INTERVIEW: Jump Into The Sea On The Italian Riviera This Summer, Enrico Casarosa and Andrea Warren Talk Pixar’s New Animation ‘Luca’

Get ready for Luca, an amazing coming of age animation film set in a beautiful seaside town on the Italian Riviera. Disney and Pixar’s original feature film tells the story of young Luca (voiced by Jacob Tremblay), along with his new best friend Alberto (voiced by Jack Dylan Grazer), as they take in a summer of great Italian food, gelato, Vespas, and sea village adventures. The summer isn’t all fun and games as they have to hold on to a secret; they are really sea monsters venturing out and about on land. The villagers aren’t the biggest fans of their kind and they can be outed and possibly in danger at any given moment including a splash of water. Jacob and Jack are joined by Emma Berman, Saverio Raimondo, Maya Rudolph, Marco Barricelli, Jim Gaffigan, and Sandy Martin, making for a fun adventure you don’t want to miss.

Glitter chatted with the director for Luca, Academy Award nominee Enrico Casarosa on how the story came to be, how he hopes the film resonates with viewers, and what makes a story like Luca so special. We also chatted with producer Andrea Warren on the incredible detail that went into the film, the powerful female characters and so much more.

GLITTER: Enrico, Luca magically captures your childhood and so many iconic elements of Italian culture from the blue grottos, the food, Vespas, and the outdoor cafes. How exciting was it to bring the essence of these villages to life through the eyes of the character Luca, for everyone to soon be able to enjoy from around the world?
ENRICO: It was so much fun; I mean, it really started with me sharing it with the team, which was a wonderful start so that they could really portray it correctly. So I did feel I was playing host a little bit in our first trip over there. And I feel very fortunate, kind of like, “Wow, was I lucky, was I privileged and honored to just grow up in the right place.” It was so much fun. We would just jump off these rocks, play, it was something very, very beautiful about that, about the summers. And so I feel very honored and excited about sharing those. Then, you know, really, with the teams, the work was like making sure that we feel true to the place. Then we would bring specificity and the quirkiness of the place, and we stayed away from anything that felt a little too easy or stereotypical. Some of it was just using my memories, and some of it was really just checking with other Italian cultural help; that’s how we made sure that we would bring authenticity. We really think a lot about authenticity. Even though this, of course, is kind of the ’50s and ’60s, we wanted to feel like, you know, that beautiful watermelon these kids just chomp into. 

GLITTER: Since you mentioned jumping off the rocks, I just wanted to get your input from the beautiful sculpture animation made by Luca and Alberto jumping off into the sea. That’s the story that I always tell on my travels to Italy. That’s the first thing I talk about is jumping into the sea. So how cool was it for you to see such a beautiful, stylized tribute to that action? 
ENRICO: It was so awesome because, again, there was something about being a kid again, and I was saying this today, I jump into the ocean here in the Bay Area at a beach and two hours pass, and I haven’t even noticed because I’m a kid again, I’m playing in the waves. I realize that this is just the power of being in the water, it’s just something that feels natural. So I am a little bit of a fish that way; I feel very joyful and happy. And so I love that we’re capturing something kid-like and playful in these wonderful jumps. The animators really had so much fun with the playfulness of the animation. So I love all that goes together with this feeling we’re chasing with the kid world. 

GLITTER: Andrea, what were some of your favorite parts of the project that you researched and just saw coming to fruition? Did you have any favorite elements?
ANDREA: I love La Luna. I always thought it was such a beautiful, poetic short. And I love how it kind of boiled things down to their essence and kind of celebrated that about the emotional authenticity and, you know, feeling like you’re in a painting. And so I think that that was something that I really loved about making Luca was to find that, you know, that same inspiration that translated over to a feature-length film and to create that sort of poetic, beautiful version of the storytelling that makes you feel like you’re there, but also kind of makes you feel like you’re in a painting or a child’s book, you know, and also enjoy.  

GLITTER: Can you tell us about the strong female characters in the film?  
ANDREA: I love Giulia, so I’m glad you asked. Yeah, I think she was a really fun character to craft. I mean, I think we really tried to stay away from tropes and keep her strong but also vulnerable. I mean, that’s a real part of being a female as well; she overcomes those feelings of not always fitting in or not being sure what her place is. But she’s so passionate and fiery, and I love how she kind of comes to the rescue. I love her intro. I mean, like, right away, she’s like stepping in. She cares about justice. She’s like, “This isn’t going down.” She does it her own silly way with a fish. It’s not like this elegant superhero just shows up and knows what to do. She’s still a kid, and she’s kind of doing it in her fun way. I just love, like, when she says, like, “Am I too much, is this too much.” There is just this wonderful, sweet vulnerability and that, and I think Emma, who voiced Julia, brought so much of that genuine charm and strength to her as a character. 

