The director of Pixar's Luca has responded to claims that the film mimics Call Me By Your Name (2017). Luca is Pixar's newest upcoming feature film, set to skip a theatrical release and premiere on Disney+ on June 18, 2021. The film chronicles the adventures of two best friends, Luca and Alberto, who live in a small town on the Italian Riviera. Luca is brought out of his shell by the more daring Alberto, but the two friends harbor a deep secret: they are both sea monsters from an underwater world. When executives at Pixar announced first announced the film last year, Luca was described as a coming-of-age story.
Call Me By Your Name is a romantic drama directed by Luca Guadagnino starring Armie Hammer and Timothée Chalamet. The film explores a whirlwind romantic relationship between 17-year-old Elio (Chalamet), who lives with his family on the Italian coast, and Oliver, a visiting doctoral student who has come to study under Elio's father. Call Me By Your Name exemplifies themes of awakening and desire throughout one fateful summer. The film was nominated for three Academy Awards, and James Ivory won the film its award for Best Adapted Screenplay.
After the release of Luca's official trailer, a surge of commentary appeared on Twitter that compared the two films. Various tweets showed photos comparing Luca to Elio and Alberto to Oliver, respectively. ET Canada reports that in response to these theories, director Enrico Casarosa said, "That was really never in our plans. . .[the relationship in his movie is about] friendship in that kind of pre-puberty world." Casarosa went on to explain that the film was actually inspired by his own childhood experiences in Cinque Terre, Italy, with his friend, Alberto, who often caused trouble for the two.
Although some of Luca's outward similarities and basic plot points directly correlate to Call Me By Your Name, the Pixar film does not explore any romance between Luca and Alberto. The exploration of an LGBTQ+ relationship in a Disney/Pixar film – especially that of two teenagers – would be incredibly groundbreaking, but that would not be the true story of Luca, as indicated by Casarosa. If anything, a display of a strong fraternal friendship between teens will be just as heartwarming and relatable for audiences.
What will make Luca one of Pixar's most unique endeavors is how it chooses to explore topics of fantasy through a cultural lens. Similarly to Pixar's Coco, which intertwined the fantastical and realistic elements of Día de Los Muertos through music and storytelling, Luca will broach the topic of puberty and brotherhood through the analogy of sea monsters; this will likely make the underlying tones of the film more approachable for its key younger demographic. Luca is poised to capture audiences' hearts when it premieres this June.
Source: ET Canada