“It’s at the Royal Festival Hall, which I was like, ‘oh, it’s a fancy venue’. For award shows in LA it’s like a hotel conference room that they gussy up so this is really cool!” she laughs.

We’re talking to Shi about Turning Red, her 2022 breakout Disney hit full of laughs, heart and a song we’re still struggling to get out of our heads.

Since it was released last March on Disney+, Turning Red has been praised for its empowered coming-of-age story. The film follows 13-year-old Mei (Rosalie Chiang) who finds that boys, homework and arguments with her mum are just the tip of the puberty iceberg after she starts turning into a giant red panda due to an ancient family spell. 

So it’s not surprising that with awards season fast approaching, the movie has been nominated for a whole bunch of them, notably for Best Animation at the BAFTAs and Oscars.

“Em…, excitement, relief, disbelief, everything!” Shi says when we asked her what her reaction was to those nominations. “For the Oscars, they read them out loud at 5am, but I was too scared to watch them live. I had my phone by my bed and I waited for the inevitable bzz bzz bzz from all of my friends and family who did see it. I peeked at the screen and there was a bunch of emojis and I was like: ‘Are they good emojis? Okay, yes, they are. Okay, good. We got the nomination. Amazing!

“It’s so incredible to be recognised by BAFTA. It’s just so cool. It’s such a testament to this movie and how such a culturally specific story can resonate with everybody all over the world.”

Shi made the movie for her younger self, as she told us last year when the movie came out: “I wanted to make this movie for 13-year-old me,” Shi said. “Because there just wasn’t and maybe still isn’t enough stories in media that deal with that specific time period of a girl coming of age.”

Now that the movie has been out for almost a year and still being widely praised, we’re wondering what Shi thinks is that magic formula for creating a movie that is still captivating audiences. 

“I think it’s just an unapologetic and bold, funny and weird depiction of female puberty,” she tells us. “That’s not something that you see a lot in movies in the West, or at all. It’s just a topic that not a lot of filmmakers want to touch on. So I think because of that, that makes it stand out and feel really unique. It makes people lean in because they’re like, ‘well, what are girls like? What’s going on between them and their mums? What is this secret inner world of being a tween girl?’ I’m so proud that our movie is people’s gateway into this world that they’re probably unfamiliar with, but that we know so well. If you ever want to understand women, or girls, I feel like our movie is a good education film!”

Indeed. an element that has really stood out about Turning Red is its unashamed depiction of female puberty, especially considering it’s a Disney movie.

“That’s where the story gold is,” Shi says when we asked if that authenticity was important to her. “That’s where the authenticity is, in those uncomfortable moments in your life that you may want to forget, or you may feel weird about sharing.

“Writers and storytellers should lean into that feeling and don’t shy away from it, because that’s what makes your film so gettable, and relatable and memorable, I think.

“I think for me, that’s just my style. I love getting big reactions out of audience members – shooting for the sun and landing on the moon when it comes to a lot of the details and parts about this story that we came up with. There’s so much content out there, how are you going to stand out? How are you going to be remembered? You just have to lean into that. That boldness and that uncomfortable truth.”

Indeed, puberty can be a pretty uncomfortable time and with Turning Red being a movie that Shi has made for young people who might need to connect at such a time, we follow up from our conversation last year: She made this movie for her 13-year-old self, have young people been in touch with her since the movie came out?

“Oh, my gosh, yeah,” she nods. “I have so many letters that are written by tween girls who are going through exactly the same thing that Mei’s going through and they thank me for the movie for helping them process and understand their own lives. Helping them accept that they’re not perfect, but that’s okay. Helping them figure out their own relationship with their mums as well. Those letters are just incredible. 

“It’s just so amazing to me that our film was able to help them. I also love getting reactions from parents as well and how they thank us for starting conversations with their kids about puberty and menstruation. But also helping them start conversations with their own parents about the other side of generational trauma, and how maybe the burdens and pressures that they received growing up are passed on to their kids as well.

“So across the board it’s been just incredible seeing their reaction to our little movie.”

The BAFTAs are taking place on 19 February at 7pm, the Oscars are taking place on 13 March at 12am GMT. Turning Red is out now on Disney+.

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For its latest movie, Turning Red, that spotlight is shining firmly on culture, friendship and the relationship between a mother and daughter during the turbulent time of puberty.

