“I’m going to the BAFTAs! I’m very excited!” enthuses writer and director Domee Shi.
“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+.
