PITTSBURGH — Anyone who has ever attempted to ride a bike up Canton Avenue in Beechview will recognize the Pittsburgh in "Luca."
Pixar's latest animated film follows two sea monster children trying to fit into a small seaside village in Italy. They end up competing in a triathlon that includes swimming, pasta-eating and a bicycle race up and down a terrifying cobblestone hill reminiscent of the steepest street in Pittsburgh and one of the steepest nationwide.
The resemblance is no accident: "Luca" was co-written by Point Breeze native Jesse Andrews, who while working on the film came home to Pittsburgh and participated in the Dirty Dozen bike race "as a little way of getting into Luca's character." It was even raining when he got to Canton Avenue, just like in a climactic "Luca" scene.
"I think there are little bits of Pittsburgh in this movie," Andrews told the Post-Gazette ahead of "Luca" debuting on Disney+ Friday. "Pittsburgh makes it into everything I do, I think. It makes my work a lot better for it."
Pittsburghers may be familiar with Andrews as the author behind the novel "Me and Earl and the Dying Girl" and the screenwriter of its 2015 movie adaptation that filmed in the Steel City. Working with Pixar and making "Earl" are "now 1 and 1a" for Andrews in terms of realizing a few of his cinematic dreams.
Part of "Earl" was shot in his childhood home, and he said his mom will still sometimes bring up that her toaster oven wasn't totally clean in one scene. The movie was also filmed at his alma mater, the long-closed Schenley High School, which is now "memorialized in a permanent way" thanks to "Earl."
Pittsburgh has always been one of Andrews' muses.
"It's a funny place that punches above its weight culturally," he said. "A lot of writers and musicians come out of Pittsburgh, and I wonder why. It's this place where I at least was conscious of growing up not in a bigger city like New York.... Culturally, it feels very fresh, with a lot of stuff to observe and write about."
Andrews is now based in Berkley, California, and spent most of the pandemic getting "Luca" ready. He also used that time to adopt a cat named Fish Fish, who was curled around his shoulders for much of his Zoom call with the Post-Gazette. Fish Fish seemed much friendlier than the ornery feline in "Luca."
He got involved with "Luca" when his agent sent Pixar a script he wrote for a movie called "Empress of Serenity" that never got made. Pixar executives liked it and remembered Andrews when putting together a team for the "Luca" script. He and co-writer Mike Jones had to craft a story that would live up to director Enrico Casarosa's memories of growing up along the Italian Riviera.
"Luca" is a tale of "summer friendship" set in the 1950s that pays homage to the films of Italian luminaries like Federico Fellini and Marcello Mastroianni.
"It was this time that there's so much joy in escaping to because the music is gorgeous and there are these cinematic touchstones you can refer to," Andrews said. "Part of the appeal of this movie is you feel like you're there, both this place and time."
Anyone familiar with Disney sea adventures like "Moana" and "The Little Mermaid" and Hayao Miyazaki's "Ponyo" will feel right at home with "Luca," as Andrews used all three films as inspiration for his story of two friends figuring out where they belong.
"One thing about those movies is that the world doesn't have to be in the balance," he said. "There is this stakes arms race going on in animated movies and movies for families. You become kind of numb to it after a while and it makes the movie a little impersonal. We talked quite a bit about the scope of the movie and how to make it feel emotionally enormous without going to that existential place that so many movies go to."
In case you were wondering, Andrews is aware of and amused by the "'Luca' is 'Call Me By Your Name' for kids" online chatter. Both films are Italian period pieces and the director of "Call Me By Your Name" is Luca Guadagnino. The co-writer of "Luca" does see one genuine parallel between the two films.
"Sea-monsterness is an allegory for a specific kind of way you can feel 'other' in society," he said. "It's a movie about being your authentic self and learning not to hide, which can be applied in a lot of different ways."
Andrews is a tad bummed that "Luca" was moved to Disney+ due to the pandemic, but he trusts Disney "to make the decision that's going to put the movie in front of the most people." He hopes that they watch it on the biggest screen they own with the best possible sound system to at least vaguely replicate the movie-theater experience.
If you enjoy the small nods to Pittsburgh in "Luca," go back and check out "Me and Earl and the Dying Girl" for a full taste of how much Andrews values his hometown.
"Six years later, I'm still struggling to put into words what it means when your childhood is on the screen and what was absolutely personal and private becomes public in this way you had a lot of control over," he said. "It's sort of indescribable."
