Pixar’s Turning Red creators discuss the inspirations behind this film, why red pandas, and a bunch of other fun facts, during the advance press day.
Pixar’s Turning Red is coming exclusively to Disney+ and if you don’t already have a list a mile long of reasons to check it out, allow us to give you some. During the advance press day for this film the creators behind it shared many Turning Red fun facts that made us even more excited to see thing movie, and we are sure they will hype you up as well!
10 Turning Red Fun Facts
A Pixar First – Breaking The Fourth Wall
Turning Red marks the very first time that a character breaks the fourth wall in a Pixar film. The movie starts off with Mei talking directly to the audience, which Director Domee Shi says was inspired by the shows and movies she loved as a teenager.
“I grew up loving those classic teen movies, like Ferris Bueller, but also those terrible but awesome Disney TV channel movies, where they had very precocious, sassy, in your face, fourth wall breaking characters, like Lizzy McGuire, and I wanted to take that energy and put that in this movie.” – Domee Shi, Director
Red Panda Inspiration
Of course red pandas are a huge inspiration to this film, considering that Mei transforms into one. But if you look closer you will see that pretty much everything is panda inspired — even the rooftops are shaped like panda ears!
“To make the panda even more specific to our film, everything in it centers around the red panda. So like the statues, the altar, the signs, and even the rooftop detail. Everything is panda-inspired.” explains Production Designer Rona Liu.
Colors Play An Important Part
At the heart of this story is Mei’s relationship with her mother, Ming. Many teenage girls can relate to that and we get into the inspiration behind in a minute, but first, the color that these characters are given was completely on purpose.
“Their colors alone give them a big statement. We made Mei fire red and Ming emerald green, so they sit on the exact opposite sides of the color wheel. And Mei Panda symbolizes all of Mei’s intense feelings, so it’s really important that she feels cute, but also gives the vibe that she is messy and doesn’t have it all together.” Rona Liu, Production Designer, explains.
She continues on, “Her fur is ultra fluffy but also clumpy in areas to show that she’s not perfectly groomed. And we designed her whiskers to be uneven and crinkled. To give the vibe that she is a magical red panda, we gave her a little swirl on each arm. And Mei Panda needed to feel visually trapped in this body that she’s not comfortable in, and we needed to make her look like she doesn’t actually belong in the house. So we did these early tests for scale to make sure that she’s actually too big for her home.”
Real Life Mother Daughter Inspiration
Director Domee Shi was a teenage girl once, and she of course, would butt heads with her mother now and then. She mentions that she took a lot of moments from her real life and put them into Turning Red.
“The reason why a lot of the moments in the movie are so cringey are because they come from real life experiences. Which I guess is the best source for those types of moments. I definitely had a secret sketchbook under my bed that my parents still to this day have not found out about yet.” – Director Domee Shi
Mei’s Friends Are Different, But Similar
Mei’s friends are very important to the story in Turning Red. They are her best friends, her ride or die team, and her crew. While they all have distinct personalities, and individual rules, there is one rule that shaped how they act all throughout the film. They always move together, as one, whenever they do anything. This was done in order to showcase how strong their bond is. They start and stop, all four of them, at the exact same time.
That said, it is important to the team that the friends didn’t get lost or be interchangeable with each other. So each one of them brings something unique to the friendship, which Aaron Hartline, Supervising Animator, explains, “We have Miriam, who always shows off her dorky braces. Abby, who always has angry brows. So even if she’s happy, sad, she’s always got those down, intense brows. And Priya, who never, ever raises that top lid.”
A Real Life Friend Brought To Animation
Pretty much everyone has had a strong group of friends, just like Mei does in Turning Red, and Domee Shi explains that one of her real life friends inspired the character of Abby Park. But that’s not all, she actually voices her in the film!
“I put one of my friends in the movie. Abby Park in the movie, she’s a short fused friend of Mei’s who was definitely, loosely, inspired by my real life friend, colleague, and fellow Pixarian, Heyin Park, who also does the voice of Abby. We’ve been friends since college and she’s always been that ride or die friend who gets angry for you when things become unfair.” Shi continues, “I thought it was a really cool character to put in the movie because she’s so specific, but also unique, and I haven’t seen a character like her in a movie before.”
Mei’s Room Is More Than Meets The Eye
If you look at the final version of Mei’s room, it is easy to see the inspirations from her mother, Ming. Her bedroom is all emerald like her mother, which was done to insinuate that Mei is growing up in a world her mom created for her. This is something the team hopes that viewers at least subconsciously pick up on.
As contrast, Mei’s school and the mini mart are more colorful and saturated, which is meant to show that these are the places where Mei can be herself.
Why Red Pandas?
So why the red panda? Domee Shi says that there was never another option, it was always going to be them.
“I just think they’re so cute, and they are the less popular panda that I wanted to bring into the spotlight. They’re super cool, in that they stay cute for the entire span of their life. Like, even if they’re old, they’re really cute and they’re native to China. And actually from an area where my family is from in China, the Sichuan province, so there’s like a little homage to my background too.” – Domee Shi, Director
Real Red Panda Actions
As with any film, the creative team does a lot of research on the real life inspirations behind the movie they are working on. So in this case, red pandas. Supervising Animator Aaron Hartline shares his favorite fun fact about red pandas that was incorporated into Turning Red, which is that when startled, red pandas put their hands up. So if you look closely, every time Mei is scared, she puts her hands up. “It’s so cute and weird and odd, and we had to use this.” Hartline explains.
Pixar’s First Woman-Led Team
Turing Red is actually the first time that Pixar has had a woman-led team behind a movie, and this is not lost on Director Domee Shi. She explains what an honor this is, and that this film is made for the tween her to show girls, and kids, that women and women of color can lead big feature film productions and be successful.
NEXT: How Anime Inspired Pixar’s Turning Red
About Turning Red
Disney and Pixar’s “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! Directed by Academy Award® winner Domee Shi (Pixar short “Bao”) and produced by Lindsey Collins “Turning Red releases on March 11, 2022.
Turning Red comes exclusively to Disney+ on March 11th.
