Early this year Tim Burton said he wouldn’t know a good script if it was thrown at him. Based on some of his recent works, that self-deprecation rings a little too true, especially considering how all over the place Dark Shadows was. Frankenweenie was a return to form for clean, simple, if slight, storytelling, but now it appears that Burton’s attempting to step up his game on the script front. Pushing Daisies creator Bryan Fuller took a crack at Burton and Robert Downey Jr.’s potential Pinocchio project early on, and now another screenwriter of equal talent is getting involved.
Frequent Matthew Vaughn collaborator Jane Goldman (Kick-Ass, The Woman in Black) is close to signing on to pen a new draft for Warner Bros.’ live-action version of the classic puppet tale. According to THR, Goldman’s involvement may seal the deal with Burton and Robert Downey Jr., who both have yet to officially sign on. Burton and Goldman have had ties before, so her involvement makes sense beyond her talent for genre films.
If the project moves forward, we’ll see Downey playing Geppetto, who goes on a journey to find the missing Pinocchio. This isn’t the only Pinocchio film in the works either, as Fox has The Three Misfortunes of Geppetto and Guillermo del Toro is working on a stop-motion animated picture. I would usually take a del Toro interpretation over a Burton one, but with his project drawing in such reliable screenwriters, it’s hard not to gain interest in a Burton film which may actually have a story.
Related Topics: Robert Downey Jr
