People thought PTA doing an art house Adam Sandler movie was weird. How about a live action kids movie about a wooden boy?
Via THR, Paul Thomas Anderson’s next film following Inherent Vice may be a version of Pinocchio that Robert Downey Jr. has been developing for the last several years. Anderson is being brought in to rework a script by Michael Mitnick (The Giver) and is being eyed to direct.
Originally, Downey was slated to play Geppetto in a version to be directed by Tim Burton. Burton was then eyed to direct a competing Pinocchio project over at Disney, but eventually settled on Disney’s live action Dumbo movie. But Downey still seems enthusiastic about the project, describing it this way to GQ two years ago:
“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,” he enthused. “I’m just crazy about the idea…. To me a wooden boy is a real boy who doesn’t feel like he’s acknowledged.”
Anderson and Downey are good friends, and Downey was originally meant to play Joaquin Phoenix’s lead role in Inherent Vice. Anderson is also a large admirer of Robert Downey Sr.’s work, including Putney Swope.