The gorgeous sun-drenched world of Luca is overflowing with Pixar easter eggs, from Pizza
Planet trucks, to Luxo Balls, deep-sea Finding Nemo references, and hat-tips to Up.
Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers, I'm Jan and in this video I'm revealing over 80 easter eggs
and crucial details plus the post-credits scene you might have missed in Luca.
Some mild spoilers ahead, so take care.
Italian food features heavily in Luca from the enormous sandwiches that town bully Ercole
enjoys, to the pasta eating section of the Portorosso Cup;
however, Pixar's nod to its legendary Pizza Planet truck is much harder to find.
So, watch carefully during the final part of the bicycle race towards the end of the
movie and it appears very briefly just behind Ercole as he's chasing Luca and Alberto down
the cobbled streets.
Another tricky-to-spot regular Pixar easter egg is the famous Luxo ball.
Look out for the ball's signature yellow, red and blue colours during an aerial shot
of the bicycle race.
Another recurring Pixar easter egg, A113, appears on the train ticket that Alberto gives
to Luca so he can go to school in Genoa.
The appearance of A113 in Pixar's films is a tribute to the classroom at California Institute
of the Arts where many of the studio's animators studied.
And the number on the carriage that Luca boards "1200 PA" is a reference to the address of
Pixar's headquarters: 1200 Park Avenue, Emeryville.
And the number on the front of the train, 94608, is the studio's zip code.
Hidden in one of the signs for soft drinks in the town is a deep-cut reference to one
of Pixar's most beloved films, Up.
This poster on a side street off the main square has an ad for a cherry-flavoured drink,
with various bottle caps on the right for other flavours.
It's a little difficult to see but, the purple-coloured cap is a nod to the grape soda pin that Ellie
gave Carl when they were kids in Up.
"You and me, we're in a club now."
The Art of Luca book shows a design was made for a bottle cap labelled "Uva", the Italian
word for grape, confirming this is indeed a reference to Up.
During one of Luca's dream sequences, as he soars through the air on a Leonardo Da Vinci
flying machine, below him is the famous fictional wooden marionette, Pinocchio, together with
the cat and the fox from the original Italian book, which many decades later was adapted
for Disney's animated movie.
And there's another Pinocchio reference in the song "Il Gatto e la Volpe", the Cat and
the Fox, which plays as Alberto and Luca build another homemade Vespa.
The cat and the fox references the two rogues from the story of Pinocchio, and director
Enrico Casarosa chose the song not only for its playful and fun feel, but also because
he sees similarities between Luca and Alberto and the cat and the fox, and how each pair
gets into trouble together.
There's also a Pinocchio figurine in Giulia's bedroom, and the story of the famous wooden
puppet who eventually becomes a real human boy also has some parallels with Luca's story
as he can transform from a sea monster into a human.
Another intriguing easter egg I spotted in Giulia's bedroom is a record cover for an
artist called Nicolo Pitera, a reference to Nick Pitera who's an animator for Pixar and
also one of the voices in the TripleDent Gum jingle from Inside Out.
"TripleDent gum.. ..will make you smile."
"Did I ask for the gum commercial?!"
Nick Pitera also has his own YouTube channel where he covers numerous songs, including
many from Disney musicals and Remember Me from Pixar's Coco.
In Giulia's bedroom, there's a cute Donald Duck toy, and some of these cloud formations
that appear in one of Luca's dream sequences look like hidden mickeys.
Another Disney reference springs up on one of the film posters in the town square, for
the 1954 movie "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea", the underwater adventure adapted from the
book by Jules Verne.
Verne was also briefly referenced in another Pixar creature feature, Monsters Inc., via
a poster in a Parisian room that Mike, Sully and Boo fall into.
There's also a fun fictional movie poster for a film called "Attacco del Mostro Marino",
Attack of the Sea Monster, which features a fearsome creature that looks a lot like
Uncle Ugo.
The poster has a hilarious B-movie vibe from the 50s to 60s era when Luca is set and recalls
films such as Attack of the Crab Monsters and Creature from the Black Lagoon.
In contrast to the much more appealing look of Luca and Alberto's sea monsters, Uncle
Ugo was designed to be as scary and weird-looking as possible for a Disney film, so that Luca
would dread the idea of having to go and live with him in the trench.
