I’m not sure what I think of a live-action adaptation of Carlo Collodi‘s Pinocchio, especially if it were to be directed by Tim Burton, which was the original plan with Robert Downey Jr. set to star as Geppetto. As it turns out, that iteration of the story seems to have gone by the wayside, but now it seems Downey has a new helmer in line… his Tropic Thunder director and co-star, Ben Stiller.
Recently Downey floated the idea to Sky Italia saying, “I would like to make it with Ben Stiller” and since then the rumor hasn’t gone away to the point Deadline.com now reports Stiller is in talks with Warner Bros. to direct the picture.
As far as the story, Downey was quoted in the recent GQ profile on the actor saying:
My first pitch! I got real excited about it. I was just thinking about Geppetto as a cross between Jake LaMotta and Chico Marx. It’s such a vital story, but it’s really about this working-class weirdo who invests this inanimate object with all of the qualities he doesn’t have. I’m just crazy about the idea… To me a wooden boy is a real boy who doesn’t feel like he’s acknowledged.
I’d love to be in the room when Downey says “Chico Marx” to a WB exec and watch his eyes glaze over, confused and thinking to himself, “I thought it was Groucho Marx?” Then thinking, “Wait, it was the Marx brothers… was one of them Chico? Was that the one with the glasses and mustache?” Meanwhile Downey continues his pitch and says, “So, what do you think?”
Afraid to be embarrassed because he wasn’t paying attention while he struggled with his inner-monologue the exec says, “I love it!” and now we have a movie.
The screenplay they would be working from should it come to light would be the one written by “Hannibal” and “Pushing Daisies” creator Bryan Fuller, with a rewrite by Jane Goldman (X-Men: First Class, Kick-Ass and The Woman in Black).
Downey is said to want to change the direction of the film creatively from what he and Burton had originally conceived with a goal to honor the original intent of Collodi’s story.
Personally, I have such a hard time seeing this working or even being greenlit for that matter. Perhaps if Downey could promise a third Sherlock Holmes movie and a budget around $35-50 million, then maybe WB would go for it. Otherwise, it sounds like a disaster waiting to happen in the hands of a studio where creative control would be a struggle throughout.
