On June 18th, courtesy of Disney and Pixar and exclusive to Disney+, Director Enrico Casarosa takes audiences on a trip to the Italian Riviera in the upcoming animated feature Luca.

Luca tells the story of 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 rule-abiding, Luca can only marvel at the debris that floats down from the surface à la Ariel 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.

Continuing on from the press conference part of our virtual press day, we heard from many of the talented animators who helped bring Luca to life.

Story

Director Enrico Casarosa and producer Andrea Warren started us off by discussing the genesis of the idea behind Luca and the challenges of producing it during the Time of COVID.

Casarosa was born in Genoa, the port city and capital of the Liguria region of Italy in the 1970s.  The Cinque Terre is in the same area, with its characteristic geography of steep mountains that seem to drop straight into the sea.

The summers Casarosa spent there, filled with swimming and Italian food, indelibly colored his memories of his youth and served as the inspiration for the setting of Luca, just as the area’s myths and legends of sea monsters gave him the concept of a real community of sea monsters with the ability to transform into humans.

The heart of the film, the transformative friendship between Luca and Alberto, is in many ways a reflection of Casarosa’s real-life best friend Alberto who was wild and free and unsupervised in comparison to the more timid Casarosa.  The original Alberto pushed Casarosa out of his comfort zone and taught him to chase his dreams.  It is this type of important friendship that Luca is about–the relationships that change people, make them grow, and help them find themselves.

The Cast

The filmmakers auditioned over 1200 kids before finding their three leads, all of which they found to embody their characters:  Luca voice actor Jacob Tremblay shares his earnest curiosity, while Jack Dylan Grazer lends Alberto both his fast-talking confidence and vulnerability.  Emma Berman, a newcomer, voices Julia with all her energy and good humor.

Maya Rudolph and Jim Gaffigan play the parents and were able to use their real-life parenting experiences to connect to their roles and get across the stern-but-loving qualities required.  The characters from the Italian village of Portorosso were largely played by Italian performers–the town bully and film antagonist, Ercole Visconti is played by Italian comedian Saverio Raimondo–which lent them another level of authenticity.

Creating the Style

Production designer Daniela Strijleva then gave us a look at the process the filmmakers went through to develop the art style for Luca.

As part of the typical meticulous research that is part of the preparation for any Pixar film, there were several trips to Italy for the production team to get the feel of the colors and atmosphere of the area.  The particular difficulty for Luca was Casarosa’s desire to create a style that was both imperfect and incorporated a hand-drawn feel with the CGI tools that are made to replicate straight and realistic images.  Paper models were used to inspire a look that was playful but still represented Cinque Terre in an authentic way.

In contrast to the human world, typified by the village of Portorosso, the Sea Monster world is characterized by the deep blue-green of the Mediterranean sea.  Organic and constantly in motion, there are no straight lines.

To populate Portorosso, the art department looked at Italian neorealist films and the films of Jacques Tati to get ideas for the wardrobe and gestures they designed for the working-class inhabitants.

The color palette they wear is warm to give the town a nostalgic feeling, like something out of a memory.  By contrast, the sea monsters were inspired by old sea maps and have design features that mirror their places in the film.  Daniela, Luca’s mom, has the longest tail to emphasize her authority as the matriarch of the family.  Luca, with his curiosity and imagination, has the largest eyes, the better to take in the world around him.

Disney and Pixar’s Luca will debut exclusively on Disney+ on June 18, 2021.

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