Guillermo Del Toros Pinocchio Producers Alex Bulkley and Corey Campodonico on Fulfilling Del Toro’s Vision

After joining the project with Guillermo del Toro more than 10 years ago, producers Alex Bulkley and Corey Campodonico have finally seen the fruits of their labor Pinocchio by Guillermo del Toro premiered last year. Del Toro’s Netflix adaptation of Carlo Collodi’s story is set in 1930s Italy during Benito Mussolini’s fascist rule. In this story, woodcutter Geppetto (David Bradley) loses his son Carlo in an air raid and cuts Pinocchio (Gregory Mann) from a tree near his son’s grave. Bulkley and Campodonico’s animation studio, ShadowMachine, was responsible for the film’s stop-motion animation, and the two were incredibly excited to take Del Toro on this long journey.

DEADLINE: What drew you to Guillermo del Toro’s version of the Pinocchio Story?

COREY CAMPODONICO: What’s so cool about a property that’s been touched up over the years and is so iconic is a particular quirk that I think Guillermo had. And he was clearly inspired by the character’s Gris Grimley version of what Pinocchio would actually look like. The film has a true indie spirit, while large in scope and enterprise, it also has the structure of a truly powerful, unique auteur vision coming from Guillermo and Mark. [Gustafson]. And that’s what Alex and I always dress for, no matter the project. And I think as a studio we kind of fall into that mold as well. Anything that takes a lot of work is extremely difficult and has a message and meaning. What makes this movie great is that it has a real connection point to the heart, which is something we’re usually interested in, and Guillermo obviously has a long history. of the incredible filmmaking we were humbled enough to be a part of.

DEADLINE: So it was a 10 year process, how long did the animation process itself take?

ALEX BULKLEY: Yes, we started the process sometime in 2018 when we found our partnership with Netflix. There is a long pre-production when it comes to Guillermo and Patrick [McHale] the tinkering with the script with the animation process and of course the production you go into and you basically make all the puppets. So this took us all of 2019 into the infamous pandemic era of 2020. Fortunately, we just started filming, but that allowed us to keep going because a lot of that work was possible in animated, early R&D puppetry and set design that was all done remotely. But really, we never close. Everyone could keep moving. We like to say it was almost a thousand days of production and it was really the whole envelope from start to finish. Animation is a boring, boring format and it’s causing a global pandemic, and it’s getting a little more challenging. But it’s a testament to a truly dedicated team. The determination that went into every picture, the passion that went into every picture was just incredible.

CAMPODONICO: The good thing about this film was that Netflix supported it at a very, very high level from day one. Once the pandemic hit, the entire crew pulled together to get through this production in such a meaningful way.

DEADLINE: Talking about how meticulous animation is, it’s very different from live action because nothing happens by accident. Everything must be planned.

CAMPODONICO: This is a very good point and certainly 100 percent true in any animation format, but especially in stop motion. One of the things that Guillermo advocated from the beginning is to make sure you animate all the normal human gestures that we’re all used to, but that are irregular and not strictly necessary. It brings the characters in this film to life in such an interesting way and really gives the animation a lifelike quality that you don’t normally see in animation because everything is so planned and nothing happens by accident. You must plan accidents in our human articulation.

DEADLINE: What makes this version special Pinocchio so unique?

BULK MATERIAL: It’s a simple answer, and it’s that Guillermo had something to say in this story, and this film really became a voice for him to say it. Pinocchio is a fundamental story about a creator and the created, in this conception of what life is, what love is and the meaning of the two. And there’s a reason it’s called that Pinocchio by Guillermo del Toro You know, we had a lot of incredible talent involved in this project. Literally the best stop motion crew and crew in the world all came out to really support his idea. This makes it undeniably special from the start.

CAMPODONICO: The truth is that every good project, whatever the format, whatever the story, comes from passion and intimacy within the actual story. Guillermo talked a lot about it as far as how it influenced his childhood and where it came from and you can really connect your car to that passion. And this from the first to the last day of the meeting. And this is the quality of every good project.