February 7th, 2022 
Jackson Murphy 
In 2019, Domee Shi won the Best Animated Short Film Academy Award for Bao. Now she’s the director of a new feature for Pixar called Turning Red (streaming March 11th on Disney+). It’s a comedy about a girl named Mei who’s going through one of life’s most awkward stages in a big way. I’ve screened 30 minutes of the movie so far and spoke with Shi and producer Lindsey Collins about what to expect. (This Q&A was edited for length and clarity.)
Jackson Murphy: Take me back to three years ago as you were working on this and… winning an Academy Award… to now. How has the journey been for you?
Domee Shi: It’s been a rollercoaster. I had no idea that when I first pitched Turning Red that I would make most of it from home. I also thought going into it, “Okay. I did a short film. I made Bao. I have a little taste of what it’s like to direct.” But it was definitely… a lot more overwhelming but still awesome at the same time — being responsible for a feature film compared to an 8-minute short. I feel like I learned so much. It’s been a crazy ride. (laughs)
JM: In the footage so far, we get Mei breaking the fourth wall right away. Was there a lot of convincing you had to do to the Pixar heads about this breaking the fourth wall moment at the beginning?
DS: No, they seemed pretty on board with it, I think because they’ve never seen that before in a Pixar film. I think it’s rare to see it in an animated film. And I knew from the beginning that I had really big shoes to fill directing a feature film at Pixar. Instead of even trying to make something that was in the same vein as previous Pixar films, I’m like, “I’m just gonna try to go for something completely different and carve out my own lane and make a statement that way.” So there’s no way anyone can compare this film to other films.
JM: Lindsey, one of the sequences I like is Mei’s nightmare sequence. It’s visually cool and also intense.
Lindsey Collins: It is. In fact, it used to be even weirder and more intense. That was a scene we had completely made from home. It was entirely produced from home and we were actually getting ready to show it to an audience for the first time, which we do at a certain point. And it was right during a window when vaccinations were rolling out, so we were able to come into the studio. Four of us were able to sit in a big theater very spread out to watch the sequences. And that one came up and all of us were like, “That’s scary.” It was something about watching it on the big screen for the first time and being like, “Whoa. That’s way more intense when you watch it” than we thought it was. (laughs) So we actually cut some stuff down and really tried to focus on the music and making sure it felt much more surreal vs. terrifying. That was the goal. That was a really fun sequence [for] the storyboard artists. The stuff they were putting in was the most bizarre. We were trying to tap into those moments and nightmares where you’re like, “What was that about?! How did that happen in my head?!”
JM: Domee, tell me about coming-up with the rules for when exactly Mei will turn into the panda. How far on the emotions scale does she have to get in order for that to happen?
DS: Good question. It has to be a really, really strong emotion, but it can be any emotion. If she’s really, really excited about something, like the chance to see 4-Town, she’ll poof into a panda. Or if she gets really, really mad and she snaps at somebody, she’ll poof into a panda. If she’s lusty or feeling very passionate, she’ll poof into a panda. And we’re basically just trying to use the panda as this metaphor for puberty — of all of the roiling emotions within us when we’re at that age. It provides a really fun challenge for her. She’s 13. She has inherited this weird gift and now she’s being cast by her mom to keep her emotions in check to stay human, but that’s becoming impossible for her.
JM: This is set in 2002, in “simpler times” as you two were talking about the other day [during a separate virtual press presentation]. Lindsey, you were a production manager on Finding Nemo about that time. What was Pixar like in 2002? Was it simpler times at the studio?
LC: Yeah, I guess so. It was definitely a smaller studio, but I feel like the stakes were just as high. If nothing, I don’t think we ever forget the fact that we are always trying to do something that should feel hard. We’re trying to do something… tell a story… that’s gonna last and is gonna resonate. Obviously the world changes on a dime (certainly the last couple of years), but there’s always this desire to feel like we’re speaking to the audience as they are now — but also in a way that feels like it will stand the test of time. So all those same pressures and anxieties of, “Are we doing a good job? Is the story working? Is the character resonating? Are we gonna get all the audience invested in the way we want them invested?” All of those same anxieties are still very much real today. So while it was simpler in the sense that it was a smaller studio for sure at that time, I feel like all the internal voices and all of the self-criticism we have still very much applies today.
Domee Shi, Lindsey Collins and Jackson Murphy
JM: Well, you’ve got an incredible brand at Pixar, and you want the product to be as good as it is and for it to matter to families, and I think this film will. And Domee, you’ve talked about wanting this to be different than every other Pixar movie. But what’s interesting is that: one of the other things Pixar is known for is these Easter Eggs and these little snippets of other characters appearing in other things. So because this is set in 2002, do Mei and her friends know about some of these other Pixar characters? Do the toys from Toy Story exist in Mei’s universe?
DS: Well, there are a couple Easter Eggs that we snuck in there that reference some of the SparkShorts but also the next upcoming movie. There is a Lightyear Easter Egg or two in there. I’m gonna say Yes! They do know about Toy Story, which is very meta and weird.
LC: It is weird, right?
DS: They are in the same universe! I’m just gonna make that canon right now. They’re in the same universe as Toy Story.
LC: We actually debated, right? “Could one of the characters even be wearing a Lightyear t-shirt?” because they would’ve known about… Anyway. Yes. We got our own heads spinning about that. There’s definitely Easter Eggs in there.
JM: Now Lindsey, is it true you voiced Mia in the first Cars movie, as in Mia & Tia?
LC: Yes. That is true!
JM: Look who I’ve got with me? [I show her Mia & Tia figures.]
LC: Oh my God! Look at that. Did you go buy those on eBay, or is that just something you had?
JM: Listen, about 10 feet away are two cases filled with 500-600 of these Cars figures that I have collected for the past 16 years.
LC: Oh my God. You’re the real deal.
JM: (laughs) Cars is my favorite [Pixar film]. That experience of voicing Mia… those characters are iconic in the Cars world. And you did her in the Mater shorts too, right?
LC: We did. Yeah, there’s another woman who works here, Elissa [Knight]. She and I would do it and it was like: which one of us could be more over the top fangirl? We’d have this weird competition in the recording studio and be like, “OH MY GOD!” We channeled our inner valley girl/fangirl, I think.
JM: That’s so cool. And I’m looking forward to the Cars series that’s coming out later this year. I can’t wait for that. So before I let you two go, [Turning Red] is the 25th Pixar feature. Domee, what does that mean to you — this honor?
DS: Whoa! I didn’t know that until you just mentioned it right now. Yeah, that’s a huge honor and a lot of pressure at the same time. Hopefully when you guys watch the movie, it’ll feel different but it will also feel like a Pixar film and hopefully we can continue the Pixar legacy with this movie. And there will be another 25 more to come, probably.
JM: I’m sure. Lindsey, how do you feel?
LC: 25’s a good year — I feel like we’re in our prime. If you equate it to what it’s like being a 25 year old, this movie is right in that zone in a sense that it’s fun. It’s exciting. It’s a little bold. It’s a little in your face. And it feels… like a 25 year old. That’s good. I like that. I like that it’s our 25th movie. This feels about right for our 25th.
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