar.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who starred in the Golden Globe-nominated The Trial Of Chicago 7, will play the wise Jiminy Cricket. Benjamin Evan Ainsworth will voice the titular character, Keegan-Michael Key is the voice of villainous anthropomorphic fox Honest John, and Lorraine Bracco will voice a new character called Sofia the Seagull. They join previously announced cast member Tom Hanks, who will play the woodcarver Geppetto, and Luke Evans who plays the antagonistic coachman.
Pinocchio, which will be a combination of live-action and some heavy duty visual effects, will premiere on Disney Plus (obviously). The film is directed by Robert Zemeckis, who gets to reunite with Hanks after Forrest Gump and The Polar Express. Zemeckis also co-wrote the script with Chris Weitz.
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I was like, didn’t they already do this? Then I remembered it was a different circus-themed Disney animated classic that I thought was creepy when I was a kid: Dumbo.Now I’m wondering how they’re going try and make Pinnochio woke.
Well, technically they’ve already done a live-action Pinnochio:
I can’t think of much that was problematic in Pinocchio, maybe the cuckoo clock kid getting spanked? Even the victim blaming aspect of the kids being turned to donkeys was shown as terrible and disproportionate. Most likely they’ll try to make the recruiter for the kids’ island somewhat more of a pedo-metaphor. And some more heavy-handed anti tobacco stuff. And they’ll show some resolution to that instead of just leaving the kids as donkeys for eternity (which was very effective and slightly horrifying to watch as a kid.)
I do like that in this day and age “Live action” and “ is the voice of” after every actor’s name, go together.
You know who they could bring on board who would get me *really* pumped for this?Just kidding, there’s no one.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt now there is a name I haven’t heard in a while.
Wasn’t A.I. already a live-action version of Pinocchio?
Will it include the horrifying “little boys get sent to saltmines while screaming for their mothers” element? Because that was almost as terrifying and upsetting as Dumbo for me when I saw it as a kid.
The best/worst part is that there’s no resolution. No quick line about the Blue Fairy saving them or anything. Those kids are just donkey slaves, forever.
We tried this in 2000 and 2002, it failed horribly. Also the original, while a classic wasn’t something I ever felt like rewatching as a kid.
Faerie Tale Theater did a pretty darn good adaption with Paul Reubens as Pinocchio, Lainie Kazan as the Blue Fairy and Carl Reiner as Geppetto.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt looks like the kind of guy who’d say “Jiminy Cricket!” when mildly annoyed in real life, so it sounds like good casting to me.