Filmmaker Guillermo del Toro took to the stage for the world premiere of his animated Netflix movie “Pinocchio” at the BFI London Film Festival on Saturday.
It was a shining moment tinged with sadness, however, as the visionary director emotionally revealed his mother, Guadalupe Gómez, had died just one day before the event. He said in his speech:
“I just want to say, my mother just passed away, and this was very special for her and me. This is not only the first time you’ll see the movie, it’s the first time she’ll see the movie with us. Thank you.”
del Toro also revealed he and his mother both felt a strong connection to the original 1940 Disney classic and its themes:
“I saw the film as a kid, and it’s a film that bonded me with my mom for an entire life. It affected me because Pinocchio saw the world the way I saw it. I was a little bit enraged that people demand obedience from Pinocchio, so I wanted to make a film about disobedience as a virtue, and to say that you shouldn’t change to be loved.”
His film, a longtime passion project and a new take set in fascist Italy before World War II, marks his first stop-motion animated feature, and he takes the genre seriously: “Everybody who is here believes that animation is not a genre. That animation is art. Animation is film.”
The voice cast includes Gregory Mann as Pinocchio, David Bradley as Geppetto, Ewan McGregor as Sebastian J. Cricket along with Tilda Swinton, Christoph Waltz, Finn Wolfhard, Cate Blanchett, John Turturro, Ron Perlman, Tim Blake Nelson, and Burn Gorman in supporting roles.
“Pinocchio” opens in select theaters in November and arrives on Netflix on December 9th. Our sincerest condolences go out to Mr. del Toro at this time.
Source: EW
