It's official: there are now two competing movies based on Carlo Collodi's classic children's fairy tale Pinocchio as Warner Bros. moves forward with a live action version, hoping to get Tim Burton to helm and Robert Downey Jr. to play the woodcarver Geppetto. They've just hired Kick-Ass and X-Men: First Class co-writer Jane Goldman (left) to work on the latest incarnation.

As in previous versions of the tale, Downey's Geppetto is a woodcarver who creates a puppet that he dreams would become a real boy, but that puppet constantly tells lies causing its nose to grow before it eventually runs away.

If this project moves forward, it would be the first time Tim Burton worked with Robert Downey Jr. after a series of movies starring Johnny Depp, although neither one of them has signed a deal to make the movie at this time. Goldman was hired in hopes they can get one or both of them to commit the project while incorporating some of Downey's notes. "Pushing Daisies" creator Bryan Fuller wrote the original draft.

Goldman has frequently worked with director Matthew Vaughn over the years as well as writing this year's CBS Films hit The Woman in Black.

As luck would have it, the other version of Pinocchio is being produced and co-directed by Guillermo del Toro and we have an interview with the filmmaker talking about his take on the fairy tale running later tonight.

(Photo source: WENN.com)