In the press holding room at the 'Iron Man' 3 junket earlier in the week, one of my international colleagues shared a little something from his chat with
Robert Downey Jr.
The actor spilled his hopes to head to Italy and film his role as Gepetto in a new version of 'Pinocchio' - but contrary to previous reports, Downey said that the film would be directed by
Ben Stiller, not
Tim Burton.
Burton has recently taken up 'Big Eyes', which might explain his departure. Slicing it either way, Ben Stiller is a surprising replacement. The last we heard about the project,
Jane Goldman was doing a rewrite and seeing as she’s worked with Burton before, that would suggest Stiller’s involvement is recent.
Worried that I might be having my leg pulled, I had a look to see if the story turned up anywhere, and so it did. From Sky Cine News, after tranlsation to Italian and then back again, there’s this:
I want to make Pinocchio as a live action film and not resorting to ‘animation. I would like to do with Ben Stiller that sounds perfect to get into the story and then saw where it was written, I’d like it to be shot as much as possible in Italy, I think it is also a matter of consistency.
This is just one of many projects that Downey has on his plate, and he may not yet have signed on. We’ll see how it goes.