Disney’s upcoming live-action Pinocchio movie has cast more of its main roles, with Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Batman) lined up to voice Jiminy Cricket and Cynthia Erivo (Harriet) playing the Blue Fairy.
This news comes from Variety. The new cast members joins a cast that already includes Tom Hanks as Geppetto and Luke Evans as The Coachman. Benjamin Evan Ainsworth (Flora and Ulysses) will voice Pinocchio, while Keegan-Michael Key will voice Honest John. Goodfellas star Lorraine Bracco will voice Sofia the Seagull, a new character.
The film is being directed by Oscar-winner Robert Zemeckis (Forest Gump, Cast Away, Back to the Future) and is expected to begin production this month in the UK. The movie will blend live-action with visual effects.
Disney’s new Pinocchio movie is slated to come to Disney+, not theaters.
The fairy tale story of Pinocchio is in the public domain, and Disney is not the only company working on a new film. Guillermo del Toro is set to direct an animated version of Pinocchio for Netflix with a cast that includes Cate Blanchett, Ewan McGregor, Tilda Swinton, Christoph Waltz, and Ron Perlman, among others. In 2019, Italian film director Matteo Garrone released a well-received Pinocchio movie based on the classic tale.