Well, Pinocchio, it looks like the strings are back on. This time they’re tied to a dynamic duo: producer Dan Jinks and screenwriter Bryan Fuller.
It’s no wonder that these two tethered themselves to this fantasy tale; they’re no strangers to the genre. Jinks and his former partner, Bruce Cohen, collaborated with Fuller for the peculiar and fantastical ABC show, Pushing Daisies, until it bit the dust in 2009. The show had a bit of a Tim Burton flair, and apparently the filmmaker’s recent dive into Wonderland is the reason Jinks chose to take on the story of the puppet who would become a real boy.
“I think we’ve found a fresh approach that’s going to be very entertaining,” Jinks told Variety, in reference to this year’s Alice in Wonderland.
Burton’s Wonderland brought some vigor – and what looks like an Acid trip – to the classic story. It allowed the madness of Lewis Caroll’s original tale, and a bit of his Jabberwocky, to spin out of control – that is, until Johnny Depp’s Mad Hatter killed it stone-dead with that awful jig. Though Jinks and Fuller may be following in Burton’s footsteps, they definitely have enough wonderment under their own belts to bring a unique spin to the classic.
For this Disney kid, the 1940 cartoon Pinocchio is irreplaceable; it’s a staple of cinema. But, there’s room for another take on the puppet’s fate. The cartoon is fairly vanilla even though the story itself is actually rather insane – this isn’t your standard, sweeping “Someday my prince will come” type of fantasy. Little boys are turned into asses (as in donkeys, not posteriors: get your mind out of the gutter) on Pleasure Island, Geppetto is swallowed by a whale, and there’s a living, nose-growing puppet at the center of it all for godsakes.
Fuller brought us some pretty dark stuff (Dead Like Me, anyone?), and if he and Jinks are truly following the path Burton recently paved, we should get a good look at the dark side of the famous little wooden boy. It may be a beloved children’s story, but I think it couldn’t hurt to take a dive into creepier waters.
Source: Variety
