Pinocchio, that lying rascal, would seem a ready-made icon for an age of fake news and bots, of alternative facts and internet trolls, of doubts about the reliability of conventional media. Can it be a coincidence that two of the world’s leading movie directors are at work on productions inspired by the famous puppet?

Guillermo del Toro, who directed the Oscar-winning “The Shape of Water,” has chosen the Pinocchio tale for the subject of his first animated film, and Matteo Garrone, the director of the widely acclaimed “Gomorrah,” is also planning one about the marionette, to star another Oscar winner, the Italian comedian Roberto Benigni. (A third Pinocchio film, a live-action remake of Walt Disney’s 1940 cartoon, is currently under discussion at Disney.)