Disney Film 'Luca' Was Almost a Gay Romance Movie

Once the Disney film "Luca" hit theaters, fans were quick to point out the obvious romantic chemistry between the two male leads, Alberto and Luca.

Based in Italy, many fans compared the love between the two characters to the love story in "Call Me By Your Name," but many more fans accused the Disney animated film of queer baiting.

However, the film's reception did inspire "Luca" actor Jack Dylan Grazer to come out as bisexual.

Now, "Luca" director Enrico Casarosa has let it slip that the film was almost focused on the two main male characters falling in love.

Speaking to The Wrap, Casarosa shared that romance was a possibility, but friendship made the most sense for the film's message of feeling like an outsider.

"I think the reason probably we didn't talk about it as much and, to a certain degree, we're slightly surprised by the amount of people talking about romance, is that we were really focusing on friendship and so pre-romance," said Casarosa. "But it is a kind of love, right? There's a lot of hugging and it's physical and my experience as a straight man certainly wasn't that... some people seem to get mad that I'm not saying yes or no, but I feel like, well, this is a movie about being open to any difference."

Although Casarosa says that the film does not explicitly focus on an LGBTQ relationship, he welcomes that all people can relate to the film's story.

"It's not where I was coming from, but it's so wonderful and even more powerful for the LGBTQ+ community who has felt so much of as an outsider, right, where this is so real and stronger than my experience, I'm sure to have to grow up with that kind of a difference," said Casarosa. "I felt really honored... I love that that metaphor is reading in all these different ways."