‘Pinocchio’: Guillermo del Toro reveals the dark scene they decided to delete

Spoiler alert

If you have already seen Guillermo del Toro’s ‘Pinocchio’ you will have realized that there is not much entertainment for children. The tone is somber like the director’s characteristic films see ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ but if they could have kept certain planned scenes it would have been much stronger. As revealed by del Toro and his co-director, Mark Gustafson, to Comicbook, the idea was for dictator Benito Mussolini to make Pinocchio, but none of that ended up in the film.

“we had it [a Mussolini disparando a Pinocho] from the start, but initially we thought of it as a firing squad.”del Toro explains; to which Gustafson adds: “We had it like a firing squad on the beach. It seemed a little dark, so we came to our senses.” Sounds cool, but that wasn’t why they ended up switching scenes: “The problem was pacing. We had already shot most of that scene, but the movie was going to take a long break for a scene that just wasn’t necessary.”del Toro continues, “We said, ‘Let’s be more reasonable and shoot them straight.'” And you know what else you won’t see (almost fortunately)? To Sebastián J. Grillo who dies at the hands of Pinocchio and instead of him the insect simply dies of old age.

from director to director

On Friday, Dec. 9, Searchlight Pictures announced that they have signed Taylor Swift to direct their first film with them, which she also co-wrote, news that seems to have delighted del Toro: “She’s a very accomplished director, she’s incredibly articulate and insightful about what she’s trying to do and what she’s going to do.” the director told W Magazine, “I have great admiration for her, we’ve had one of the most inspiring and rewarding conversations. We have many, many interests in common. And his interest in fairy tales and myths and the origins of fairy tales runs pretty deep. I gave her a few books that I thought would be of interest to her, including, most importantly, a book that helped me create “Pan’s Labyrinth” called “The Science of Fairy Tales,” which codifies and talks about the fairy tale lore. “