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Pixar’s Luca director responds to Call Me By Your Name comparisons

"Luca Guadagnino is quite awesome - I love his movies"

By Jamie Tabberer

Words: Jamie Tabberer; picture: Disney/Pixar

Luca director Enrico Casarosa has cleared up speculation that the film is a gay love story.

Disney and Pixar’s new animated movie, out 17 June 2021, follows the life-changing escapades of teenage boys Roberto and Luca on the Italian Riviera one sun-drenched summer.

The trailer for the film dropped this week, immediately sparked comparisons to Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me By Your Name.

The Oscar-winning film, starring Timothee Chalamet and Armie Hammer, was also set in Italy and focused on a gay love affair between characters Elio and Oliver. 

“We always looked at this very much in that time pre-boyfriends”

“We were a little bit surprised,” director Enrico Casarosa told ET of the comparisons. “As much as Luca Guadagnino is quite awesome – I love his movies!”

The 50-year-old continued: “We always looked at this very much in that time pre-boyfriends and girlfriends and pre-romance.”

Elsewhere in the interview, he added: “I do appreciate that people can read into any kind of oddness and outsiderness of these characters, that I hope there’s something universal for everyone to take from it.”

He also told Polygon: “This was about their friendship in that pre-puberty world.”

He added: “The type of friendship that is gonna push you into trouble. Push you into change, push you into finding yourself.”

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