Streaming exclusively on Disney+ starting June 18th, is Disney and Pixar’s original animated feature Luca.

Luca shows us a formative summer in the life of a young sea monster.  Warned from birth about the dangers of humans and life on land, Luca is nevertheless fascinated by the world above the sea.

Introverted and compliant, Luca can only marvel at the debris that floats down from the surface until he meets Alberto–a fellow land-loving sea monster his own age who is brash and daring and everything Luca is not.  Together, the two embark on a summer filled with the magic of youth and friendship and gelato and Vespas, all against the background of the beautiful Italian Riviera.

Recently, Disney-Pixar held a virtual early press day for Luca with director Enrico Casarosa and producer Andrea Warren doing a brief Q&A session.

On designing sea monsters:

Casarosa:  “…I thought that it could still be fantastical, but appealing. And that’s a little bit how we kind of came to this design.  I was thinking a little more about their characteristics–I love the idea of that, for example, Luca’s all eyes because he’s curious.  And that’s actually a little something that I did in the “La Luna” short, too, where there was another curious character that is looking at the world, and we are looking at the world through their eyes, so those were some of the factors that kind of brought that in.”

Warren:  “I think there’s also an interesting theme in the film, which is that both sides kind of refer to the other as ‘monsters.’  You know, the humans say ‘they’re sea monsters,’ and the sea creatures say, ‘you know, they’re land monsters,’ and I think that is a part of the theme of the film, which is that they really aren’t monsters.  Neither one of them are.  And if they get to know each other more, and appreciate each other for what they are and what they can learn from each other, they’ll discover they aren’t monsters.  So, I think that was also part of them not looking like monsters is that, ultimately, we didn’t want that to be true of either side.”

On making the film’s themes accessible to a younger audience: 

Casarosa:  “This is a movie that really talks about a specific and important kind of friendship–someone who’s very different from you and someone that you’re actually challenged by, in good ways.

“So, because of the fun, we wanted to make this delightful and joyful, and a big journey of the ups and downs of friendships.  You know, you didn’t get to see the second and third acts, but we have put these characters through a lot, and their friendship through a lot.  And then, that sense of helping each other.  The sense of pushing each other.  The sense of not being too afraid, and living courageously, and being willing to help each other.  Those are all things that I really feel are part of the movie.

“…And not listening too much to your, you know, we call it Bruno.  It’s this funny, silly idea of your insecurities, we give him a name.  I think we can all relate.  So I hope that those things resonate with kids.”

On releasing Luca to a post-pandemic world:

Warren:  “Even just the setting, we’re hoping, is wonderful.  That beautiful sense of getting to go somewhere that we all have been missing so much.  We hope that it feels like being transported to this beautiful place that you would love to visit for real, but that you can visit through Luca.  So, I think that’s one piece of it, that we’re hoping just to transport people out of our homes to feel like we went somewhere.

“…I think an interesting aspect that will be for all of us as we come out of this pandemic which has stripped away so much of our lives, you know…I think that the question as we rebuild them, when we can, is what do we want to keep and what do we want to leave behind?

“And I feel like Luca, as a film, celebrates so many of those beautiful, meaningful things in our lives, that we all want back, which is connection, family, friends, eating together.  I think those are the beautiful things that we miss, and that are really a part of what this film is about.  So, I hope it will help us all as we decide what pieces we want–it celebrates all of that.”

On achieving a look of “elegant simplicity:”

Casarosa:  “I think effects can really support an emotion…I think it’s a bit of a stylistic choice that I tend to not love things that are overly detailed, yet there’s still richness.  There are still beautiful underwater scenes.  But, for example, another thing that we found under the water, is that the place is actually…when you swim around that area, the visibility is not very far.  There’s enough beautiful aqua murk there that the water is pretty dense and it just makes it so that you don’t see beautiful shapes a little further away…That actually worked really well in our world.

“Because this is a lonely kid.  We want it to feel lonely.  We want it to feel that this world is not big enough for him, because he’s interested in going above.  So, that was something that we also used, this sense of atmospheric perspective.  That’s what it would be, above the ground:  Atmosphere.  Down there it’s like, a little bit of murk.  And it enabled us to have beautiful blue aqua shapes that kind of blur out.  So, it was really about having as much control as possible, and sometimes designing as opposed to having a huge amount of details—our tools are really physics-based, you know.”

On the take-away message:  

Enrico:  “To me, at the heart of what we do with our films, you want to move.  You want to bring some joy, you want to bring some tears.  You want to move, you want to bring emotion.  I think especially now, my biggest hope is that we bring some joy.  This is a playful movie.  It’s a nostalgic movie.  So I hope it can bring some warmth, and some joy, and light.  It talks a lot about wonder, and looking at the world…So, there’s so many hopes I have, you know.

“I hope you call your old friend that you haven’t heard from in a few years, and if you’re a kid, maybe take a chance on something and you’re not too afraid.  I was a shy kid, timid kid, and, you know, I certainly had a lot of Brunos in my head.  I still do–I think a lot of us still do.  I hope there’s a lot of different messages people can take away, but I think my biggest hope is that a piece of film can bring some joy.  And certainly, the ups and downs of a little roller coaster ride that I can’t wait for you to fully experience.”

Enjoy the new trailer for Luca, just out today!

Luca will be available exclusively on Disney+ on June 18, 2021.  

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