Guillermo del Toro: Crafting Pinocchio

Text by Monika Hankova

“Pinocchio is a character thrown into the world with a blank slate to find out who he is, what he’s doing in this world, and why was he born? And it’s a very existential tale.” G. del Toro

This fascinating and delightfully handcrafted show features an unique view into work of numerous designers, animators, artisans, and craftsmen from across the globe who were able to bring Pinocchio and other characters of this famous fable to life, and create an unforgettable experience for both adults and children. One can explore in detail different stages of puppet-making, as well whole film sets, photographs, multiple time-laps videos, and motion tests.

G. Del Toro, a big fan of animation which influenced him and his work greatly, asserts: “So I thought it would be beautiful to make a heartfelt movie that would take stop motion animation, and push it as much as possible — visually trying to establish it firmly as the beautiful handcrafted thing it is.”

At the beginning of the show, visitors learn about different animation techniques, such as a technique called replacement animation. It is a form of stop motion, which uses a series of different puppets for each frame. One of the studios involved in creation of the movie was ShadowMachine, a renowned stop-motion animation and Emmy Award winning studio based in Portland, Oregon. According to a puppet production manager, Jennifer Hammontree, behind each puppet is a tiny work of art and engineering. Indeed, the designers used for example 870 different mouths for Pinocchio to accurately capture every emotion, from happy to sad, from excited to frightened, and everything in between. An animator controls every object and character in a particular scene, whereas the puppet-making department creates all the puppets: there are different designers building the skeleton and the skull with the mechanics inside, others are creating hair, costumes and make-up. The puppets are made in different sizes which are used for different needs. All in all it takes six months to a year to create a puppet, and the international team of makers from England, the U.S., and Mexico were collaborating on the project long-distance during the peak of the pandemic. Yet, the film was in the making for more than a decade. The Del Toro’s Pinocchio story is set in Italy during a fascist era, thus on display are also several haunting archival photographs of Mussolini’s Italy (for example a famous photo with a giant M at the building entrance). An in-depth historical research has been conducted by film designers to learn as much as possible about this sad chapter of Italian history. In this respect G. del Toro said: “We wanted to create a story about a world that behaves like a puppet and obeys everything they’re told, and a puppet that chooses to be disobedient and finds his own morality, his own soul, and his own humanity by that disobedience.”

In the exhibition, one can also explore a surprising intimate relationship and similarities between Pinocchio’s story and the one of Frankenstein. Alexandre Desplat, the composer, asserts: “This stranger that Pinocchio represents is a real inspiration for young kids when they see the film, because they will see how somebody different can be hated and how somebody different can actually be a very good person and very generous, even give his life for somebody else.”

Guillermo del Toro: Crafting Pinocchio exhibition celebrates the imagination and creative collaboration of international cinematic artists. It opens a fascinating world to be explored while accentuating main topics of this thought-provoking movie, such as understanding between parents and children, and the importance of one’s individuality and uniqueness.

“Guillermo del Toro: Crafting Pinocchio.”

On view at MoMA, December 11, 2022, through April 15, 2023.