The movie tells the story of 13-year-old Mei Lee (Rosalie Chiang) who discovers an, in her words, ‘inconvenient genetic thingy’ which causes her to turn into a giant red panda every time her emotions get out of control. Soon her very carefully planned out life of top grades and fulfilling dutiful daughter duties at her parents’ temple, spiral out of control as she stops listening to what she has to do and starts doing what she wants to do, which results in a clash with her mother Ming (Sandra Oh).

“At the beginning of the movie, it’s kind of pre-coming-of-age where everything is fine. It’s probably been like that for her entire life. She’s the dutiful daughter,” Rosalie Chiang tells us who plays Mei. “People like to call Ming a tiger mum, but I know tiger mums, I don’t think she’s one. She just has rules and that’s pretty normal in any household. But they have a great relationship. She helps the temple with familial duties that Mei loves doing…”

For Ming, keeping the panda at bay is paramount (she herself has a violent past with her own panda and mother). But for a 13-year-old, keeping emotions in check is a pretty tough job and Mei not only finds difficulty in keeping the panda inside, but perhaps she doesn’t want to either…

“As the film progresses, she goes through so many changes,” Chiang continues. “Her body is changing, her relationships start changing and as she turns into a giant red panda, it starts to challenge everything in her life, especially the relationship with her mother. She learns to love her panda and love herself, when in reality, in her family, they were told to lock it away, to stay in control.”

As Mei starts to embrace her inner panda (alongside sneaking out to parties and daydreaming about boys) her relationship with her mother Ming (Sandra Oh) starts to struggle.

“It’s so freeing for Mei to let her panda out,” Chiang reveals. “That causes conflict with her mother. As the film progresses, you’ll see what happens and how that ends up…”

For Ming, Mei’s surprisingly positive relationship with her panda brings to light her own struggles with her inner panda and her relationship with her own mother (Wai Ching Ho) who, when she discovers Mei’s panda has been let out (on the national news no less), rushes down with other female members of the family to help out. Something that Ming is not keen on.

But were they all wrong to keep their pandas at bay in the first place? What they see as a curse, Mei sees as a blessing – an outlet for all those emotions she’s been locking away (it’s also pretty cute too and a brilliant money-maker from her friends at school who can’t help but adore the fluffy panda).

“I think that Mei is able to do something in the Lee dynasty, or female lineage, that Ming was not able to do and that is to accept her panda,” Sandra Oh explains. “I think that Ming is very, very proud of her daughter to be able to do something like that to make a change in that lineage.”

Speaking of lineage, Turning Red also very much focusses on culture and legacy and what that means to different families and their relationships to one another.

“[Turning Red] is about how culture grows,” Oh continues. “It’s very much exploring the idea of a young person having to break away from their family in this lens of tradition and the Chinese-Canadian culture, and the strain that puts a young person under as she is also going through puberty and the change into adolescence. It also expresses how when you are able to accept yourself, you then start defining also yourself and culture.”

For the cast of Turning Red, focusing on this relationship and this time in a young person’s life is important as the movie can be a useful tool in helping them understand and accept some of the changes they’re going through. And like any good Pixar film, Turning Red won’t just appeal and educate children, but adults alike. Hey, it’s never too late to learn is it?

“If you’re going to disappoint your parents, it’s okay,” Sandra Oh says on what she hopes audiences will take away from the movies. “If you disappoint your mum, she’ll be okay. Or she should be okay.

“Then for parents, it’s so painful to let go of our children. It’s so painful because it’s really real [but] we need to give them more space for them to develop who they really are.”

For Turning Red’s young star, who was at Mei’s very age when recording the movie, well, she just hopes audiences have fun and embrace their inner panda: “The first thing audiences should take away from this film is that they should enjoy it. It’s a good movie, it’s a good time. So fun. An emotional roller coaster!” Chiang says. “But I think audiences can take away anything from this film. We’ve talked to so many people, and they’ve all taken their own thing every time we ask them.

“But for me, the main thing is just to embrace your messiness!”

That sounds good to us! Turning Red is available now on Disney+ . Read our review here.

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It’s not quite the response one would predict from ‘what can we expect from this new Pixar movie?’ but for Turning Red’s co-writer and director, Domee Shi, that’s kind of the point: “I wanted to make this movie for 13-year-old me,” Shi says. “Because there just wasn’t and maybe still isn’t enough stories in media that deal with that specific time period of a girl coming of age.”

