Garrone's Live Action 'Pinocchio' Gets Harry Potter SFX Wizard

Pinocchio, which is currently being sold at Cannes, has signed one of the most sought after special effects folks in the business, Nick Dudman. We are guessing he is currently trying out a variety of noses for his new project...

We reported a while back on Italian Director Matteo Garrone (Tale of Tales) and his latest passion project, a live action, personal retelling of Pinocchio, which he is also writing. (You can find that earlier post HERE.)

Dudman told Variety that the new Italian-language “Pinocchio” will have a “flavor and look that’s quintessentially Italian” and will be different from what audiences are used to seeing in mainstream fantasy films. “It’s a very personal journey for Matteo,” Dudman said. “They are doing something very different from previous versions. It’s very dark.” 

“’Pinocchio’ is a dream of mine that goes back to when I was a child,” says Garrone. “On my desk I still have my own personal ‘Pinocchio’ story-board that I drew and colored in when I was a kid, and which is one of my most cherished mementos.” 

... Production is expected to begin in early 2018 in Sicily, Calabria and Tuscany. (Variety)

We're looking forward to see how this develops, if we can. Garrone was pretty strict with his closed sets on Tale of Tales, but this is, at last information, still supposed to be a family film and should be very different from everything Garrone has done to date. Either way - we won't have seen a Pinocchio like this one before.

In case you missed the note, it's been confirmed that unlike Tale of Tales, this film will be in Italian.