Pixar cemented their reputation as one of the industry's finest studios with a string of emotionally resonant original films that uses high concepts like toys coming to life, talking fish, and more to explore relatable stories about the human condition. Their latest movie, Turning Red, follows suit. Directed by Domee Shi (who previously helmed Pixar's short Bao), the film is about a teenage girl who transforms into a giant red panda whenever she experiences extreme emotions. Turning Red has already earned considerable praise for being a unique outing in Pixar's filmography.
Screen Rant spoke with Shi and Turning Red producer Lindsey Collins to discuss how the film was pitched to Pixar, the Easter eggs included throughout, and much more.
Screen Rant: Domee, I was such a huge fan of the short, Bao. Can you walk us through what happened after that short was released, and when you started working on Turning Red?
Domee Shi: Yeah! So it was in 2017, I think we were just starting promotion for or ending promotion for Bao, or Bao was done and was getting released, and then, Pixar approached me and asked me if I wanted to pitch three ideas for feature film. I said yes, obviously [laughs]. But all three of my ideas were coming-of-age stories around teen girls, and Turning Red was the most personal and, I think, the weirdest one. I think I pitched it as a girl going through magical puberty to the studio and hoping that they would bite, and they did! And I think it is because it was so personal, but also tackled such a universal theme. Everyone has been there. Everyone has been 13 and feeling like they're turning into some wild, hairy, hormonal beast, and I think that's why Pixar was drawn to it.
I love that you pitched three ideas. What happens to the other two?
Lindsey Collins: They're there, yeah. They do it intentionally. The thinking being that, if you just pitch one, you get so committed to it that, for whatever reason, if it's not working, or the studio's like, "I don't know. It doesn't feel like it's the right time or the right movie." You actually maybe overthink it and over-polish it. So the hope would be that if you spread it out across three, you keep it kind of rough and malleable and you don't become so attached to the specifics of a story that you then spend the next three years evolving it. So they try to keep it pretty loose in development. But, yes we hold on, we mark them, and then when the director finishes and comes back into development, the question is always, "Do you want to revisit any of the ideas that you pitched in the past? Or do you want to go totally new?"
I think Bao was the last theatrical Pixar short that we got. Lindsey, can you bring those back for us? I love them.
Lindsey Collins: I know, I know. Well, we kind of evolved it. I'm gonna defend it. I'm gonna defend the decision. I think part of it was, we kind of evolved it into the SparkShorts program, and the purpose of that was obviously to spread that budget and time and resources across a lot more projects to see if we could find future voices for development and for features, which I think has been really successful. We actually have, I think, four directors in development right now who went through the SparkShorts program. So, I know. But then there is that, and what I think everybody also misses is just the ability to see those short films in front of the movies in the theaters. It's like such a little gift that you get as the audience when you get to watch a surprising short that you've never seen before. So yeah, I'm with you, I'm torn.
But to your point, there is so much room on Disney+ for more people to showcase their work. So that is a lovely thing. What did you see in the story of Turning Red, Lindsey, that made it stand out to you?
Lindsey Collins: As Domee said, it was probably the most specific. I was working with her in development and then was in the room as she was pitching all three ideas. Then as she left the room -- we usher them out, it's very awkward-- and then we sit around and talk about the ideas and get people's impressions. I think, frankly, what it was, was that it was so clear that Domee had such a sense of who these two main characters were, that Mae and Ming were really clear and special and unique, more than any of the other ideas. Those two characters were like, "Oh, she knows who those two characters are." And they are so funny, even in the shortest, quickest pitch that you knew it was going to be a rollercoaster ride, watching how they were going to have to evolve their relationship. So, I think what attracted me is that having seen Bao, knowing how surprising she is as a filmmaker, how bold she is in her storytelling, and then knowing that she had this really personal experience with these two characters that were kind of versions of her own life. That's like the magic equation, right there. I think everybody was instantly like, "Yes, let's jump on that one."
And Domee, I grew up with all of these movies that have the same things. I was expecting her to turn into a panda and everyone reject her. I was expecting her to try to be the popular girl and it was more embracing your quirkiness, and I thought that was really special because that's not something I grew up with as much.
Domee Shi: Yeah, yeah, that's exactly it. The inspiration behind this movie was to make it for that 13-year-old me who was struggling with all of these bodily changes and not seeing stories like this in media a lot, frankly. I'm all about subverting people's expectations. I just get a little thrill out of it, where audiences are sitting down and they think they're watching, "Oh a cute Teen Wolf movie!" and then hitting them over the head with something completely different and subversive.
Lindsey Collins: I like that she didn't try to be the popular kid either. I think one of the most charming things about Mei and her friends are, they are so confident in their dorkiness. They are not seeking popularity, and nor did we set up a middle school -- I mean, there's obviously Tyler, who's a little antagonistic with them -- but, for the most part, there [weren’t these] tropes of middle school, like cliques and mean girls who weren't supporting one another. I think it would have felt like it was distracting from the really personal choice she was making between worlds that she loved equally, and that these were not about good and bad or right and wrong. It was all the nuance of growing up.
What I love about Pixar films too, is there are always these little details. There are always these little Easter Eggs, by around the fifth time you watch it, you really want to start looking out for like the Pizza Planet Truck and things. Are those present in this film? Is there anything that we should look to when we're watching?
Domee Shi: Yeah, they're all there. Yeah, all the classic ones: Pizza Planet Truck, Luxo Ball, A113's in there. Also, every Pixar film has an Easter Egg that is a nod to the next film coming up. So there's a Lightyear Easter egg.
Lindsey Collins: Yeah, Lightyear's in there. We have some SparkShorts stuff in there because we had people on our crew who had worked on those SparkShorts. So there's Purl and a Burrow bunny is in there. Yeah, we have some good stuff in there.
Domee Shi: But you have to watch it to find it.
I gotta watch it again. Before I go, I do want to mention 4*Town. That was so hilarious to me. I loved it. Can you talk about the inspiration 4*Town? It just reminded me a lot of my early 2000s NSYNC/Backstreet Boys obsession days.
Domee Shi: I mean, they started off as a joke in the first version of the script where Mei's mom was like, "Why are they called 4*Town if there's five of them?" But then their role progressively grew bigger and bigger as we were rewriting the story. It became such a perfect goal for our 13-year-old protagonist to have, to go to a boy band concert. That felt more interesting and more like life and death for that character versus saving the world or saving the princess or whatever. It just felt like the perfect kind of goal for her to have.
Lindsey Collins: And, again, the minute that came into a possibility of creating our first own original boyband, everybody's like, "Oh. Yes!" I think everybody leaned into their 13/14/15-year-old selves and were like, "Yes, please. We want to create a boyband." So I think, absolutely *NSYNC, all of them, O-Town, Backstreet Boys. Pick your decade. Pick your genre. Everybody would battle it out about Backstreet Boys or *NSYNC. I mean, it wasn't just girls, boys, everybody has a favorite. So we tried to create a new favorite, I guess.
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