The girl we follow in the movie is Mei, who thinks her main problems are schoolwork, an overbearing mother and trying to see her favourite boyband, 4 Town.

However, those things fall to the wayside when a family ‘curse’ causes her to turn into a giant red panda when she gets overly emotional. Embarrassed by the changes to her body (a subtle metaphor this is not), Mei has to keep her emotions in check to keep the panda at bay. But how is she to do that when she’s facing bullies, uncontrollable crushes and hormones raging around unchecked in her body?

Yes, puberty certainly is a complicated time, but that chaos is exactly what the filmmakers of Turning Red wanted to capture: “My hope is that audiences embrace all the messiness of life of growing up,” Shi explains. “All of the messy relationships that we have with ourselves and with our parents and to be okay with that.”

Ah yes, fighting with your parents is a common staple of puberty-dom and Mei is no exception. As the line between obedient child and independent adult becomes blurred for Mei, her relationship with her mother gets complicated. The two soon have differing opinions on how Mei should live her life, and they have to figure out a new way to navigate their relationship. But perhaps the red panda could help out with that?

“Our hope is that you’re super invested in seeing this relationship between this mother and daughter,” says producer Lindsey Collins who tells us that their relationship “gets to a place where they’ve evolved a little bit. Not changed entirely, but it’s gotten to a place that it definitely needed to get to and the red panda’s probably the only way it could have gotten there.”

Turning Red will certainly resonate with plenty of people, young and old, who will likely recognise the difficulties both Mei and her mother are having: “I’m a mum of three teens,” Collins tells us, “so it definitely speaks to me that moment of recognising each other as a mum and a daughter for what you are – the kind of human being that you are and ultimately as a mum letting go a little bit. It certainly strikes a chord with me. I’m living it every day!”

It’s not just parents who will recognise elements of the story. The movie depicts an important time in a young person’s life, which is why it was incredibly important for Shi that the movie had a positive message: “I really wanted to make this movie for that [13-year-old] version of myself,” Shi explains. “Just to let her know that it’s going to be okay. That you will survive puberty. That even though your hormones and your emotions are out of control, and you don’t recognise your body and you’re covered in hair and you are fighting with your mum every day and you don’t know why, it’ll all be okay.”

Alongside that positive message, they wanted to educate young people, too, by depicting a warts-and-all tale of growing up: “Animation is unique in its ability to address tricky stories or tricky moments in life in a way that feels more acceptable or palatable or entertaining than if you just wrote it down,” Collins says. “The fact that it allows us to play in these stories or in these moments, in a way that makes it both entertaining and fun to watch, while also really going deep into some of these more painful or emotional or difficult topics, that’s the beauty of it.

“It’s this rare art form that really allows you to tackle some tricky topics in a super accessible way. It’s like a spoonful of sugar!”

For the filmmakers, they just hope that by the end of Turning Red, audiences both young and old will take home a message of hope and also, well, that they call their parents: “Hopefully, as the credits roll, they’re feeling empowered to embrace their inner pandas and their messiness,” Shi says. “And call their mums maybe and have that conversation with them like ‘hey, remember when I yelled at you and you misunderstood this?’. Just hopefully to spark more conversation.”

“Hopefully they’re also singing along to the 4 Town songs too!” Collins adds. “And stay through the credits because there’s a button at the end…”

Turning Red is out now on Disney+. Read our review here.

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Teenage years are tough at the best of time, but imagine if those raging emotions made you… turn into a giant red panda! That’s what Mei Lee has to deal with in Disney and Pixar’s Turning Red, which will premiere on Disney+ this March.

Check out the trailer here…

Directed by Domee Shi (Pixar short Bao), Turning Red introduces Mei Lee (voice of Rosalie Chiang), 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 (voice of Sandra Oh), 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! 

“Disney+ subscribers around the world enthusiastically embraced Pixar’s Academy Award-winning Soul and the critically-acclaimed Luca when they premiered exclusively on the service and we look forward to bringing them Pixar’s next incredible feature film Turning Red,” said Kareem Daniel, Chairman, Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution. “Given the delayed box office recovery, particularly for family films, flexibility remains at the core of our distribution decisions as we prioritize delivering the unparalleled content of The Walt Disney Company to audiences around the world.”

Turning Red releases on 11 March 2022 on Disney +. Main image credit: Disney/Pixar

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