Introducing the epic cast of @RealGDT's stop-motion PINOCCHIO film: Newcomer Gregory Mann as Pinocchio Ewan McGregor as Cricket David Bradley as Gepetto Plus: Tilda Swinton Christoph Waltz Finn Wolfhard Cate Blanchett John Turturro Ron Perlman Tim Blake Nelson Burn Gorman pic.twitter.com/Jo5HtfdVc4— NetflixFilm (@NetflixFilm) August 19, 2020
Aug. 19 (UPI) -- Cate Blanchett and Ron Perlman have joined the cast of Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio.
Netflix announced a cast for the forthcoming stop-motion musical film Wednesday.
Newcomer Gregory Mann will voice Pinocchio, with Ewan McGregor as Cricket and David Bradley as Gepetto. Blanchett, Perlman, Tilda Swinton, Christoph Waltz, Finn Wolfhard, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson and Burn Gorman will co-star.
Netflix shared the news alongside a photo of del Toro holding a wooden Pinocchio doll.
McGregor had spilled news of his casting during a virtual Q&A with Ace Universe in June.
"I'm playing Jiminy Cricket in Guillermo del Toro's version of Pinocchio," the actor said. "That, I had started working on before I left for New York. So some of that is recorded."
Pinocchio is based on the Carlo Collodi children's novel The Adventures of Pinocchio, which Disney previously adapted as a 1940 animated film. Del Toro's movie will take place during the rise of fascism in 1930s Italy.
"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," del Toro said in 2018.
"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," he added.
Del Toro is also developing Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans for Netflix. The animated movie takes place in the Tales of Arcadia universe and is slated for release in 2021.
