Movies
Ewan McGregor to Voice Jiminy Cricket in Guillermo del Toro’s ‘Pinocchio’
Announced a few years ago, Guillermo del Toro is going to be directing a stop-motion animated Pinocchio film, a longtime passion project for del Toro that’s finally coming to life in the near future.
Del Toro will write, produce and direct a brand new version of the classic children’s tale about a puppet who wants to be a real live boy, based on Gris Grimly‘s designs.
Doctor Sleep‘s Ewan McGregor, in an interview with ACE Universe (via Fandom), revealed that he’ll be voicing Jiminy Cricket, Pinocchio conscience that’s projected as a talking cricket.
“I’m playing Jiminy Cricket in Guillermo del Toro’s version of Pinocchio,” he exclaimed. “That I had started working on before I left for New York, so some of that is recorded. And of course, it’s stop-motion animated so it’s going to take them a great long time to make that film. But my first part, which is recording his dialogue, is sort of done. There may or may not be a song that has to be recorded. I’m not sure I’m at liberty to discuss that.”
The film will be set in Italy during the ’30s, a particularly fraught historical moment and a time when Fascism was on the rise and Benito Mussolini was consolidating control of the country. Del Toro compared it to “Frankenstein” in previous interviews.
Filming is underway on The Invisible Man director Leigh Whannell’s Wolf Man for Universal and Blumhouse, which will be howling its way into theaters on January 17, 2025.
Deadline reports that Matilda Firth (Disenchanted) is the latest actor to sign on, joining Christopher Abbott (Poor Things), Julia Garner (The Royal Hotel), and Sam Jaeger.
The project will mark Whannell’s second monster movie and fourth directing collaboration with Blumhouse Productions (The Invisible Man, Upgrade, Insidious: Chapter 3).
Wolf Man stars Christopher Abbott as a man whose family is being terrorized by a lethal predator.
Writers include Whannell & Corbett Tuck as well as Lauren Schuker Blum & Rebecca Angelo.
Jason Blum is producing the film. Ryan Gosling, Ken Kao, Bea Sequeira, Mel Turner and Whannell are executive producers. Wolf Man is a Blumhouse and Motel Movies production.
In the wake of the failed Dark Universe, Leigh Whannell’s The Invisible Man has been the only real success story for the Universal Monsters brand, which has been struggling with recent box office flops including the comedic Renfield and period horror movie The Last Voyage of the Demeter. Giving him the keys to the castle once more seems like a wise idea, to say the least.
4 New Horror Movies Releasing This Week Including ‘Late Night with the Devil’ at Home
Looking for New Episodes of “Chucky” on Peacock? Here’s What Changed
‘Ready or Not’: Radio Silence Filmmakers Tease the “Absolute Banger” of a Sequel That’s Taking Shape
‘Terrifier 3’: Filming Has Wrapped on Damien Leone’s Christmas Slasher Sequel!
‘Halloween: Illustrated’ Review: Original Novelization of John Carpenter’s Classic Gets an Upgrade
You must be logged in to post a comment.