Shawn Levy is 1. a very busy person and 2. really into stories about people building and/or interacting with humanoid beings made from spare parts. Last weekend, he saw box office success with Real Steel, about a man who takes part in robot boxing matches. Also on his plate: a new version of Frankenstein. And now he’s set to direct a prequel to Pinocchio called The Three Misfortunes of Geppetto, about how the boy puppet’s maker came to create a wooden child companion. At this point, we wouldn’t be surprised if Shawn Levy is just trying to distract everyone from the army of Cybermen he’s building in his basement.
Okay, this look into what made Geppetto the man who built Pinocchio — written by Michael Vukadinovich — is not going to be nearly as dark and disturbing as it sounds, despite the plural “misfortunes” in the title. According to Deadline, it will be more whimsical and romantic than creepy:
It’s a prequel to the story of ‘Pinocchio’, in which Geppetto endures a life of misfortune, war and adventure, all to be with Julia Moon, his true love. The sweep is reminiscent of ‘Big Fish’ or ‘The Princess Bride’ and it creates a fresh way into the Pinocchio story at a time when revisionist fairy tales are dominating the movie landscape.
This is not the only Pinocchio movie in the works. Much like the aforementioned Frankenstein, which has seven adaptations in production and pre-production, this will be one of three such projects. One is a creepy stop-action version by Guillermo Del Toro and the Jim Henson Company that will feature this scary-looking puppet and a live-action version for Warner Bros. that Tim Burton is supposedly looking into. And let’s not forget the two Snow White movies that are also in production right now.
News of the future: Hollywood has announced 14 versions of The Little Mermaid, and three of them will be starring actual fish. James Cameron has announced plans to breed a real mermaid, and Shawn Levy is in talks to direct a movie about that.
(via Deadline, Screen Rant)