Casarosa has said Ugo is based on the very strange creatures found in the deep;
and to me, with his bioluminescent lure, he looks like a cross between an anglerfish like
the one we saw in Finding Nemo, and the Barreleye, another weird-looking real-life fish that
has transparent flesh around its upper half so you can see inside it, similar to Uncle
Ugo.
By the way, in an interesting bit of casting, Ugo is voiced by Sacha Baron Cohen, perhaps
best known for the Borat movies, and the odd tone he uses adds to the uncomfortable effect
he has on Luca.
"Hello, Luca.
It's nice to..."
"Luca, I need you to punch his heart."
Luca also tips its hat to Finding Nemo via the diving helmet both Alberto and Luca wear,
which is the same design as the one in Philip Sherman's fish tank where Nemo ends up in
his movie.
Luca's filmmakers also had some fun with the surnames of the various sea monsters in the
movie.
So Luca's name "Paguro" is Italian for "hermit crab", reflecting his sheltered life at the
beginning of the film and the reluctance of his parents to let him venture above the surface.
On top of that, it also foreshadows how Luca will eventually come out of his shell and
reveal his true self as well as the fact that ultimately he'll be comfortable living in
different surroundings than he grew up in.
Alberto's surname "Scorfano" is Italian for scorpion fish, and the Branzino family who
Luca's mum keeps mentioning get their name from the Italian word for sea bass.
"Let's see Bianca Branzino do that!"
And a hint to the secret that these two old ladies are actually sea monsters is their
surname, "Aragosta", which is Italian for lobster.
Oh, and I also like the little detail that the goatfish that Luca shepherds actually
bleat just like a land goat. [bleating]
Director Enrico Casarosa has a couple of voice cameos in Luca.
He's the voice of the fisherman who sets up the film's Stupido running joke when Alberto
and Luca overhear him shouting to a speeding boat:
"What's wrong with you, Stupido?"
He's also the card player who yells "Scopa!" when he wins.
For those unfamiliar, that's a popular card game played with an Italian deck of cards.
You can see one of those designs close up on the card that Alberto tries to steal at
the beginning of the movie and which Luca later finds.
And the reverse of the card with its picture of a town in the top half reflected in the
lower half is a nice detail referencing the underwater civilisation beneath the sea right
by Portorosso.
When Luca and Alberto meet Giulia's father Massimo for the first time, they discover
he has a particularly keen interest in hunting sea monsters.
The pictures pinned to his wall are a nod to the various legends that Pixar's filmmakers
researched for the movie, from old Renaissance maps to legends of Japanese dragons and serpents.
One particular legend from the town of Tellaro in the Liguria region, tells of a giant octopus
that one night climbed out of the sea and rang the church bells to warn the inhabitants
of an attack by pirates.
And in Luca, there are octopus door knobs as well as an octopus plaque near the town
square which reference similar ones from the town of Tellaro that pay tribute to the legendary
octopus.
And Octopuses, with their ability to camouflage themselves and change the way they look, also
inspired the filmmakers for how Luca's sea monsters could quickly transform into humans.
True to Luca's nostalgic feel and setting, there are many easter eggs to the Italian
postwar Golden Age of cinema.
There's the poster of La Strada, the Oscar-winning drama by Fellini, and the name of the boat
"Gelsomina" is the name of the protagonist in that movie.
Casarosa also took inspiration from another Fellini film, "I Vitelloni", for the final
scene of Luca.
The design of the train that arrives to take Luca away and how the scene is shot, with
Luca looking back to Alberto who runs after him as the train departs, pays homage to the
ending of Fellini's film.
And if you were wondering what that black-and-white photo is that Alberto looks at just before
he and Luca attempt their first ride down the island slope, it's of the lead actor Marcello
Mastroianni from the Oscar-winning comedy-drama Divorce Italian Style.
And, fun fact, Chiara, his daughter with actress Catherine Deneuve, lends her voice to Luca's
mum for the film's French-dubbed version.
And another film starring Marcello Mastroianni also pops up in the movie.
Appropriately enough, the film playing on the TV while Giulia and Luca are sneaking
across the rooftops is the 1958 acclaimed Italian heist movie, Big Deal on Madonna Street.
Another poster is for the Oscar-winning Roman Holiday, a Hollywood romantic comedy set in
Rome and starring Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn.
