Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio 2023, Geppetto's house development

Color of Geppetto's house exterior done by the amazing Huy Vu, who like me was a veteran of this world. What can I say about this project except that it felt like a fever dream to have been called up by the man himself to pick up the pieces and contribute to this magical creation in Portland, Oregon. The world capital of stop motion animation. This time co production designed by my dear friend Guy Davis. I have to say that the pace of development on this one was rather quick. In addition to this challenge was the fact that I was going through some very strange and turbulent times in my personal life. Frankly, I was at the bottom of the barrel. Working on this movie again after having to pretty much given up any hope of it reaching fruition was not something I was going to miss. Getting back into the wooden clogs of the puppeteer and aiding in the design of this sacred space gave me hope. Hope sometimes feels just out of reach, but it's always there whether you choose to grasp for it or not. Today I can state in retrospect, that working on this movie at the time I did saved my ass in more ways than one. For those not familiar with the way the maestro works, I can only say that every inch of this set has meaning and purpose to the overall theme and narrative. A practice that is desperately missing in most of modern visual media today. Watch the movie the way it was meant to be seen, with an open mind and an open heart. Oodles of hope are floating around in the abyss.