LINDSEY COLLINS This film is set in 2002 Toronto.
LINDSEY COLLINS Think bright pastels and scrunchies, graphic tees and bucket hats.
DOMEE SHI Mei is our
spunky 13-year-old protagonist.
DOMEE SHI Nerd and proud of it.
MEI y equals negative four.
MEI (speaking French)
ROSALIE CHIANG She has to balance
family life, social life, friend life and school life.
MEI This is grade eight. I don't got time to mess around.
DOMEE SHI Mei is semi-based off of myself and my ride or die dork squad.
FRIENDS Alright!
DOMEE SHI And she is the apple of her mom's eye. They are basically joined at the hip.
MING Give me five.
MEI Yeah.
I play the character of Ming, who is Mei's mom.
SANDRA OH Ming is a little, I would say, hypervigilant, but loves her daughter deeply.
DOMEE SHI Everything changes for Mei
DOMEE SHI when she wakes up one morning and she's a giant, eight foot tall, furry red panda.
MEI Ahhhh!
MEI This isn't happening.
LINDSEY COLLINS She’s feeling like this is the worst thing ever.
LINDSEY COLLINS Her friends are right there to be like, it's not the worst thing ever.
MEI I'm a furry ticking time bomb!
MIRIAM Of awesomeness!
MIRIAM And now you can come with us to 4*Town!
4*TOWN ♪ Never gon' let you cry, oh cry, don't cry ♪
DOMEE SHI 4*Town are the world's greatest boy band. Mei’s first crush. Her mom would not approve.
MING Why are they called 4*Town if there are five of them?
When we got approached about this project, we leapt at the opportunity.
BILLIE EILISH It's literally been the most fun we've had writing.
FRIENDS ♪ I’ll never not be your ride or die alright ♪♫
LINDSEY COLLINS From the music, the animation, the characters, and then the story itself,
LINDSEY COLLINS it's a very specific vision coming from Domee.
DOMEE SHI What makes Turning Red so universal is that it really taps into that awkward time in all of our lives.
MEI I'm finally figuring out who I am.
DOMEE SHI Everyone goes through it, and you will survive and thrive.