In the animated "Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio," the titular wooden boy decides he must leave home — and his beloved father, Geppetto — with a ragged traveling circus in the hopes of earning needed funds for the family. He's shown onstage (voiced and sung by young Gregory Mann) performing a delicate, lovely song dedicated to his father: "Ciao Papa." It's pure and almost angelic. It enumerates the things from home the brave boy will hold to his heart for comfort. And visually, Del Toro reminds viewers of the time and place in which his version of the story is set: fascist Italy under Mussolini.
It's all part of the heady mix of "joyous melancholy" within something resembling an Italian folk song. It's also a sample of the storied filmmaker's first foray into songwriting, in collaboration with Oscar-winning composer Alexandre Desplat (who helped talk him into the task) and lyricist Roeban Katz.
When the three gather by video conference to discuss the song with The Envelope, technical issues prevent Del Toro from initially joining. When he finally does, his first words are, "I did it all!"
