Disney’s Live-Action ‘Pinocchio’ May Have Lost ‘Paddington’ Director Paul King
By Ben Pearson/Jan. 16, 2019 11:44 am EST
In an interview with DiscussingFilm (via Collider), cinematographer Seamus McGarvey broke the news that King is no longer involved:
Disney has been developing this live-action remake since 2015, and if it’s true that King has left the project (which it sounds like it is), he’ll be the second director to walk away from it. Sam Mendes (Skyfall) was initially attached, but left in late 2017. Here’s hoping this frees King up to return to the director’s chair for Paddington 3.
“I don’t think it’s a secret anymore, but the film has been cancelled over the holidays, over Christmas. The director basically pulled out of the film for family reasons. Disney are trying to find a new director…they’re trying to get it going, but I’m unlikely to be involved now, because Paul King, who directed Paddington 1 and 2, wanted me to be his DP on the film. Who knows the director that they eventually bring on? It probably will be delayed for some time now, it probably won’t shoot until July or August, if it does at all. Who knows if a new director – they’ll probably have their own DP that they’ll want to use. So currently I’m looking for another film.”
Will Disney end up reworking this project into a lower-budget feature for the Disney+ streaming service, or will they find another major director to bring it to theatrical audiences? It seems unlikely they’d abandon it altogether, so I expect we’ll hear more about this soon.
