Hey guys, Jana here,
Given Robert Downey Jr’s current state of badassery and awesomeness, I can’t think of anything he could do that would not bring in the fans. Once he turned the corner on his bad boy behavior in the 1980’s, he’s the equivalent of a golden ticket. Team Downey, which consists of RDJ and his wife, Susan Downey, has been harboring the idea of a fairy tale they want to give the live-action treatment. The tale of Pinocchio is one RDJ has been developing for years, somewhat on the sly, with Michael Mitnick (‘The Giver‘) writing the most recent draft while RDJ is ready to board the project as Geppetto, the toy maker.
Warner Bros. film and Team Downey are ready to move forward with the project and have brought in Paul Thomas Anderson, a close friend to RDJ, to give the draft his spin on it and possible taking over directorial duties. If you’re thinking that Anderson might be an odd choice for writer on this project, you’re not alone. PTA has penned and directed some of cinema’s most avant-garde pieces such as ‘There Will Be Blood‘, ‘Boogie Nights‘ and ‘Inherent Vice‘. The latter being a project that RDJ was to have joined Anderson on but ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron‘ made timing impossible.
As Disney and Tim Burton showed the industry, there are scads of dollars to be made by taking a familiar cartoon and put a live-action hook on it. ‘Alice in Wonderland‘ led entertainment’s biggest names down the rabbit hole where they’re still chasing the next big thing. Team Downey is possibly giving this a substantial push right now as the breathing fairy tales are being made by practically everyone. Disney has ‘Beauty and the Beast‘ and ‘The Jungle Book‘ in progress while Warners have their own ‘Jungle Book‘ story in production. Universal is in on the action with a ‘The Little Mermaid‘ proposal searching for a director. The story of ‘Pinocchio‘ was going to be on Burton’s list of projects but he has opted, instead, to tell the story of ‘Dumbo‘, along with a sequel to ‘Alice in Wonderland‘. The genre is definitely filling up and I’m curious what the next big trend will be.