GLITTER: Enrico, can you tell us about Portorosso and how you came up with the name and its inspiration?
ENRICO: Yes, it’s kind of a summation of different towns because, you know, the Riviera has so many beautiful towns. There are five that are famous, Cinque Terre; one of them is called Monterosso. So it’s actually “Red Mountain.” The famous one, actually, you might have heard before is Portofino, which is actually very kind of more of the jet setter side of this. Then there’s one that is called Porto Venere, so Porto is port. So we actually designed the town in a similar way where we wanted to make the essence of the place. So we made up a little bit of our own one town to have them all in it, and Portorosso felt like a fun, you know, kind of a mix of a name. Yeah, that’s how that came about. There are so many of them; they’re really lovely, and the Cinque Terre, so special.  

GLITTER: Andrea, you mentioned that the team watched a lot of Italian films. Can you just tell us a little bit more about that process and what nods did you make to the Italian filmmakers?
ANDREA: I think it’s fun to celebrate the world that you’re trying to create. So, I think, as I said, we definitely ate gelato and had pasta and watched movies and it was fun. We had Enrico kind of introduce some of them and talked about what it was about those films that were interesting to him. It was really fun to just be immersed in something and learning. I think, in a way, we all have a bit of that Luca in us that is curious and always excited to learn new things. And I think we all felt that way. One of the films we love so much was Big Deal on Madonna Street. It’s just a fun movie. So there’s a little nod to it later in the film, which is fun to look for.
ENRICO: There’s a double Mastroianni homage from two different movies. That’s one of them. Marcello Mastroianni is in it. It’s a kind of a very silly heist movie that is worth a watch if you haven’t seen it. Yeah, there are so many movies that are so inspiring. It’s also that period, you know, we really had to look at them to really capture the period of the ’50s and ’60s. We found great references and a little bit of that post-war kind of scrappiness. Most of these movies are very blue-collar because everybody is kind of trying to make a life for themselves after the war, and so we wanted to capture some of that. They were very useful and kind of getting this timelessness of the period.

GLITTER: Enrico, is there one particular moment that stood out for you as you come to the completion of the film? Since this is kind of based on your childhood, is there just one moment that you just really loved about Luca?  
ENRICO: Yeah, it’s interesting; I mean, we’ve had one moment recently where we finished animation and you final the last shot, and there’s like, you know, almost fifteen hundred shots. So we’re still finishing up their animation. There’s a lot of departments that still need to do a lot of work and effects. So we’re still hard at work for the next three weeks. When you’ve finished giving life, the animators have this wonderful privilege and honor, they have one of the most exciting jobs because they’re really making these characters come to life. When you get to that last moment, and you’re saying goodbye to like, you know, we we had almost 70 animators, so that’s a big team. You see them in the morning; you see them in the afternoon for months. So they become this posse and this awesome group of friends. They were very sweet. There were some really sweet words from them, and having enjoyed the collaborative nature and how much we went on these journeys together. So that was very, very touching. They really are responsible for having made all of these characters that were in my head only a few years back, really come to life. So that was a really exciting moment where you feel like, you know, it’s the beginning of the end, and we’re almost there now with everyone.

GLITTER:  Andrea, what makes Luca unique from other projects that you’ve worked on? 
ANDREA: I really love the tone of Luca. I appreciate that it is always driving forward but still always slowing down. I love that we look at the world through Luca’s eyes, and he’s never been above water, and he’s going to see Portorosso for the first time. So I think that it gives us this ability to appreciate these details that are, frankly, around all of us all the time. But in this case, the ones that exist in the beautiful Italian Riviera, the waves crashing on the shore, the wind and the leaves, and just taking in the sights and smells and sounds. Maybe we’ll all be that way after the pandemic, like, “It’s all so amazing,” (laughing) So hopefully, you know, we kind of have that before us. But I love celebrating that and just really enjoying the relationships in the film. And I think we never kind of rush past, and we really get to exist within these moments as they happen. I really love that about the film. 

GLITTER: Enrico, what do you hope viewers take away from the film and the prominent themes of friendship, having to hide your identity and being true to yourself?
ENRICO: Yeah, I keep on thinking that I hope some of us grown-ups think back a little bit about those friendships and take a little bit of a dive into memories and maybe pick up the phone and call your old good friend you haven’t heard back from in a while. I feel like it’s wonderful how after two minutes, you’re right back where you were many years ago. That’s what’s wonderful about this friendship. When we often have to leave them a little far away, our paths sometimes diverge. Then when I think about kids, I really think a lot about appreciation of those friends, acceptance of each other, having the courage to ask for the help of your friend. We do so much for each other. So there’s a lot of like finding the courage to show your true self and find people around you to see you and embrace you. I always love the idea that we have these voices, the Brunos in our head, that say, “You can’t do this. You can’t do that.” Find amazing people that let you embrace, “Yes you can,” and are right by your side. So embrace a bit of courage and the right people around you to support you in the sense of being true to yourself. And that’s a big part of these two or three little kids. I love how Giulia is really unapologetically herself, and I think the big thing that Luca is kind of observing through the movie that I love.

GLITTER: Well, thank you both so much. I can’t wait to see the full film.  
ENRICO: Thank you so much.
ANDREA: Yes, our pleasure. 

Listen to the full interview below and stream the film on June 18 on Disney+.