Guillermo del Toro’s Portland-Filmed “Pinocchio” Adaptation Has Cast Some Huge Names to Provide Voices

Del Toro's adaptation of the Italian fable began production last year and has continued through the pandemic.

(IMDB)
By Shannon Gormley

The cast for Guillermo del Toro's upcoming Portland-filmed, stop-motion adaptation of Pinocchio has been announced, and it includes some big names: Cate Blanchett, Christoph Waltz, Ewan McGregor and Tilda Swinton are all voicing characters in the upcoming animated movie.

Del Toro's version of the Italian fable began production at the Portland outpost of animation studio ShadowMachine last year. According to the industry blog Oregon Confluence, Pinocchio has continued production through the pandemic.

Not to be confused with the other slightly creepy upcoming Pinocchio adaptation, The Oregonian broke the news about del Toro's version coming to Portland two years ago.

Since then, ShadowMachine has mostly kept quiet about the 2021 release, offering few details on the project other than it will present a dark take on the tale and be set in Mussolini's Italy. But if you're the kind of person who's excited for a nightmarish, anti-fascist puppet movie, the fact that Tilda Swinton will be voicing a character credited as "the fairy with the turquoise hair" is definitely a promising detail.

ShadowMachine, the studio behind critical darlings Tuca & Bertie and BoJack Horseman, opened its Portland office in 2015. Pinocchio will be the first big-name production to come out of its Portland office.

Related: This Portland Artist Spent Quarantine Making Puppets of the People in Her Life—Including Herself.

Willamette Week’s reporting has concrete impacts that change laws, force action from civic leaders, and drive compromised politicians from public office. Support WW's journalism today.