Luca it is a hymn to summer, to trenette with pesto and above all to friendship. The kind of friendship that makes you believe you can fly with a wasp among the seagulls. In addition, the new Disney Pixar cartoon, signed by Italian Enrico Casarosa, that’s exactly what was needed right now: after the long winter of the pandemic, here is the summer of the Italian Riviera, full colors, humor (but also tears) and important feelings.
Luca, having skipped the hall, arrives on Disney + on June 18th, and for Casarosa it is the first feature film after the short The Moon, Oscar nominee. The Ligurian director worked on it for six years, putting in Recco’s grandmother, his best friend as a kid (sitting in the front row at the world premiere at the Genoa aquarium) and the 1950s soundtrack (except for a few rare exceptions). The cartoon tells of an incredible summer in the Italian seaside city of Portorosso (ie the apotheosis of the Cinque Terre) through the eyes of an adolescent “sea monster” named Luca Paguro and his friend Alberto Scorfano. To help them in their business, the girl Giulia Marcovaldo. There are also the parents, ready for anything, and the villain of the country: Ercole Visconti.
«This film is a love letter to my homeland, to my roots “, Casarosa says that for the preview in Genoa he could not help but dress in blue, the color of the sea:” We Ligurians have the sea inside and with Luca I wanted to exalt it and show it to the world ». Sea and friendship: «I was born in Genoa and I was a shy child, a little protected by my family. And when I met my best friend at 11, my world opened up. He was a bit of a troublemaker as well so, in those special summers when you grow up and find yourself, I followed him and ended up in trouble. After all, it is the youthful friendships that help us a little to understand who we want to be. And, since the surrounding coast is made up of rocks only, Alberto is that friend who pushes you off the precipice and then throws himself with you ».
And in jumping in, you have to deal with all your fears, anxieties. Which for Luca and Alberto, the teen version, keep themselves at bay by repeating like a mantra “Silence Bruno!”. “We all have an inner critic,” continues the director, “You have to challenge him to overcome that sense of doubt. And, in life, surrounding yourself with Alberto is a good way to do it ». The “Browns in our heads” after the last period, he explains Marina Massironi, the Italian voice of Mrs. Marseillaise, “there are many more, we have to make strength with each other”.
Saverio Raimondo, who was chosen to give the voice – in both versions – of the villain Ercole Visconti, with his anxieties he speaks to us every day. “In real time,” he says, enthusiastic about this experience with Luca: “It was a lot of fun, the bad guys are always the most ridiculous, because being bad is being ridiculous. But being bad is not for me, if I tried to bully I would hurt myself “. As a boy, the comedian and TV author cheered more for Jafar than for Aladdin: “The villain I’m most fond of is, however, Scar del Re Leone. I played him at 9 in a school play and now that I’ve really been a Disney villain it’s a bit like closing the circle. “
Between the rows of Luca, for a special cameo of the Italian version, there is also Orietta Berti. Concetta Aragosta is his voice, passionate about ice cream (ice cream cone, of course) and sister of Pinuccia Aragosta (Luciana Littizzetto). «It was wonderful to give my voice, and to do it alongside Luciana, we are friends also in reality. Friendship is very important in adolescence and when you are of a certain age. To the extremes. I am lucky, I still hear my childhood friends ».
Luca it is therefore a story of great friendship, but also of acceptance, of inclusion. The invitation? Know who is different, don’t be afraid: “Luca has great curiosity, not afraid of what he does not know “, Casarosa continues, “If we are curious about the world of others or with each other, diversity becomes a bridge”. “People may seem different inside but in the end they are the same as us”, Orietta Berti says, “I think it’s important for us to love, we are not made to hate”.
There is also in the film a lot of music, Italian, all beautiful and largely the result of nostalgic choices: Get your mom to send you by Gianni Morandi, The cat and the Fox by Edoardo Bennato and the Barber of Seville. “My mother was a big fan of opera and classical music, I grew up listening to it.”
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