“Luca” is a computer- animated film produced by Pixar and distributed by Walt Disney Studios.
So let’s dive into some trivia and facts about the new film!
- Luca is a 2021 American computer-animated coming-of-age fantasy comedy film
- The film is produced by Pixar Animation Studios
- It is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
- The film is directed by Enrico Casarosa
- This is his feature-length directorial debut
- The film is written by Jesse Andrews and Mike Jones
- It is produced by Andrea Warren
- Starring the voices of Jacob Tremblay, Jack Dylan Grazer, Emma Berman, Saverio Raimondo, Maya Rudolph, Marco Barricelli, Jim Gaffigan, Peter Sohn, Lorenzo Crisci, Marina Massironi, and Sandy Martin
- The film is set on the Italian Riviera in 1963
- The film centers on Luca Paguro, a sea monster boy with the ability to assume human form while on land, who explores the town of Portorosso with his new best friend Alberto Scorfano, experiencing a life-changing summer
- Luca takes inspiration from Casarosa’s childhood in Genoa
- Several Pixar artists were sent to the Italian Riviera gathering research from Italian culture and environment
- The sea monsters, a “metaphor for feeling different”, were loosely based on old Italian regional myths and folklore
- The design and animation were inspired by hand-drawn and stop motion works and Hayao Miyazaki’s style
- Casarosa described the result as a film that “pays homage to Federico Fellini and other classic Italian filmmakers, with a dash of Miyazaki in the mix too”
- Luca premiered at the Aquarium of Genoa on June 13, 2021
- It was originally set to be theatrically released in the United States on June 18, 2021
- However, in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the film was released direct-to-streaming on Disney+
- Along with a simultaneous limited run at the El Capitan Theatre
- It will be released in theaters in countries without the streaming service
- The film received generally positive reviews from critics
- With praise for its visuals, themes, voice acting, score, and sense of nostalgia
- To prepare for the film, Pixar sent several of the film’s artists to the Italian Riviera for a research trip, during which they took photos of the area’s landscape and peoples
- During the research trip, Deanna Marsigliese, the film’s art director, noted that they were watched by curious onlookers and chose to incorporate that into the character designs
- According to production designer Daniela Strijleva, it took a year to design Luca because they wanted to get to know him
- A clay figure of sea monster Luca was sculpted to assist with the design process for the character
- Casarosa described the characters’ transformation scenes as “a big effort” due to the many iterations done.
- Casarosa and the team began testing new animation concepts, hoping to bring playful silliness to the characters by taking away some of the typically large amount of detail
- Areas of immediate focus were using a more 2D pose style, wider mouths with rounded, rather than angled corners, and multi-limb motions that brought a sillier feel to character movement
- Originally, Italian musician Ennio Morricone was considered to compose the soundtrack, but died before he was asked to do so
- On April 1, 2021, Dan Romer was revealed to be the film’s composer
- The soundtrack includes songs by Mina, Edoardo Bennato, Gianni Morandi, Rita Pavone and Quartetto Cetra, and operas by Giacomo Puccini and Gioachino Rossini
- Casarosa stated that the movie is a celebration of friendship, and “a love letter to the summers of our youth – those formative years when you’re finding yourself”
- It is inspired by his childhood in Genoa, with Luca based on himself and Alberto on his best friend of the same name, Alberto Surace
- Casarosa stated: “My best friend Alberto was a bit of a troublemaker, [while] I was very timid and had a bit of a sheltered life — we couldn’t have been more different … Alberto pushed me out of my comfort zone, and pushed me off many cliffs, metaphorically and not. I probably would not be here if I didn’t learn to chase my dreams from him. It’s these types of deep friendships that I wanted to talk about in Luca, and that is what’s at the heart of this film”
- The sea monsters, based on old Italian myths and regional folklore, were defined by Casarosa as a “metaphor for feeling different”
- Producer Andrea Warren expanded: “We always liked the idea that the metaphor of being a sea monster can apply to so many different things. There is a theme of openness, showing oneself and self-acceptance, as well as community acceptance. Confronting the idea that there’s more to sea monsters than they realized. You know that they’ve only seen it through one perspective, one lens, and so I think that that’s a wonderful theme in the film, which is that those ideas weren’t right and that there’s more to learn”
- Casarosa agreed: “We hope that ‘sea monster’ could be a metaphor for all [manners] of feeling different — like being a teen or even pre-teen — any moment where you feel odd. It felt like a wonderful way to talk about that and having to accept ourselves first, whatever way we feel different”
- Some have seen Luca and Alberto hiding their true sea monster identities as an allegory for people who are members of the LGBTQ+ community, feeling as though they need to hide their true selves in order to be accepted
- Similarities and parallels to director Luca Guadagnino’s film Call Me by Your Name, which centers on a romantic relationship between a grown man and teenage boy in Italy, were also pointed out
- These prompted the question whether Luca and Alberto are gay
- However, Casarosa said that the characters were just friends and that the parallels to Guadagnino’s film were only a coincidence
- On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 89%
- Based on 180 reviews
- With an average rating of 7.20/10
- The website’s critics consensus reads, “Slight but suffused with infectious joy, the beguiling Luca proves Pixar can play it safe while still charming audiences of all ages”
- According to Metacritic, which assigned a weighted average score of 71 out of 100
- Based on 50 critics
- The film received “generally favorable reviews”
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