Finding Luca: How Enrico Casarosa Cast the Voices for His Personal Film About Childhood Friendship

Pixar Animation Studios’ 24th animated film Luca premieres on Disney+ on Friday, June 18th. Inspired by his childhood memories of summers on the Ligurian Riviera with his best friend, director Enrico Casarosa’s film about a sea monster who enters the human world is surprisingly personal. For that reason, finding the right voice actors to help bring the characters to life was an important part of the process, a process the director discussed during a virtual press junket in advance of the film’s release.

“Finding Jacob [Tremblay] was really about finding a Luca that had this quiet energy,” Enrico Casarosa explained about finding the voice of the film’s lead character. “There's an innocence, but also this real earnestness and drive. Jacob has this natural curiosity already in himself.” For Jacob Tremblay, relating to Luca was easy, especially during the pandemic. “I definitely relate to Luca in a lot of things,” the actor shared. “I relate to his eagerness to go out and explore, especially right now. Because of COVID, I feel like we can all really relate to Luca in wanting to go out and just ride a Vespa through Italy.”

Playing Alberto, Luca’s new best friend, is Jack Dylan Grazer. “Jack I think from day one I was like, hmm, okay, I think I’d like to go skateboarding with Jack,” Enrico revealed about casting the adventurous kid who inspires Luca’s new dreams. I wanna hang out with Jack. And I probably would break something if I hang out with Jack for too long.” As with Luca, the actor chosen to voice Alberto was a natural fit. “I'm definitely an Alberto,” Jack Dylan Grazer shared. “I've always kind of been a daredevil. I've always been the first person to do the thing and be like, hey guys, follow me.”

Giulia completes the friend trio in the film, a character that wasn’t inspired by a specific person from Enrico’s past. In many ways, Emma Berman’s own personality helped inspire the character, as Enrio explained when recalling his first meeting with the young actress at Pixar’s Emeryville studio. “I kind of knew there was something in [Emma’s] amazing voice and amazing energy that was gonna be amazing.” For Emma Berman, who makes her feature film debut with Luca being cast in a Pixar film was a dream come true. “I had a really fun time playing her because I relate to her in a lot of ways,” Emma explained. “We're both passionate about what we do, and we're also very excited and joyful people.”

Joining the press conference were Luca’s parents, or their voices at least, played by Maya Rudolph and Jim Gaffigan. “I'm super excited,” Jim Gaffigan shared, echoing Emma’s enthusiasm for working with Pixar. “I don’t know how Pixar does it. 'Cause their batting average is, like, a thousand. So, I don't know if it's illegal for Pixar to make bad movies, but there is something exciting. You're like, ‘All right. Well, I know this is gonna be good.’” As exciting as it was to be a part of a Pixar film, for Maya Rudolph, working with the director was the real magic of the experience for her. “My favorite part was getting to work with Enrico,” Rudolph revealed. “He's so lovely… Under the circumstances, the time period that we were working, we were all working from home, it was something I was really looking forward to.”

Like many animated projects produced over the past year, the voice cast of Luca had to record at least some of their dialogue from home. Jack Dylan Grazer had to record his dialogue for Alberto from his mom’s closet, which had the best acoustics for the recording equipment. “It got hot in there,” Jack shared. “And I bet my neighbors were really freaked out about the-the amount of screaming that was going on from my house.”

“I too was in a closet at a certain point screaming ‘Luca,’” Maya Rudolph joked. “My kids were like, ‘Who's Luca? Why are you yelling so much? Is he in trouble? Is he a bad kid? What happens in the movie?’ All they heard was me screaming ‘Luca.’” Jim Gaffigan found that he preferred recording from home over in the studio. “There was something about it that was almost kind of comfortable about recording at home, you know, where there wasn’t the commute, or you weren’t in an unfamiliar space.”

The only exception to the record-from-home rule was Jacob Tremblay. “I was very, very lucky because I actually started recording before COVID hit. So I was able to go into the [Emeryville] studio. They gave me the tour and I was able to get the Dole Whip, which is really cool.” However, the Canadian actor was unable to return to Pixar after the pandemic started and rather than recording from home, he was able to use a professional recording studio in Vancouver.

“Silenzio Bruno” is a phrase that won’t leave your head after seeing Luca and the cast agreed that it was one of the big takeaways from their experience working on the film. “I guess it’s a- good way of using your words to silence your anxiety about certain things,” Jacob Tremblay shared about what the phrase means to him. “I think it's one of the most crucial things you could ever learn in your life,” Jack Dylan Grazer added, as the voice of Alberto, who introduces “Silenzio Bruno” to the world. “I got rid of my Bruno eons ago,” the young actor joked.

“We do think a lot about the messages that are in the film,” Producer Andrea Warren added. “We all have these inner critics and how you sort of overcome that sense of doubt… I hope that some of those messages, you know, really reach the audiences, and especially reach kids.”

Pixar’s Luca debuts worldwide on Friday, June 18th, exclusively on Disney+.