The search for Pixar’s perfect Luca sea monster started with ancient maps. When director Enrico Casarosa formulated the coming-of-age story, inspired by his childhood on the Italian Riviera, he zeroed in on the fearsome sea serpents on the edges of Renaissance maps waiting to gobble up ships that ventured too far. Then Casarosa ventured to the wildly colourful to make his teenage sea monsters for Luca (now streaming on Disney+). Shiloh Jolie-Pitt at 15 “The point of the story is the two factions, humans and sea monsters, think of the others as monsters, not themselves,” says Casarosa. “We knew there had to be a certain beauty and brought the iridescence.” Here’s what you need to know about the shimmery monster stars, Alberto and Luca (voiced by Jack Dylan Grazer and Jacob Tremblay). Pride on TV: 20 series boosting LGBTQ+ representation Sea iguanas were key to monster sea movement With limbs added to the ancient sea serpent concept, the Pixar animating team found movement inspiration in sea iguanas. “Iguanas are pretty fascinating, the way that they use their tail from side to side, tucking away the limbs,” says Casarosa. That required watching as much iguana swimming footage as possible, and much trial and error. “We kept on honing in and found what felt right with the iguana reference,” says Casarosa. “We really had to invent it as animators.” No to creepy squid hair, yes to shimmering paddles Finding the right hair was an entire project, with squid-like tentacles as curly hair thrown out early in the process. “We realised it was a little too creepy; you start thinking the hair is alive,” says Casarosa. iCarly for grown-ups: will the adult reboot of the 2000s kids show hit or miss? Instead, the animators landed on individually modelled, sculpted hair paddles of brilliant Mediterranean colours that move and shimmer under water. “It was really fine-tuning physics, computer and artist working on these paddles for the hair, which made them so fluid and flowing. I loved it,” says Casarosa. Squid legs were tossed overboard Early designs featured tentacle-like legs, as from squid and octopuses. There were set aside as too villainous. “It felt like the evil witch [Ursula] from The Little Mermaid , That didn’t fit,” says Casarosa. Instead the animators went to more human legs with fins on the back, along with long, webbed feet and hands. Sacha Baron Cohen put voice to strange Uncle Ugo The Pixar team went deep designing Uncle Ugo, who emerges from the deepest part of the ocean to warn of the terrors of the human-filled surface. The bizarre looking angler fish served as the inspiration for Ugo, who hides in the deep. Ugo transformed from pale to even more transparent during the design process, with his beating heart visible. How does RuPaul make and spend his Drag Race millions? “That transparency was so much fun, even if it was technically hard,” says Casarosa. “But the team nailed it.” Cohen added his own out-there interpretation of Uncle Ugo’s voice in the recording studio. “Sacha is such an amazing improviser, he came into the studio and gave us so much material,” Casarosa says. Many have placed their meaning into the sea monsters turned human Luca follows the young boys secretly emerging into a human world – filled with misunderstanding, bigotry and hatred – and coming to acceptance of their identities. This has led to questions over whether Luca is telling a deeper story – perhaps it's the first gay Pixar movie? Casarosa welcomes the thought and discussion, but says that was not the story’s original intent. Meet Marvel’s new gay teen superhero “I love the metaphor of the sea monster, that it really opened it up to all these other readings,” says Casarosa. “I’ve had people ask me, is it a refugee story or immigrant story, or about race? We were aware making the movie that this was a wonderful journey of owning your own identity, and coming out with it – whichever that identity is. I thought that everyone would bring their own identity to it.” “My experience was about me and my best friend growing up feeling like losers,” he says. “But it’s great that people have their own experiences and that this speaks to them.” Want more stories like this? Sign up here. Follow STYLE on Facebook , Instagram , YouTube and Twitter .