Directed by Enrico Casarosa (La Luna), the Disney and Pixar animated feature Luca follows a young boy (voiced by Jacob Tremblay) as he experiences an unforgettable summer alongside his new best friend (voiced by Jack Dylan Grazer) in a beautiful seaside town on the Italian Riviera. But all of the pasta, gelato and scooter rides in the world can’t hide the fact that they’re sea monsters from a world below the water’s surface and that the discovery of their secret could be very dangerous.
During an early virtual press day to get a glimpse behind the scenes of what it took to make the film, Collider got the opportunity to chat with Casarosa and producer Andrea Warren about the seed that started this story, how it all evolved, the director-producer collaboration, and the changes that were made during the process.
Collider: What was the seed that started this story? Was it the location, was it the character of Luca, was it the friendship, or was it all of those things at once?
ENRICO CASAROSA: It’s a good question. I’m trying to think if one was first. I certainly was looking for the right story to tell in that setting, but it really had a few different incarnations. The true inception of this movie was when I put the friendship in place because I realized how much my best friend and I, all over the coast, swimming in the summer, was a huge part of it. And then, it was thinking about feeling a little bit nerdy and a little bit not terribly popular at that age. It’s an age where it’s so easy to feel like you don’t fit in, but we had each other. When I pitched sea monsters at that age, it felt like a wonderful metaphor to say that, for some of us, there is a shame and a difficulty of showing yourself. It felt interesting and true to that difficult age, when you’re looking for yourself and who you wanna be.
Andrea, when you’re working on a story that comes from a personal place for the director that you’re working with, how did you find yourself connecting to it? What most drew you to Luca?
ANDREA WARREN: So many things drew me to the story. I love Enrico’s sensibility as a filmmaker, and boiling things down to their essence and wanting to show that on screen. In this case, being about childhood friendships, I had a childhood best friend too. We were more like two Lucas, but still the fun that comes from that companionship and that gradual testing of the waters, and sharing and revealing of yourself, that ultimately results in those building blocks of confidence that you need in those years of coming of age. So, I related to that. That was why we really wanted that question to be an open one for the crew, to hear people’s stories and hear people talk about it. That was the thing that we really wanted to capture in the film and that people would either recognize, as adults looking back, or be kids who are experiencing it now.
What is the collaborative process like between the two of you? When you do something like this and you’re teamed up together and you’re spending so much time working on a project, what’s that experience like?
CASAROSA: It’s a long journey. You start sharing the ups and the downs. We’ve seen each other down and out, and then we roll up our sleeves. So much of the process is, “It’s not working yet. This is working, but this is not working yet.” We joked that we had to be each other’s Alberto to say, “Silencio Bruno!,” very often. The other side that is part of the ins and outs of a producer and director, and what I really appreciate about Andrea’s help, is that as a director you can get sucked in and you do need to be in the middle of the details often, but Andrea was always great to just pull me out of the moment. She’d be like, “Okay, here’s how much time you have. Do you wanna keep doing this? Leave no stone unturned, as to how good this movie can be and how good the story can be.” That is super helpful, as a director. I feel the need to get my hands dirty and storyboard and be in the trenches, so it’s wonderful to step back and have those check-ins. Some of our check-ins were like, “What’s keeping you up this week?”
WARREN: We really had a sense of wanting to openly and honestly tackle everything together, as it came. To me, I always feel like we can probably solve most anything, if we can really throw the truth of the issue on the table. That’s something I really appreciate about and Enrico is not shy about that. That really helped us get to the heart of things, as quickly as possible. We weren’t maneuvering around what we really needed to talk about. We could always dive right in on the issue that needed our attention.
How much did this story develop, over the years? Were there big changes in story or in the characters?
WARREN: Yes.
CASAROSA: That happens a lot. It’s almost easier to say what stayed. I don’t wanna spoil the rest of the movie. The ending is where you finish your sentence. What is this movie about? What do you want people to walk out with? A lot of it changed there, with the kind of ending we had. We definitely had two or three screenings where we hadn’t found the ending yet and it wasn’t at all the same. For example, we had a Stand By Me vibe in the beginning, where it was three boys and a girl, and there was a slightly more group vibe. What is the heart of the movie? It is this friendship. It is Luca and Alberto. So, we started moving things around. How much is this story of these two communities part of the story? We needed to find that level. A lot of it is about balancing the story. That was always part of the story, but if it was only about that, it would probably would be quite a different movie.
We wanted to keep it personal. We wanted to keep it about the kids and stay in the kids’ point of view. That really took work to hone in on. Those are a couple of the things that went by the side. There was even a whole idea that this community of sea monsters was hiding in plain sight and they had a little town on the island, which we did away with. We realized that it created a bit of a double town and we didn’t need two towns. So, we just let them be well-hidden. You realize what feels right, and then you think back on it and go, “What were we thinking? This feels so much more natural.” That’s a good sign, if you don’t need to look back. And then, you reuse things. Our bully, Ercole, used to be their friend. He used to be the third wheel, so we recast him.
Luca is available to stream at Disney+ on June 18.