Deadline is reporting that “Beauty and the Beast” star Luke Evans is joining the cast of the live-action “Pinocchio” film set for Disney+. The actor will play The Coachman alongside Tom Hanks who had been previously announced to play Geppetto. Robert Zemeckis is directing.
Earlier this month, there were reports that Oakes Fegley (Pete’s Dragon) was in talks to play Lampwick in the film, but nothing has been confirmed so far. The film is being written by Zemeckis and Chris Weitz. Andrew Miano and Weitz are producing through their company Depth of Field.
Evans currently stars in the “The Pembrokeshire Murders”, which will launch in the US via BritBox on Feb. 2. The actor also recently completed filming a lead ensemble role in Hulu’s mini-series “Nine Perfect Strangers” opposite Melissa McCarthy and Nicole Kidman. Additionally, Evans is known for playing Gaston in Disney’s 2017 live-action “Beauty and the Beast” and he is gearing up to reprise that role for the “Beauty and the Beast” prequel coming to Disney+.
“Pinocchio” is a compelling new live-action retelling that will leverage state-of-the art CGI to bring Pinocchio to life. A living puppet, with the help of a cricket as his conscience, must prove himself worthy to become a real boy in a musical remake of the Disney animated classic.
A teaser was released for the film during the Disney Investor Day presentation which you can see in the Tweet below:
One of Disney’s all-time classics is coming to #DisneyPlus with the new live-action retelling of Pinocchio, starring Tom Hanks and directed by Robert Zemeckis. ✨ pic.twitter.com/44bHbFRhMe
— Walt Disney Studios (@DisneyStudios) December 11, 2020
