by Federico Greco

Roberto Benigni at the press conference together with the cast talks about his latest film Pinocchio [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (2002). After the success of Life is Beautiful, he directs a 40million euros budget film with unprecedented number of special effects.
From the famous story by Carlo Collodi, Pinocchio is the wooden puppet build by the carpenter Geppetto, who has various adventures and meets many of people on his journey to become a real child. As the directors says, "I’d been dreaming about making Pinocchio for twenty years but I could not wait any longer or I’d ended up playing Geppetto". He talks about Federico Fellini who used to call him “Pinocchietto” telling him from his deathbed “You will make Pinocchio alone, Robertino”. When he is asked which role models he followed he says: "I consider Comencini’s Pinocchio to be the most Italian of them all, but I also adore a 1940s Pinocchio. Guardone’s version where Gassman played the Green Fisherman.
Pinocchio was the project Benigni wanted to realise the most, attracted by the fantasy and the enthusiasm of the character, aspects he believes to be fundamental in life.