Luccas Neto: “I feel at home in Portugal, even more than in Brazil”
Luccas Neto: “I feel at home in Portugal, even more than in Brazil”
NiT interviewed the Brazilian youtuber that is followed by more than 36 million people. Comes to Lisbon and Guimarães.
With over 36 million subscribers on the Youtube, the Brazilian Luccas Neto is a huge phenomenon of international popularity among children. The creative – who performs the roles of actor, screenwriter, director, singer and dancer – is the driving force of a company with dozens of workers.
What started out as an amateur YouTube video channel has grown into a major brand of children’s entertainment – across many areas. Today, the platform only represents about 15 percent of Luccas Toon’s turnover.
An important part of this project are the live shows. “Luccas Neto ea Escola de Aventureiros” now arrives in Portugal – where thousands of children are his fans – for seven combined. This Saturday and Sunday, November 6th and 7th, the performance can be seen at Altice Arena, in Lisbon. There is still tickets Available between €20 and €60.
Between November 19th and 21st there will be shows at the Pavilhão Multiusos de Guimarães. Tickets are available from €20 to €50. NiT met Luccas Neto in Lisbon for an interview in anticipation of the shows.
When you started to develop a show based on your project, what elements did you know you couldn’t miss?
Dance, lots of dancing, for the kids to enjoy it a lot. Song. And important messages. We teach that a child has to study, getting good grades, that he always has to brush his teeth, that he has to take a shower, there are many lessons involved in this show. We teach brotherly love, that sometimes there are some confusions between the brothers, but love must always prevail. These are the three pillars: dance, music and education.
How did you create the persona you play in the videos? Because obviously Luccas is not, in real life, like the videos on YouTube.
It was a process. We had to create brands. The Blue Adventurer is now a brand. We had to adapt to that. In the beginning, I played a child in an adult’s body. Then I realized that this is not the goal. The focus is on doing work that improves the performance, the group as a whole. That’s why today adventurers are teenagers. My character is 16 years old – and it’s easier for me to adapt to acting. Of course I had to take care of a presentation. For example, I have tattoos on my legs. But I wear high socks. We have been working on this so that we can hide the things that show that we are not 16 years old. To demystify this in children’s heads. But I have a tattoo that I don’t give up showing. It’s a rose and an emerald – my mother’s name, Emerald Rose. Only, in our fantasy world, it’s not a tattoo, it’s a birthmark. And I even look like 16 years old [risos].
At the same time, Luccas is a father and has already shown his son in videos…
Only on social networks, which are not for children aged three, four, five or six. I show Luke to moms and dads because he’s part of my family and we have to share those moments. If they interact with us, trusting in our work and showing their kids, I think it’s gratifying to show them a little bit of my family. But now, as far as Luke’s career is concerned, it’s only going forward that he will decide [risos].
But for you does it make sense to include it in your videos in a few years, for example?
Total sense. I think it’s super valid for him to become an artist. Only he will do it differently. If you want to follow this path, you’ll have to study hard to do it. The father was in the race, learning and doing bad things, training. But I want him to study. If you want to pursue this career, I want you to go to a music, singing and dancing school. And God willing, it will be our own school, which we are preparing to open.
Is the brand’s next big project?
It is one of. We have many projects. We want to release two to three movies in cinema a year. We want to internationalize the brand, so we are dubbing all our episodes. There are many projects.
There are probably many children who see Luccas on the street and it must be strange, bearing in mind that in normal life he will certainly look different from the one he appears in the videos. What are these approaches usually like?
The child, first, does not believe. It is in shock. Says: it really exists, isn’t it on television?! They think we’re a cartoon. We managed to transform this thanks to the branding work they publicize. Today we are really a children’s show, we have 50 people in the studios recording our contents. Previously it was just a youtuber. What we do today is so playful and magical that the child thinks I’m from television. That’s why they’re in shock. And then the mother says: it really is Luccas Neto! If I wear a cap, and chances are I take off and show my hair. Then the child hugs me, grabs me and the party begins. I’m totally used to it. Everyone who comes to talk to me, no matter the time or the time… There’s that “ah, they have their privacy” thing. Okay, but we chose this path and talked to children. I was once a child and it’s very frustrating to want to talk to an idol and he is completely different from the character. So when a child sees me, the first thing I do is step into the role of adventurer. I start to interpret right there so a child won’t lose that magic and fantasy that’s in her head.
Obviously, Luccas’ brother – Felipe Neto – is also followed by many people, although he has a very different audience. Does your work end up touching itself at any point these days? Do you consider setting goals for the projects of the two?
Not nowadays, it’s very separate. The paths are very different. My company is professionalized in children’s entertainment. My brother is not so childish. That’s why we’ve separated the subjects a lot. We have different companies. In the beginning we even exchanged a lot of ideas, but as you won from separating, as the paths were different, nowadays we don’t talk so much about it. The few moments we have together we leave to enjoy our personal life. Let’s play poker, let’s play, but we forget about work [risos].
Luccas’ maternal family is Portuguese. What relationship do you have with our country?
I feel at home here. More than in Brazil, even. It’s bizarre. I think it’s because my grandmother speaks Portuguese from Portugal and she was the one who brought me up. My mother had to go to work, I was with my grandmother all day. I have Portugal very much alive inside me. When there’s a world cup game, I’m rooting for Portugal [risos]. When it’s Brazil against Portugal, I’m in doubt, but I like Cristiano Ronaldo so much that I end up rooting for Portugal a little more. I feel like I was born to this place.
And is your Portuguese family from any specific region?
It’s spread out, but it’s from Santo Tirso.