Alexandre Desplat is reteaming with director Guillermo del Toro on the upcoming Netflix animated film Pinocchio. The composer is set to score and is also composing original songs for the stop motion musical, which marks the del Toro’s animated feature film directorial debut. Patrick McHale (Over the Garden Wall, Adventure Time) co-wrote the script with the director and Mark Gustafson is co-directing the movie, which is set in Italy during the 1930s and tells the classic tale of the wooden puppet who dreams of becoming a real boy. Del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy) is also producing the project with The Jim Henson Company’s Lisa Henson (The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance), ShadowMachine’s Alex Bulkley, Corey Campodonico (Final Space), and Exile Entertainment’s Gary Ungar (The Strain). Desplat has previously scored del Toro’s 2017 feature The Shape of Water, for which he received his second Academy Award and also provided the themes for the del Toro-produced Netflix animated series Trollhunters. Pinocchio will premiere in 2021 on Netflix.
Desplat’s other recent projects include Greta Gerwig’s Little Women, which is currently playing in theaters nationwide. The composer also recently scored Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch starring Frances McDormand, Bill Murray, Timothée Chalamet, Jeffrey Wright, Benicio del Toro, Léa Seydoux, Tilda Swinton, Saoirse Ronan, Kate Winslet, Elisabeth Moss, Willem Dafoe, Christoph Waltz, Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody and Jason Schwartzman. Anderson (who wrote and directed the film) is also producing the project with Steven Rales and Jeremy Dawson. Desplat has previously collaborated with Anderson on his last three features, Moonrise Kingdom, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Grand Budapest Hotel and Isle of Dogs. Fox Searchlight will release The French Dispatch later this year.
