Oscar-winning filmmaker Robert Zemeckis has taken on Disney’s ‘Pinocchio’ live-action remake as writer and director nearly a year on since Paddington helmer, Paul King departed the picture.

The Disney story would follow a living puppet who must prove himself worthy in order to become a real boy. Geppetto is his creator, a master toymaker as well as a widower who longs for a son. Geppetto is protective of Pinocchio, prompting the boy to set out and see the world for himself.

Casting is still being finalised but at one point Tom Hanks was attached to play the role of Pinocchio’s ‘father’ Geppetto.

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Zemeckis and Chris Weitz will write off the previous draft that the King penned with Simon Farnaby. The original 1940 Disney animated classic film mad $85 million dollars at the domestic box office.

Andrew Miano and Weitz are producing the film through their Depth of Field label. Jack Rapke and Jackie Levine are executive producing.

Disney has been trying to get the project off the ground since 2015. Sam Mendes was originally on board to helm the project but left the picture within months of signing on the dotted line.

Pinocchio first made an appearance in the children’s book The Adventures of Pinocchio in 1883 by Italian writer Carlo Collodi. Carved by a woodcarver named Geppetto in a village near Lucca, he was created as a wooden puppet but dreamed of becoming a real boy. He lies often. He has gone on to become a cultural icon. As one of the most reimagined characters in children’s literature, his story has been adapted into other media, notably the 1940 Disney film Pinocchio which was was the second animated feature film produced by Disney, made after the success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937.

Guillermo del Toro is also working stop motion animated version of the story which is geared towards a more adult audience for Netflix.