For those hoping to finally see Oscar-nominee Guillermo Del Toro's dark cinematic that take on Pinocchio he's been teasing for years, we've got bad news. The acclaimed director has now confirmed his twisted spin on the classic fairytale is officially dead. The age-old story, which was adapted into a popular animated film from Disney in 1940, was going to get a treatment from del Toro -- however, that will no longer be the case.

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“It’s not happening,” del Toro told IGN while doing press for his latest film, The Shape of Water. He added, “But the idea was to do Pinocchio during the ascension of fascism in Italy, with Mussolini. It was a good time to discuss the idea of being a puppet or being a human, but you know, it’s not in progress.”

There was doubt the film would ever happen as early as 2013. The story’s writer Gris Grimly noted that the project was put on hold back then, citing Frankenweenie's failure as a major reason for the project's delay. “Short to the point update on Pinocchio for those inquiring: It appears that this is not the right time for such a superior-adventurous flick,” he tweeted.

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Del Toro has a famously busy schedule, as a director, writer and producer, with a seemingly endless string of recent projects that include the films Pacific Rim, Crimson Peak and The Shape of Water and the television series The Strain and Trollhunters, just for starters. But while he has commitments into the foreseeable future as a writer and producer, the filmmaker contends he’s going to take some time off from directing.

“I’m 53, I want to not know what I’m doing next, it’s like a privilege," del Toro said. “That’s why I’m taking the year off, as a director to really think about what I’m doing next. All of those projects, some of them happen and some of them don’t. The natural state of a movie is not to happen. That’s the reality.”

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Debuting in theaters on December 8, Guillermo del Toro's next film, The Shape of Water, is a production of Bull Productions starring Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins, Doug Jones, Lauren Lee Smith, Michael Stuhlbarg and Octavia Spencer.