At the BFI London Film Festival Saturday, del Toro, 58, said onstage before the film’s premiere that seeing Walt Disney’s 1940 animatedPinocchiomovie “bonded me with my mom for an entire life"just one day after his mother died, according toVariety.

“It affected me because Pinocchio saw the world the way I saw it,” theNightmare Alleydirector said. “I was a little bit enraged that people demand obedience from Pinocchio, so I wanted to make a film about disobedience as a virtue, and to say that you shouldn’t change to be loved.”

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Director Guillermo del Toro attends the “Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio” world premiere during the 66th BFI London Film Festival at The Royal Festival Hall on October 15, 2022 in London, England.

Del Toro’sstop-motionPinocchioadaptation, co-directed with Mark Gustafson, comes from the auteur and his team’s love for animation and del Toro’s bond with his mother, as he explained at the world premiere.

“Everybody who is here believes that animation is not a genre,” del Toro said. “That animation is art. Animation is film.”

“I just want to say, my mother just passed away, and this was very special for her and me,” he added before the screening, perVariety. “This is not only the first time you’ll see the movie, it’s the first time she’ll see the movie with us. Thank you.”

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Mexican film director Guillermo del Toro poses on the red carpet on arrival to attend the World Premiere of “Pinocchio”, during the 2022 BFI London Film Festival in London on October 15, 2022.

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Del Toro previously toldThe Hollywood Reporterin 2018 his connection to the story: “No art form has influenced my life and my work more than animation, and no single character in history has had as deep of a personal connection to me as Pinocchio.”

“In our story, Pinocchio is an innocent soul with an uncaring father who gets lost in a world he cannot comprehend,” the director continued. “He embarks on an extraordinary journey that leaves him with a deep understanding of his father and the real world. I’ve wanted to make this movie for as long as I can remember.”

Pinocchio’svoice cast includesEwan McGregor,Tilda Swinton,Harry Potter’s David Bradley as Geppetto,Stranger Things' Finn Wolfhard,Cate Blanchett, John Turturro,Ron Perlman, Tim Blake Nelson, Burn Gorman and Christoph Waltz.

Pinocchiois on Netflix Dec. 9.

source: people.com