We haven't seen him in the cinema since Christophe Honoré's “Chambre 212” in 2019, which won him an interpretation award - very deserved - in Cannes in the “Un Certain Regard” section.
Since then, we should have found Chiara Mastroianni at the theater in a play directed by the same Christophe Honoré, but the pandemic delayed the show.
In the meantime, the 49-year-old actress, daughter of Catherine Deneuve and Marcello Mastroianni (deceased in 1996), provides the dubbing of a character in "Luca" from Pixar studios, launched Friday on Disney +.
A film that pays homage to Italy… and to his father.
How did you end up dubbing a sea monster in a Pixar movie?
Chiara Mastroianni.
It was done in two stages.
Two years ago the studio called me to ask if I would allow a photo of my father to appear in Luca.
I happen to be a Pixar fan, so my dad immortalized in one of their movies, I was so proud!
I never imagined that after confinement, they would call me back to double Luca's mom.
Before that, you had only participated in one animated film dub ...
Yes for
Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi, but it was much more realistic.
While there, I play a mother-sea monster with scales, it allows more exuberance!
It was precise and fluid at the same time, and I was given a margin of freedom.
With situations that amused me a lot, like talking, during preparation, about the difference in accent between a sea monster and an Italian human, a highly improbable conversation!
In the end, did you like "Luca"?
I was stunned: I did not expect to have the impression, thanks to the film, of returning to the vacation spots of my childhood.
I went with my family very close to there, near Livorno.
These places do not change, they have not been rotten by globalization, we still find the small grocery store, the old bus ... The graphics reproduce the atmosphere very well, all the small local details, the accents of the Cinque Terre, but without being backward-looking.
These villages are timeless.
And then, after months of confinement, this film gave me the impression of going to Italy for a weekend!
Chiara Mastroianni has "identified" a lot with the mother of Luca, the sea monster: "She can be very worried and distraught for her offspring."
Disney / pixar
How would you present your mum sea creature character?
I identify with her a lot!
She can be very worried and distraught for her offspring: my French side pushes me to hide better than her, but in reality, I am in the same state of agitation.
And I love that she's overwhelmed by her own feelings, overflowing with love and angry in the same sentence: it was a lot of fun to play.
Are you often called upon for tributes to your father or retrospectives?
First of all, people are afraid to tell me about him, thinking that it will make me sad, when on the contrary, it makes me so happy.
And no, for the cycles which are devoted to it, I am never aware!