Various signs in the town also pay homage to other acclaimed Italian artists.
The Vicolo De Sica references the neorealist director Vittorio De Sica who directed classics
such as The Bicycle Thief.
The Piazza Calvino is a nod to Italian writer Italo Calvino, and Giulia and Massimo's surname
"Marcovaldo" is a shout-out to the name of a short story collection penned by Calvino.
And the Bar Pittaluga may be a reference to the Italian film producer Stefano Pittaluga
who began his career as a cinema-owner in Casarosa's home town of Genoa.
There's also what looks like a fake poster which translates as "A Summer To Remember."
I think this poster is a fun reference to how this movie is the story of a summer that
Luca, Alberto, and Giulia will never forget.
Prior to directing Luca, Enrico Casarosa was best known for his Oscar-nominated short film
La Luna, and the frequent lunar imagery in this movie, together with Giulia and Luca's
fascination with astronomy, feel like a hat-tip to the acclaimed short.
Plus, Giulia's father, Massimo, also has a similar character design and thick, heavy
moustache as the father in the short film.
And this boy drawing stars in the end credits is the boy from La Luna.
An in-joke that some coffee lovers might have spotted is the bar sign for "LaTazza", referencing
not only the popular Italian brand of coffee, Lavazza, but also the fact that "La Tazza"
means "cup" in Italian.
And I couldn't help but chuckle at all the holy cheese variations that Giulia comes up
with whenever something surprises her.
"Santo Gorgonzola!
Santa mozzarella.
Santa ricotta.
Santo pecorino."
For the animation style of Luca, Casarosa wanted to go with a more cartoonish, somewhat
exaggerated look that took inspiration from both Looney Tunes and Miyazaki's films such
as "The Castle of Cagliostro".
And you can see these influences in scenes like where Alberto tries to ride his homemade
Vespa for the first time, and after it falls apart, he ends up running down the hill, spinning
his legs so fast that extra limbs appears, something you also see in this scene from
The Castle of Cagliostro.
And there's a Looney Tunes-inspired moment when Luca's thrown off his bike after breaking
suddenly, and the halo of fish swimming above his head is a suitably aquatic take on the
"circling birdies" effect often seen in cartoons.
Interestingly, Portorosso is a mash-up of the names of several towns on the north-west
coast of Italy, where Luca's director spent his own childhood.
And according to Casarosa, a "wonderful extra reason to name" the town that was Miyazaki's
film Porco Rosso, also a period film set in Italy.
There are some intriguing comparisons between Luca and Disney's The Little Mermaid.
Like Ariel, Luca wants to explore land-based life above the surface, and both are told
not to go by their parents.
Also like Ariel, Alberto collects objects from the human world, and both films have
some amusing moments with forks, with the sea creatures not properly understanding their
human use.
And coincidentally, or perhaps not, Jacob Tremblay who voices Luca will also be the
voice of Flounder in Disney's upcoming live-action version of The Little Mermaid.
When you get to the end of the movie, make sure to sit through the credits as there's
a humorous post-credits scene which features the return of Uncle Ugo.
This time he's back in his original habitat talking to what appears to be one of Luca's
goatfish about how great it is to live in the deep.
"It's away from the hustle and bustle, all the stuff that you don't want."
Ugo also eats a piece of whale carcass, a call-back to how he described living in the
deep earlier in the movie.
"Mmm.
Whale carcass."
I'm curious to see how Luca fits in with the Pixar theory first put forward by Jon Negroni
who also has a YouTube channel, and that theory posits that after the events of WALL-E, animals
evolved over time into the monsters from Monsters Inc.
In Luca, we can see that there's a species of sea creature in the 1950s that already
has the ability to rapidly change into and out of human form.
If you've got any ideas, be sure to leave them in the comments below, and if you want
to find out how Pixar's previous movie Soul essentially confirmed many aspects of the
Pixar theory, tap here to watch my video on that or follow the link in the video description.
And if like me, you really enjoyed the gorgeous animation of Luca, you'll want to check out
the Art of Luca book with amazing concept art from the movie.
I'll add a link where you can get a copy in the description below.
So, what were your favourite moments and easter eggs in Luca?
If you enjoyed this, don't forget to like and subscribe and you can tap left for my
next Pixar video or tap right for something else you're sure to like.
Thanks for watching and see ya next time.
Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers!