Disney.com
Summer can’t come fast enough! Today, Pixar premiered its first trailer for their brand-new movie Luca, and we’re already excited. The new trailer showcases jaw-droppingly gorgeous Italian landscapes, some mouthwatering food, and a few peeks at an exciting adventure to come!
Luca is the coming-of-age story of two young sea monsters named Luca (Jacob Tremblay) and Alberto (Jack Dylan Grazer) who are able to appear human outside water. The two boys experience a life-changing summer, spending time in a village on the Italian Riviera. This setting and much of the initial inspiration behind the film was very personal to Italian-born director Enrico Casarosa. With regards to how this film will showcase his Italian culture, Casarosa explains, “The wonderful opportunity we have is that we have these strange outsiders, these two little boys who kind of go and discover this town — so we have the perfect way to kind of discover this culture.” However, friendship is really what’s driving the heart of the film. Casarosa shared, “The [personal] backstory is really growing up and finding an amazing friend. When I was 11, I was shy, timid, and a little bit sheltered, and I found this friend who was the opposite of me. It got me out of my comfort zone.”
Having previously directed the Academy Award–winning Pixar short “La Luna,” Casarosa is no stranger to incorporating elements of his life into his work. While “La Luna” was inspired by his relationship with his father and his grandfather, Luca aims to explore friendship, especially within the context of “opposites attracting and finding our own identities.”
In this film, the character of Luca represents some of Casarosa’s personal journey, and he paid homage to his real-life friend by naming the character of Alberto after him! For Casarosa, this movie gave him the chance to “to talk about friendships and the friendships that help us find ourselves.”
Of course, the cast of Luca couldn’t be more excited to bring this story to life. With talent like Jacob Tremblay, Jack Dylan Grazer, Emma Berman, Maya Rudolph, Marco Baricelli, and Jim Gaffigan, you can’t go wrong! Jacob Tremblay, who voices Luca himself, was especially enthused to be joining the cast of a Pixar movie, having grown up with the Cars movies as some of his Pixar favorites. He looks forward to when kids will eventually end up playing with Luca toys the way he did with Lightning McQueen as a toddler. “That’s what I’m really excited for — for kids to have the same experience that I did when I was younger.”
In discussing his character, Tremblay elaborates, “When you watch this movie, Luca goes on an emotional rollercoaster and you get to see how he grows as a person. He starts as this timid character, but he really wants to explore the world and can’t because he’s a sea monster.”
So, where did the sea monster inspiration come from? Casarosa explains, “I always loved the idea of old maps and the crazy, strange creatures we humans kind of imagine. The lure of the unknown and the fear of it are two of the things that came together in this story.”
Check out the trailer for Disney and Pixar’s Luca here:
For more updates on Luca, follow @PixarLuca on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Luca will premiere in Summer 2021.