The Canadian director of Pixar’s latest outing 'Turning Red' points to innumerable elements that could have torpedoed her mission to spotlight a Chinese-Canadian girl in Toronto wrestling with puberty.
Last Updated Wednesday, March 9, 2022 5:57PM EST
Shi marvels that she "never" received pushback on any of those unique elements from the studio, possibly because they were all in her very first pitch, which she made just after the success of her 2018 Oscar-winning Pixar short "Bao." "I was that 13-year-old girl who was struggling between being her mom's perfect daughter and these raging hairy hormones inside of me," says Shi, the first woman and woman of colour to receive sole directing credit for a Pixar feature.
It helps that the film is anchored not only by a performance from California newcomer Rosalie Chiang as Mei, but Ottawa's Sandra Oh as her mother Ming, who flips the tiger mom stereotype on its head, granting her greater depth. "This is where I grew up, it really doesn't get better than this," she says, adding that seeing the SkyDome in its original form and a subtle blue jay in the foreground were her favourite landmarks captured in the film. "Portraying positive female friendships are very important to me, because growing up, we got catty portrayals and that takes a toll when you're a young woman starting your own story.
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