Guillermo del Toro Talks Themes of Love and Death with ‘Pinocchio’

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio is already out in theaters, and it’ll debut on Netflix on December 9, 2022. In promotion of the release, del Toro is talking with the press about some of the themes in the film and the importance behind those themes.

The filmmaker, 58, isn’t shy in expressing the concepts that he wanted to capture with his take on Carlo Collodi’s 1883 story. 

“I thought it was important to deal with how briefly we have each other and how life is made valuable by death, which are concepts that are very, very Mexican, but [ones] that, ultimately, I believe in,” del Toro reveals.

“The film is thematically about different types of fatherhood — what it is to be a father, what it is to be a child. And there are different types of parental figures in the movie. Some are lethal, some are exploitative, some are permeable to love. And, finally, a very paternalistic concern is the fascist idea of the Fatherland and the father-figure style of leadership.” he adds.

“I was hoping to talk about things that were very important for me and that would reflect today. One of the things that I cherish as a virtue is disobedience. I thought that the idea of Pinocchio behaving as a free agent and a disobedient soul in a time when obedience is expected of everyone would be very important, especially in a moment like now.” he continues.

Guillermo del Toro Hopes to Slow Down and Focus on More Animated Projects.

del Toro is also looking to make a shift to focusing more on animation. After working on Pinocchio, he realizes that projects like these are more his speed.

“My hope right now is to slow down. And the ideal place to slow down for me is animation, because it is far more my speed. We were able to react to the material on a week-to-week basis. We were able to re-board sequences, we were able to add sequences.” del Toro states.

“It is really a beautiful pace that is more deliberate, but also just simply more organic to the way I like to make movies. I intend to, if I can, transition between live action and animation, and slowly but surely lean toward animation.” he adds.