Academy Award®–nominated Enrico Casarosa Will Direct LUCA Slated for Release in Summer 2021
Pixar has taken audiences on wild journeys from around the world and beyond. From the toy box to the Pacific Ocean, and even the inside of our minds and, soon, where we get our personalities, the animation studio knows how to give us a multi-layered beautiful feature.
And their next original animated feature will be on an Earthlier plane. Luca is a coming-of-age- story, set in a beautiful seaside town on the Italian Riviera, about one young boy experiencing an unforgettable summer filled with gelato, pasta, and endless scooter rides. Luca shares these adventures with his newfound best friend, but all the fun is threatened by a deeply-held secret: he is a sea monster from another world just below the water’s surface. So it is pretty much like an animated version of Call Me By Your Name.
Luca is directed by Academy Award® nominee Enrico Casarosa (La Luna), and produced by and produced by Andrea Warren (Lava, Cars 3).
“This is a deeply personal story for me, not only because it’s set on the Italian Riviera where I grew up, but because at the core of this film is a celebration of friendship. Childhood friendships often set the course of who we want to become, and it is those bonds that are at the heart of our story in ‘Luca,’” said Enrico Casarosa, director. “So, in addition to the beauty and charm of the Italian seaside, our film will feature an unforgettable summer adventure that will fundamentally change Luca.”
While Casarosa served as head of story for The Good Dinosaur and The Incredibles 2, he is best known for his work on the Academy Award-nominated animated short La Luna. And like Luca, La Luna was a coming of age story featuring characters of Italian ethnicity. Also, the two films share a similarity in having real-world settings with an unexplainable magical twist to it. I can only imagine that Luca will look as beautiful as La Luna.
The press release also came with one piece of concept art of two boys jumping off of a cliff near the “beautiful seaside town on the Italian Riviera.” Because nothing says coming-of-age story like a sense of finding yourself through a little danger and a lot of fun, looking at how gorgeous the scenery is in that piece, I can’t wait to see it when it is fully realized.
Pixar’s Luca is scheduled to arrive on June 18, 2021.
