Three-time Oscar-winning director Alfonso Cuarón, Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu, and Guillermo del Toro came together at the “Three Amigos” event held by Netflix at the Academy Museum. Moderated by Cuarón, del Toro talked about his new Netflix adaptation of Pinocchio.
Talking about the Pinocchio movie, del Toro said that it would take a “few years” for people in Hollywood to accept that animation is cinema. When asked about the animation debate that has been going on in Hollywood recently, he said, “It’s a battle I’ll keep fighting.”
A long-time supporter of the animation medium, the director previously stated, “Animation is a medium, not a genre- nor an interest for kids & families only.” The harsh decisions taken by companies such as Warner Bros. Discovery and Netflix regarding their animation departments have brought up new controversy on the importance of the art of animation. Drawing attention to Pinocchio in such a period, del Toro spoke about the film:
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‘‘This is the only Pinocchio movie I know that the one learning is Geppetto. It’s not Pinocchio learning to be a real boy, but Geppetto learning to be a real father. And that was very important for me.’’
‘I’m Not Making a Movie For Kids’
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The Shape of Water director said that for many people in the film industry, animation is a genre made for kids. Del Toro explained:
Del Toro said that the idea of Pinocchio was rejected for 10 years, “I’m not making a movie for kids, but kids can watch it,” he said.
‘‘It is incredibly, incredibly installed in the minds of a lot of people that are in the movie business that animation is a genre for kids and is not, as a medium, for creation of beauty and film and art. I think it’s a battle that will take years, but when you see things like that are as perfect as any Miyazaki movie or ‘The Red Turtle’, which is an absolute masterpiece, or ‘I Lost My Body’, and you know that this medium is not being used in all its potential’’
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio reimagines the classic story of a wooden puppet who comes to life as the son of his carver Geppetto. It is a story of love and disobedience as Pinocchio struggles to live up to his father’s expectations, learning the true meaning of life. It takes place in Benito Mussolini’s Fascist Italy during brutal World War II. The director considers Pinocchio part of a thematic, stylistic, unofficial trilogy along with The Devil’s Backbone and Pan’s Labyrinth.
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio is now streaming on Netflix.
