Luca was nominated today for an Oscar in the Best Animated Feature category. The film is one of three Disney features nominated this year, but Luca is the only Pixar movie.
Speaking with Deadline after their nomination was announced, director Enrico Casarosa and producer Andrea Warren shared why they believe Luca was nominated.
While the story of Luca is deeply rooted in Casarosa’s childhood, the theme of friendship was universal for the everyone working on the film. “I think that we all related to those friends that make that difference in your life,” Warren said. “For me, it was a friend where you just connect over things and you laugh at each other’s jokes and it’s that beginning of growing up and building confidence and how meaningful that is to all of us.”
Added Casarosa: “For me, it’s really about people feeling that emotion at the end of the movie. Both the tears of a goodbye mixed with hope for the future. That was a big goal of kind of punching the heart of the audience at the end to really feel those emotions. And when you hear people really being affected by that, it was such a wonderful thing for me.”
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Warren said: “We have a lot of different people say they really got the theme of Luca. I feel other in this personal way, you know, and for every single person, that’s a different thing. But that sense of curiosity that Luca represents bridges those differences, you know, and those connections and friendships are what can bridge any version of difference.”
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