Once again, Italians are making their mark in a number of Oscar categories this year. “Luca,” this year’s contender for Best Animated Film, has a Little Italy connection. Beatrice Basso, event coordinator at the Italian Cultural Center of San Diego, had an important role to play in the making of the film. We spoke with Basso about her experience and her other roles in San Diego’s Italian community.
What was your role in the making of the film, and how did it come about?
I was hired as one of four cultural consultants on “Luca” by Pixar in the Fall of 2019 and later on its accompanying short film, “Ciao Alberto.” I saw a notice on social media: Pixar was looking for Italian consult-ants with strong ties to Italy, a position within an Italian organization in the US and dramaturgical skills. As an Italy-born and raised theater artist who produces events for the Italian Cultural Center of San Diego, the oppor-tunity called to me and I was fortunate that director Enrico Casarosa and producer Andrea Warren agreed we were a match.
Describe the process in carrying out your role in the film.
Once my consultancy officially started, I was tasked with finding ways to insert more Italian in the evolving script and ensuring the accuracy of the Italian words that were displayed in the visuals. The Italian names, greet-ings, and exclamations needed to be “receivable” by English-speaking audiences. Not every Italian word had to be understood, but it could not be distracting in ways that impinged on the narrative flow. It was also important to the director that the Italian elements were satisfying for Italian and Italy-knowing audiences. We tried our best to avoid cliches, especially harmful or overused ones. We paid attention to details, by choosing actions and games (scopa, dama…) that felt genuine, and by editing every sign, poster, and book with correct Italian spelling, punctuation, capitalization and spirit.
Describe some of your experiences that stand out during the making of the film.
A fun aspect was coming up with exclamations. Real expressions that director Enrico pulled from his Italian childhood, like “Porca paletta!” (“Damned beach shovel!”) were mixed with invented but plausible ones. One of the characters, Giulia, uses expletives within the realm of cheese, with the prefix “santa/o” (“saint”), like “Santa Mozzarella.” By being silly and Italian in rhythm, these made-up expressions seamlessly became part of the “Luca” world. But when I say seamlessly, I don’t mean quickly. Before any of these solutions were found, there were pages and pages of attempts. The key was in finding not so much an absolute, but rather an internal logic that works for story progression and character development.
Tell us about your personal background and your Italian roots.
I grew up in Asolo, a small hilly town in the region of Veneto, in the 1980s. I am the daughter of a “geometra” with a passion for history and of a stenography teacher who was curious about traveling. My mom died when I was only 19 and I think my voyage to America has been a way to escape that pain but also to imagine new pos-sibilities. I have a sister who is a dancer in Europe and an array of very vocal aunts.
What has led you to follow your current professional pursuits?
I have loved theater and anything performative since I was about 10 years old. I spent my university years at the University of Padova studying classics and theater history. After moving to the US, I worked as translator and dramaturg on both East and West coast. Since moving to San Diego five years ago, I started to direct and teach too. I have always performed. When everyone was telling me to specialize, I kept exploring in multiple direc-tions. Right now, it is a lucky time of abundance: I play a character in “Life Sucks” at Cygnet Theatre, my co-translation of Eduardo De Filippo’s “Napoli” is about to be produced at UCSD and “Luca” has been nominated for an Oscar!
Tell us about your role in the Italian community of San Diego and your involvement with the Italian
Cultural Center of San Diego.
When I moved from the Bay Area to San Diego, I felt a little lost. Both my Italian community and my theater community were back in San Francisco. So I sought out organizations like Italian Cultural Center where I work as event coordinator,\ and the San Diego Italian Film Festival, to which I contribute as a volunteer film selector. One of the events I produced with both organizations was a virtual conversation with the director of “Luca” and producer upon the film’s release in June 2021.
What is on the horizon regarding professional goals?
More of the same. I would like to keep performing, directing, teaching, dramaturging, writing. I also love staying connected to this diasporic Italian world. And if Pixar calls again, I am ready!
Describe Beatrice in one or two words.
Melancholy and hopeful…
