One of the most delightful films to come out this year has been Pixar’s Turning Red. Focusing on the journey of Meilin “Mei” Lee coming into her own while also dealing with turning into a giant red panda if she’s emotional, it was a movie about growing up, struggling in your relationship with your mother, and loving boy bands—all of which I can relate to as a child of the ’90s.
But talking with Rosalie Chiang, who brought Mei Lee to life from the film’s inception on to the Pixar movie we see now, it’s clear that she loved getting into the role. Chiang did scratch for the movie (which she described to me) and then explained how that brought her into playing Meilin in the film.
“Oh, my process was a really long and unique one,” Chiang said. “I’d say I started with this project when I was 12 and originally it was just for scratch, which means that there’s still this is sort of pre-production and they’re still figuring out the plot, the design, the characters, and there was still a chance that the movie wouldn’t even be made. And so they just needed a temporary voice to animate off of. And that’s where I came in. And so I did scratch for around two years, and after two years, that’s when I officially booked it, and I would be the official voice of Mei. And then, I guess another two years later, I had my last recording session on my 16th birthday, and yeah, that was about it.”
The film, which was directed by Domee Shi, is about a young girl growing up and trying to get into a 4 Town concert with her friends. When I asked Chiang about boy bands, she revealed that Shi got her into K-pop during recording. “I’m a big K-pop fan,” she said. “Okay. And actually Domee sort of introduced me to K-pop. She introduced me to groups like BIGBANG and 2PM I believe. And so now my entire music playlist is just K-pop.”
Turning Red is for everyone
There was a bit of back and forth about who this movie was “for” in critic circles. For me, it was nice to have a movie focused on a young girl’s coming of age but Chiang wants this to be a movie for everyone and anyone. “I’d say when I was recording for this film, I never really thought it was geared to a specific audience. I never really felt like, oh, this is a movie for young women. I feel like this is a movie that anyone and everyone can relate to because it’s just about a kid coming of age and going through that process as her relationship with her mother changes,” she said.
She continued, “And though I think the biggest thing that affects this movie is the cultural aspects and that there’s a lot of Chinese culture in the film and Chinese family dynamics that I personally relate to, which someone who isn’t may not relate to. But I think at the end of the day, everyone sort of has gone through that huge, awkward change. And that’s something this movie really does a good job embodying.” Disney and Pixar’s Turning Red hits digital on April 26 and 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD on May 3!
(image: Pixar)
