Pixars Lucia has many memorable moments. But the most memorable involve Ugo, the ugly, humanoid, and anglerfish-esque sea creature that is Lucas uncle. Sacha Baron Cohen voices Ugo, a truly creepy and alarming creature with transparent, sun-starved skin, which leaves all his internal organs visible, as well as a heart that sometimes needs to be restarted.To find out more about this adorable monstrosity, we spoke with Mike Jones and Jesse Andrews of Luca to learn how he came together. We also learned how Baron Cohen's improvisations were so important. And how they managed to make him terrifying while still saving children from actual trauma. This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.AdvertisementSubscribe to the Slate Culture newsletter and receive the best movies, TV, books and music delivered straight to your inbox. Signing you up was not possible due to an error Please try again. To use this form, please enable jаvascript. Email address: I would like to receive updates on Slate special offers. You agree to our Privacy Policy & Terms by signing up. Thank you for signing up! You can cancel your subscription at any time.Karen Han: Sending Luca deep feels a lot similar to sending a fish to boarding school.AdvertisementAdvertisementMike Jones: Uncle Ugo was initially viewed as an uncle who did actually go to the surface and enjoyed it too much. Then, he got into a lot of trouble. Uncle Ugo was for a time the cautionary tale.Jesse Andrews. Mike wrote a funny scene that was set backstory for Ugo, who had more screentime and appeared earlier in the film. He is summoned by Lucas' parents to share this cautionary tale with Luca. It was a great breakthrough to have Ugo come from deepest ocean. That felt like the antithesis for everything Luca wanted. It's impossible to satisfy Lucas' curiosity. This is a crucial part of Lucas' character.AdvertisementWe realized that Ugo could have adapted his body by going down there. You can see all his organs. This possibility excited animators and story artists. This brought about a new era in filmmaking, where Ugo fan art was a common feature. But there's too much oxygen at the surface, his heart starts to seize up, and Luca must punch him. It felt like a typical interaction with an older relative when you are a child, such as getting rid of the corns under their feet or some other thing. The punch the heart is the pull my fingers, I believe. You have to punch Ugo's heart every time he comes over.AdvertisementAdvertisementJones: It's not serious. Pull my finger is not a joke. This is something you must do.Ugo would be drawn by story artists, who would also draw fish swimming behind him. His body could be seen straight through. There were many versions of Ugo, some of which were quite frightening. Sacha Baron Cohen gave Ugo the exact thing he needed: a wonderful loopy, almost drunken oxygen nature. Before that, he was a horrifying uncle with long, glassy teeth. It was frightening.Did Ugo ever have a limit on how dark or creepy they could be?Andrews: There is no limit to what we can do with this character. We were interested in exploring all aspects of it. After a point, however, you can make him look almost horror-film like by giving him sharp teeth. This is not compatible with Enrico [Casarosa]'s vision of childhood innocence. It has a sweetness. It became clear that we were pushing him in directions he did not want to go. He kept saying, Guys. This is funny and gross. But this isn't the character I want to play in the movie.AdvertisementAdvertisementJones: Ugo was our cautionary tale. We liked that Ugo could tell us how horrendous the surface was. But what he was saying was kind of fun. He could add as much horror as he liked to it, but it was like, I don't think pot sounds good! So we had Luca listening only to what Uncle Ugo wanted, and sort of dismissing the rest.Andrews: It was supposed to feel like a scared straight lecture where your uncle is telling you that motorcycles are terrible. It's so fast and you feel like you've never felt more alive. But guess what? That's actually really bad. It's not worth it. We didn't want the energy to be shared between Ugo, Alberto. Instead, Alberto should be the friend who introduces Ugo to this risky but totally worth itworld.AdvertisementAdvertisementWas it a fragmented dialog or Baron Cohen's improvisation that caused the way he speaks?Andrews: It was very spontaneous. Although we did write some dialogue, Sacha being Sacha meant that he would give you the overall idea, and then he'd riff on it in a fantastic way. It was my first time in COVID that I had laughed so hard during the recording session. It was exactly what I needed. He did several different things. This Australian guy was very sinister and felt very particular. You can make the riffs go very long. You want the recording to last long because you are going, This is funny, I don't want it to stop. But when you listen back to it, it becomes obvious that this recording will be over 15 minutes. That is too expensive for us.AdvertisementIt was an incredible job by the editorial team to put together a take that included that shagginess. He kind of interrupts himself and sounds very specific but also has clarity. I also helped with that, and listened to all the takes. It was a fun thing, and I pleaded with them for the audio so that I could keep it going for a whole weekend. We managed to put together a few. I pitched the idea to him. I recommend that the whale carcass be ingood. The tapes should be released someday, as it was a wonderful recording session.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementDid the script include the whale carcass?Jones: I remember watching a David Attenborough documentary about a dying whale, which then slowly decomposed at the bottom of the sea. It fed so many other bizarre, horrifying creatures. My sons loved it. It's like a child latching onto something and just keeps rewatching it. Star Wars was the first movie they rewatched. They also had several other kids movies they wanted to rewatch. Although I don't know the author, I do remember thinking, "This must stay in this film."AdvertisementAdvertisementAndrews: You have to be truthful. I'm going to take credit for this one. From the beginning, I was pushing whale carcass. I was pushing whale carcass from the beginning. It was something I wanted to see. It is basically just floating pieces of whale carcass and other decomposing animal carcasses. It feels like snow and is so soft, feathery, and rotten. I thought it was the most disgusting thing I've ever seen.AdvertisementDid Ugo always have the mid-credits scene?Andrews: No, it wasn't. The editors circled it because Sachas recordings were so great, and they felt that more should be used.AdvertisementIt was part of the original Ugo scene.Andrews: It was one of his riffs, telling Luca about how much he loved the deep. The great thing is that you can talk and talk all day, and there's usually no one to listen, but now there is. Sacha did this for about four minutes. It was an incredible feat of engineering, and a true tour de force. It was too big to fit into the scene so editorial decided to make it smaller. They found a spot in that button.AdvertisementI was curious about Ugo's status as the only anglerfish within the seafolk group. Have you ever discussed having more fish-people in the Luca world?Jones: Ugo is the only reason he looks that way, even though we didn't think anyone else does. This is due to Ugo not having any light and because of the pressure that makes his skin permeable and colorless.Andrews: We initially thought Ugo and Lorenzo [Lucas' father] were related. We suggested that Ugo was Lorenzo's twin brother and they used to look identical. The depth is amazing! There is my twin brother! There is my twin brother!
