Pixar Set Director Confirms Mark Ruffalo as Star of Upcoming Film "Gatto"

A Pixar Artist has revealed the star of the upcoming Pixar Animation Studios film, Gatto, in a livestream that took place from the iconic animation studio's campus.

What's Happening:

• OLGA is one of the most popular Spanish-language digital streaming networks in South America. Based out of Buenos Aires, Agentina, recently, some hosts from the platform were invited to Pixar's campus in Emeryville, California as we gear up for the release of Toy Story 5.
• As part of their stream from the studio, hosts Sofi Morandi and Migue Granados were joined by Pixar Set Designer Gaston Ugarte.
• While most of the fun was talking about Toy Story 5 and some other work on previous Pixar projects, Ugarte also took a moment to talk about the upcoming film from the studio, Gatto.
• In the new film, Director Enrico Casarosa (Luca) and Producer Andrea Warren are bringing us back to Italy, but this time to the city of Venice where we’ll follow a black cat named Nero, who is indebted to a feline mob boss.
• Thanks to Ugarte, we now know that Marvel's Hulk himself, Mark Ruffalo, will be lending his voice to Nero.
• In the interview, Ugarte explains (Translated), "I just finished a project called Gatto which is our next original feature film, directed by Enrico Casarosa, the guy who made Luca. The movie is brilliant. It’s super original. It’s about a cat - specifically, a cat named Nero. Starring Mark Ruffalo, he’s the voice actor. He’s the one playing Nero. And the movie takes place in Venice... what makes this film unique is that we’re implementing a completely new visual style - one where the entire movie looks just like an illustration."
• You can catch the moment in the video below.

• Details are still scarce about the upcoming new movie, which is due out early next year. Back when the project was announced last June, Pixar Chief Creative Officer Pete Docter gave us what we know so far.
• As already mentioned, we're following a black cat named Nero in Venice (now, revealed to be voiced by Mark Ruffalo), who is indebted to a feline mob boss, Rocco.
• Making matters worse, Nero cannot swim - in Venice - a city known for being mostly water, and filled with superstitious residents who think black cats are bad luck.
• Nero loves music and is enchanted by a street musician named Maya, and ends up captive (quite literally) to her music. Maya is also an outsider in the city, so it seems this story might just follow TWO black cats, figuratively speaking.

• Similar to what Ugarte mentioned, Docter revealed last year that the film will be a "living painting," later expanding on the comment, pointing out that the studio was doing tests to bring depth and dimension while capturing the handmade texture of Venice.
• Ugarte also expanded on this notion, saying (translated) "It involved developing a pipeline - an entire workflow - to be able to produce the film. A large part of the set construction, which is generally done entirely in 3D, also shifted. I mean, we had to actually draw a whole lot of things. For example, in that very image you see right there (above), the windows are hand-drawn, for instance. So, the 3D work ended up being a sort of hybrid process. It involved modeling the assets and then drawing over them, so to speak."
• Gatto arrives in theaters on March 5, 2027.