With all kinds of fairy tale adaptations currently in the works – the Snow White projects coming next year being the next two we’ll be seeing – word now comes that Fox have picked up a script for a Pinocchio prequel, titled The Three Misfortunes Of Geppetto, for Shawn Levy (Real Steel, Night at the Museum) to direct, Deadline report.
Levy’s latest film, Real Steel, which came out here in the UK over the weekend, has been doing pretty well for itself, topping the US box office twice in a row, and essentially earning back its $110m. in its first week of release across the world.
In this prequel, written by relative newcomer Michael Vukadinovich,
“Geppetto endures a life of misfortune, war and adventure all to be with Julia Moon, his true love.”
I hadn’t realised it myself, but a quick glance at Wikipedia tells me that the Pinocchio character dates back as early as 1883. Naturally, I’m not at all a Pinocchio/Geppetto expert, so this is all just conjecture. But in consideration of what war Geppetto might endure, assuming that the original children’s novel is set at the same time it was written, and looking at this list of wars Italy was involved in, I’d imagine that the war this prequel will see will be either the Third Italian War of Independence (1866), or the Capture of Rome (1870).
Like I said, though, that’s 100% conjecture on my part, using Wikipedia as my source of historical information, so take that with a healthy dose of salt. It’s of course also based on the assumption, which may not be shown to be true, that the story won’t be a modern-day re-telling. I’m just interested to find out what war the film will be looking at, and when it will be set.
Either way, the project does sound like it has some promise. Levy’s found some pretty strong successes with family films over the years, with Real Steel being the most recent example in a list that also includes Night at the Museum and Cheaper By The Dozen. So I’d say that there’s a pretty good chance that he’d be able to direct this story to success too. It’s still early days yet, so no news on casting, but I have to admit, I’m interested to hear more about it, like who is to play Geppetto. More news as we get it.
