Jim Gaffigan Interview: Pixar’s Luca

Luca is Pixar’s next big movie, a coming-of-age story about a boy/sea monster living the best summer of his life, also includes interesting perspectives such as Luca’s father Lorenzo, voiced by Jim Gaffigan. The movie is set in the Italian Riviera and splits the small fictional town of Portorosso into an ethereal underwater world and a colorful township, both full of interesting characters.

Jim Gaffigan’s Lorenzo resides mostly in the former location, where he lives with his son Luca, his wife Daniela, as well Luca’s grandmother. The family has a strict no-surface policy, and hides from Luca that when sea monsters breach the surface, they change form to look like humans. When Luca meets a new friend in fellow sea monster Alberto, the two go off exploring the surface – contrary to the demands of Luca’s parents.

As a voice and live-action actor, and a comedian, Jim Gaffigan has appeared in many productions, including Chappaquiddick, Away We Go, and Bob’s Burgers. He will also appear in the upcoming Disney retelling of a classic: Peter Pan & Wendy. Screen Rant spoke to Gaffigan about his experience voicing the character of Lorenzo for Luca. Pixar’s Luca will stream exclusively on Disney+.

What aspects of the story drew you to Luca?

Jim Gaffigan: I gotta be honest; it’s a Pixar movie, so I was kind of in automatically. Well, not automatically, I was sent sides before I even read the script for Lorenzo. When it comes to like voice acting, Pixar’s up there, right? You never know what’s going to happen but with Pixar, they always seem to stick the landing. If successful movies was a batting average, what would their batting average be, over 900? So, to answer your question, once I heard Pixar was thinking of me for a role, I was like, “Yes.”

And do you see any parallels between your character and your own life as a father?

Jim Gaffigan: I mean the character I play is kind of a baffled father who’s distracted. Hopefully I’m not as distracted, but I’m definitely baffled by the path of father. And I think both Lorenzo and I are well-intended. The relationship I have with my real wife and in Luca with Maya Rudolph… it’s very much collaboration very important.

For sure. I guess also there’s that fact that Lorenzo obviously really loves Luca. How does voicing a Pixar movie compare to your other voice work?

Jim Gaffigan: You know, I’ve only done one Pixar movie and it’s obviously, individual to the directors, cause they’re in charge of their project .But I’m piecing together that there is this community angle that exists in Pixar, and that there’s a spirit of collaboration that even though final say obviously comes up to the director, there is a pooling of ideas that exists in at Pixar.

Otherwise different roles and different sizes of roles might involve more improvising. For Lorenzo, this father role, I would improvise a little, but the important thing is to create that character point of view that Enrico (Casarosa), Luca director, wanted to communicate.

What’s it like working with Enrico as a director?

Jim Gaffigan: It’s amazing. There is something about Luca that felt very autobiographical, because, Enrico – you don’t want to get too personal – but I think this is kind of his story. I think there’s something very personal about this. On all projects, you want to be a facilitator in helping the writer and the director get their vision there. Hopefully you add some value, but I learned a long time ago that – maybe it’s having been the executive producer of a show – you want to be a partner. You want to be somebody who’s like, “I have this idea,” and if they don’t want the idea, you’re not going to pout, you’re just like, “Okay, that’s fine. How can we help you get to this [vision]?”

Enrico has talked in the past about his relationship with his father. Did you chat together about the relationship that Lorenzo should have with Luca based on that? Or was it a fabrication on your part based on the script?

Jim Gaffigan: The direction was very much driven by what would help this story. And how that relationship, within the context of Luca’s relationship with his mom too, and even the grandparents. It’s one of the things that I find so enjoyable about this movie as a parent, that arc of parents having to let their kids go off and make their own mistakes and do things that are scary. Because as an adult, we know it’s a scary world, but we also know you have to kind of let them go. Youve got to set them free.

Did you have to do a chunk of your voice recording from home or were you able to get to a studio?

Jim Gaffigan: It was all at home, all virtual. Even the audition was when we were quarantining in New York City. And then we rented a house in Westchester, and now here [in Vancouver] I’m working on Peter Pan & Wendy, so it’s all been virtual, it’s all been in some kind of domicile.

All of the equipment was sent, I had to go around my house like, “I’m working, so no one scream.” They also sent soundboards. Pixar knows how to do this. There was an iPad just for communicating and an iPad for recording. They knew what they were doing. There were no experiments.

Did you get to meet your co-stars in person for this project?

Jim Gaffigan: No! I worked with Maya [Rudolph] on Away We Go, and I’ve been a huge fan of hers. So there was familiarity, but we were never even on at the same time. The expectation was that we were eventually going to do that, but that never happened. So I did a couple sessions with Enrico, but it was pretty painless.

You mentioned Peter Pan & Wendy, how has your filming for that going?

Jim Gaffigan: It’s great. It’s amazing on so many levels, obviously the story element, that it’s this classic thing, but also it’s this huge budget movie. It’s not like there’s this waste of money occurring, it’s just like, “Oh, they built a pirate ship.” Or, “Oh, all right, so I’m flying, okay!” There doesn’t seem to be a moment in the movie where something unbelievable isn’t happening. You know I work on indies where they’re like, “Hey, in that third week, we’re going to do this stunt.” [On Peter Pan & Wendy] we’re doing like three of those a day.

About The Author

Mitch Brook
(75 Articles Published)

Mitch Brook is Features Editor for film and TV at Screen Rant. He’s a writer and editor with a history in a range of media, including as editor for travel and lifestyle titles. The movies he always comes back to are Little Women (2019), Orlando, A Single Man, and The Lord of the Rings.

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