Luca director says they “talked about” making the beloved Pixar film queer
In June 2021, Disney released their sunkissed coming of age movie Luca. Set on the Italian Rivera, the film follows the titular character – a young sea monster – who aspires to explore the seaside town of Portorosso.
After discovering that he can assume a human form on land, Luca meets fellow sea monster and land dweller Alberto Scofano. The two then go on a heartwarming summer adventure that’s full of gelato, a Vespa race and the discovery of everlasting friendship.
After the film’s release, Disney fans quickly speculated that Luca and Alberto’s relationship was queer coded. Viewers also noticed parallels to director Luca Guadagnino’s critically-acclaimed gay drama Call Me By Your Name, which starred Timothee Chalamet and Armie Hammer as two men who fall in love in 20th century Italy.
The film’s suspected LGBTQ+ message was seemingly shut down by the director Enrico Casarosa after he told Yahoo Entertainment it was about “platonic friendships.” Casarosa has now revealed that the creative team discussed the possibility of the film being a queer story during an interview with The Wrap. “We talked about it and I mean, I think the reason probably we didn’t talk about it as much and, to a certain degree, we’re slightly surprised by the amount of people talking about romance is that we were really focusing on friendship and so pre-romance,” he explained.
