Portland Magazine
December 1, 2022
Jesi Robison ’21 nabbed a dream job before she even graduated—working on Guillermo Del Toro’s stop motion animated film of the beloved children’s story Pinocchio.
Story by Amanda Waldroupe
Jesi Robison ’21 nabbed a dream job before she even graduated—working on Guillermo Del Toro’s stop motion animated film of the beloved children’s story Pinocchio.
Robison became part of an international team of craftspeople working on the film from Portland to Mexico to England. She worked hands-on with the film’s puppets, including as a “puppet wrangler.”
“When they’re animating the puppet, they’re doing a lot of extreme things,” Robison said. “Sometimes the armatures or the silicone don’t (withstand) the poses or expressions. Every so often, a puppet would break or tear.”
When such misfortune struck, she would ferry the puppets—which ranged in size from a few centimeters to two or three feet—to the “puppet hospital” for repair.
The film sets Carlo Collodi’s 1883 novel in Fascist-era Italy, a different interpretation and setting than the Disney classic. In an interview with Vanity Fair, Del Toro said that, given the political setting, “The virtue Pinocchio has is to disobey. At a time when everybody else behaves as a puppet—he doesn’t.”
Robison worked on Pinocchio for two years, until production wrapped in August. She now works for Portland Revels, as a props designer. Next up is the company’s Midwinter Revels show Andalusian Night: A Celebration of the Solstice. Instead of puppets, she works with the objects actors use on stage, all of which play a pivotal role in how a story’s told.
Amanda Waldroupe is a journalist and writer based in Portland, OR. Her feature writing focuses on homelessness, poverty, inequality, other social justice issues, and politics.
University of Portland
5000 N. Willamette Blvd.,
Portland, Oregon 97203-5798
503.943.8000
This website uses cookies to track information for analytics purposes. You can view the full University of Portland privacy policy for more information.
