We had the opportunity to chat to “Turning Red” Director / Writer Domee Shi and Producer Lindsey Collins! It’s no secret that we adored the latest Pixar film. You can find our full review here. But the short version of it is we found the film to be refreshing, authentic, and a whole lot of fun.
We chatted with Shi and Collins about celebrity crushes, awkward teenage years, and of course- complicated family dynamics. There was an incredible amount of common ground that came up during our discussion.
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More about the movie:
Disney and Pixar’s “Turning Red” introduces Mei Lee,, a confident, dorky 13-year-old torn between staying her mother’s dutiful daughter and the chaos of adolescence. Her protective, if not slightly overbearing mother, Ming, is never far from her daughter—an unfortunate reality for the teenager. And as if changes to her interests, relationships and body weren’t enough, whenever she gets too excited (which is practically ALWAYS), she “poofs” into a giant red panda!
It stars Sandra Oh, Rosaline Chiang, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, James Hong, Wai Ching Ho, Addie Chandler, and Jordan Fisher. The film also features music from Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell.
More about Domee:
Domee began as a story intern at Pixar Animation Studios in June 2011, and was soon hired as a story artist on the Academy Award®–winning feature film “Inside Out.” Since then she has worked on the feature films “The Good Dinosaur,” “Incredibles 2,” and the Academy Award–winning “Toy Story 4.” In 2015 she began pitching ideas for short films, and soon was green-lit to write and direct “Bao,” which won an Academy Award for best animated short film. In her role as a creative VP, Shi is involved in key creative decision-making at the studio and consults on films in both development and production. Shi was born in Chongqing, China, and resided in Toronto, Canada, for most of her life.
More about Lindsey:
Lindsey joined Pixar Animation Studios in May 1997. She has since worked in various capacities on a number of Pixar’s feature films. Collins’ film credits include “A Bug’s Life,” “Toy Story 2” and the Academy Award®–winning “Finding Nemo” and “Ratatouille.” Collins also provided the voice of the character Mia in Pixar’s 2006 release “Cars.”Collins co-produced the Golden Globe®– and Oscar®-winning feature “WALL•E” with producer Jim Morris and director Andrew Stanton, and was a producer on the Walt Disney Studios feature “John Carter of Mars.”
Thank you to Domee and Lindsey for taking the time. You can stream “Turning Red” now on Disney+.
