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Guillermo del Toro’s developing with the Jim Henson Co. a darker version of the “Pinocchio” fairy tale as a stop-motion feature.

Project will be produced by JHC co-toppers Brian Henson and Lisa Henson along with senior VP Jason Lust. Del Toro will exec produce.

Del Toro’s working on the screenplay with Gris Grimly, who illustrated a 2002 version of “Pinocchio.” Grimly and Adam Parrish King will co-direct the film.

Del Toro disclosed the project in an interview with the website Bloodydisgusting.com and said that it would take about three years to complete.

Guillermo Del Toro will co-direct "Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio" with Mark Gustafson, animation director on "The Fantastic Mr. Fox," as a 3D stop-motion animated production of the Jim Henson Company. Del Toro told Variety that he plans to begin shooting in the summer of 2013. It's the first time he's directed an animated feature. Story will be set in Italy between WWI and WWII. "It was when everyone was behaving like a puppet, except for puppets," Del Toro said.

Del Toro disclosed in 2008 that he had began working on a Pinnochio project with Henson and Gris Grimly, who illustrated a 2002 version of "Pinocchio." At that point, Grimly and Adam Parrish King were attached to co-direct; last year, Del Toro and Henson Co. announced that Grimly would co-direct with Gustafson.

Del Toro said Wednesday that he has gradually come around to the idea of co-directing due to the complexity of the project -- which will require a year to shoot. He's currently in post-production on "Pacific Rim" for Warner Bros. and is planning to work on a re-design for "Pinocchio."

"Little by little, I realized that I should direct," he added, noting that the story has had a profound influence on him -- to the point of collecting puppets along with original art from Disney's 1940 "Pinocchio."

The story is by Del Toro, frequent collaborator Matthew Robbins and Grimly with Pinocchio embarking on a series of adventures and proving himself to be as indestructible as his love for his father. Robbins wrote the screenplay.

Del Toro said Wednesday that he has gradually come around to the idea of co-directing due to the complexity of the project -- which will require a year to shoot. He's currently in post-production on "Pacific Rim" for Warner Bros. and is planning to work on a re-design for "Pinocchio."

For another, was the Fox and the Cat a Disney invention? I forget.

Fresh off his Oscar win for “The Shape of Water,” Guillermo del Toro is set to make his animated feature film directing debut. Del Toro has received the green light from Netflix to film “Pinocchio,” a stop motion musical version of the classic children’s tale about a puppet who wants to be a real live boy. He will write and produce the film in addition to directing it. The film will be set in Italy during the 1930s, a particularly fraught historical moment and a time when fascism was on the rise and Benito Mussolini was consolidating control of the country. Production on “Pinocchio” will begin this fall.

“No art form has influenced my life and my work more than animation and no single character in history has had as deep of a personal connection to me as Pinocchio,” said del Toro in a statement. “In our story, Pinocchio is an innocent soul with an uncaring father who gets lost in a world he cannot comprehend. He embarks on an extraordinary journey that leaves him with a deep understanding of his father and the real world. I’ve wanted to make this movie for as long as I can remember.”

Del Toro will collaborate on “Pinocchio” with the Jim Henson Company, the company behind “The Dark Crystal” and ShadowMachine, the creator of “Bojack Horseman.” Lisa Henson, ShadowMachine’s Alex Bulkley, Corey Campodonico, and Gary Ungar of Exile Entertainment will produce the film. Blanca Lista will co-produce it. Patrick McHale (“Over The Garden Wall”) will co-write the script, and Mark Gustafson (“Fantastic Mr. Fox”) will co-direct the movie. Guy Davis will serve as co-production designer and the film’s puppets will be built by Mackinnon and Saunders, the team behind “Corpse Bride.”

“Throughout his distinguished career, Guillermo has exhibited mastery in inspiring people through his magical worlds filled with unforgettable and magnificent characters, from the monsters in ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ to the aquatic beast in ‘The Shape of Water,'” Melissa Cobb, VP of kids and family at Netflix, said in a statement. “We are incredibly excited to expand our relationship with Guillermo and we know that his deeply touching vision for bringing Pinocchio to life on Netflix will be embraced by audiences the world over.”

Guillermo del Toro said his upcoming Pinocchio project for Netflix will be a political parable, and not the kid-friendly fare of the competing Disney remake.

“It's not a Pinocchio for all the family,” he said of his story, set in 1930s Italy. So is it a political film? “Of course. Pinocchio during the rise of Mussolini, do the math. A puppet during the rise of fascism, yes, it is.”

Del Toro was speaking from the Marrakech Film Festival, where he is set to give a masterclass this week. This darker turn on the fable is perhaps not surprising from the Pan's Labyrinth director, who compared the puppet who longs to be a real boy to Frankenstein's monster. “He's a creature that is created through unnatural means from a father that he then distances [himself] from, and has to learn about failure and pain and loneliness,” he said, noting that he chose stop-motion animation for the project because it's “more expressive” than working with actors.

While del Toro is resistant to making an overtly political film, the Oscar-winner said that he finds fantasy films always end up with political messages. “There's no fable without politics,” he said, citing the gender and class struggles of stories such as Cinderella and Snow White, and even the message of his own The Shape of Water. “Rarely can you get in productive discussions in real life right now it's so tense,” he said. “It's much easier for you to listen to me if I tell you 'Once upon a time...'”