Guillermo del Toro’s latest Netflix project is a stop-motion animated adaptation of PInocchio, bringing the classic tale to life in a visually spectacular way. The cast, which includes Stranger Things‘s Finn Wolfhard and Cats‘s Gregory Mann, has had years to watch while the elaborate animation project came together, and during a recent interview with ComicBook.com’s Chris Killian, Wolfhard and Mann broke down the process for getting their performance onto the screen.
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The film took a familiar animation pattern, which is that they recorded their lines before there was any animation in place, and the pair had not actually seen any of the animation until much later (although they presumably did a little ADR once the animation was done).
“Always in animation, it’s the voice first because they try to base the facial expressions off of how we are in the booth, and then they add it onto the puppet,” Mann said. “Finn actually plays a human, I’m a puppet, so it’s a bit different, but they film us when we’re in the booth so it relates to your facial expression. So I hadn’t seen anything.I saw a few clips throughout, but when I started, all I saw was a picture of what the puppet looked like and nothing else.”
It’s likely that photo was the same one that made the rounds online, showing off what might be if the movie were to get funded, back when it was little more than a concept from del Toro and some of his close collaborators.
Academy Award®-winning director Guillermo del Toro and award winning, stop-motion legend Mark Gustafson reimagine the classic Carlo Collodi tale of the fabled wooden boy with a whimsical tour de force that finds Pinocchio on an enchanted adventure that transcends worlds and reveals the life-giving power of love.
“No art form has influenced my life and my work more than animation and no single character in history has had as deep of a personal connection to me as Pinocchio,” said del Toro in a statement. “In our story, Pinocchio is an innocent soul with an uncaring father who gets lost in a world he cannot comprehend. He embarks on an extraordinary journey that leaves him with a deep understanding of his father and the real world. I’ve wanted to make this movie for as long as I can remember.”
You can see del Toro’s Pinocchio on Netflix now.
