Domee Shi: Last News

After bringing home an Oscar in 2019 for her animated short Bao, Domee Shi returned to her well of childhood experiences for Turning Red. Due to a family blessing/curse, 13-year-old Chinese Canadian Meilin (Rosalie Chang) transforms into a red panda whenever she experiences strong emotions, which is less than ideal for a teenager. Using Mei as a surrogate character, Shi replicates her childhood experience of struggling to please her mother as she entered adolescence. The film’s portrayal of the mother-daughter relationship sparked dialogues between teens and parents going through the same experience and gave Shi a chance to become closer with her own mother.

EXCLUSIVE: In the wake of the $216M-plus global grossing success of Anyone But You, Sony is going to keep this romcom train going. We hear that TriStar Pictures has preemptively acquired Brenda Hsueh’s high concept romantic comedy Man’s Best Friend.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Zaib Shaikh, Canada’s Consul General to Los Angeles, hosted the country’s annual Canada at the Oscars soiree Thursday at his official residence in Hancock Park. The event was the first stop of the night for many Oscar-nominated Canadians including “Women Talking’s” Sarah Polley, Sheila McCarthy and Kate Hallet. Polley was headed to the Macro party. Other attendees were going to the Oscar Wilde Awards or the South Asian Excellence Pre-Oscars Celebration. Also in attendance were “Turning Red’s” Domee Shi, who landed an Oscar for best animated feature, Brendan Fraser and “The Whale” prosthetics makeup designer Adrien Morot.

When Domee Shi learned that Turning Red had been nominated today, she says she was struck by a “crazy mix of emotions.”

Disney swept the animation category with three nominations last Oscar season, culminating in a win for Encanto. This year, Netflix is coming on strong with more than a few contenders, including Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio. DreamWorks Animation is back with a few contenders of its own, while Apple, A24 and GKIDS are seeking their first Oscar win for Best Animated Feature. With only five nominations available, who will go on to compete for the prize?

With Turning Red, director Domee Shi revisited her own past to create a story of a young girl struggling with pleasing her family as she comes into adolescence. It’s a story so relatable that Lindsey Collins, who was running Pixar’s creative development at the time, says she practically begged Shi to let her produce the film. Turning Red follows Meilin (Rosalie Chiang), a 13-year-old girl from Toronto who works at her family’s temple to make her mother Ming (Sandra Oh) proud. Due to a family blessing/curse, Meilin finds herself transforming into a large red panda whenever she experiences strong emotions, which is less than ideal for a teenager.

EXCLUSIVE: Brenda Hsueh, a writer on Disney and Pixar’s upcoming feature film, Elemental, has inksed with Verve after a competitive signing.

Michaela Zee editor Domee Shi and six of Variety’s animation honorees gathered at this year’s Variety 10 Animators to Watch event, presented by Nickelodeon, on Thursday night. The in-person awards ceremony and cocktail reception took place at the Nickelodeon Animation Studio in Burbank, Calif., where fellow creatives and representatives in the animation space celebrated this year’s class of rising storytellers. The honorees in attendance included Fawn Veerasunthorn, Arthur Fong, Shea Fontana, Sergio Valdivia, Natasha Kline and Juston Gordon-Montgomery. Pixar Animation Studios filmmaker Shi received the 2022 Creative Impact in Animation award.

William Earl Variety and Nickelodeon are joining forces again for this year’s 10 Animators to Watch event in Los Angeles. The in-person cocktail party and awards ceremony on Oct. 6 will celebrate rising creators in the animation space who are leaving their mark on the industry. This year’s class of trailblazing storytellers includes: Fawn Veerasunthorn, director, “Wish” (Walt Disney Animation Studios, 2023); Karissa Valencia, creator and showrunner, “Spirit Rangers”; Juston Gordon-Montgomery, creator, “Invincible Fight Girl”; Christian Linke and Alex Yee, creators, “Arcane”; Neeraja Raj, creator, “Meow or Never”; Shea Fontana, co-EP, “Monster High”; Arthur Fong, art director, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem”; Sergio Valdivia, stop-motion animator, “Pinocchio”; Natasha Kline, creator, “Primos”; and Joe Bennett, director, writer, animator, “Scavengers Reign.”

MUAHS, IATSE Local 706) returns to The Beverly Hilton Hotel on Feb. 11, 2023.The MUAHS Awards honors outstanding achievements for make-up artists and hair stylists in motion pictures, television, commercials, and live theater. The announcement was made today by Julie Socash, President of MUAHS, Local 706.The 2022-2023 Make-Up Artists & Hair Stylists Guild Awards Timeline: • Submissions Open for TV & Feature Film  – Oct.

Selome Hailu Though the reign of “Encanto” has begun to subside, Disney Plus remains on top with Pixar’s latest feature “Turning Red” debuting in the No. 1 position in Nielsen’s newly released Top 10 streaming rankings. The title accrued more than 1.7 billion minutes watched from March 7 to 13, beating out “The Last Kingdom” and “Pieces of Her,” the Netflix series that nabbed positions 2 and 3 respectively, both with 1.4 billion minutes watched.“Turning Red” wasn’t originally intended for a streaming debut at all, until Disney announced in January that the title would skip theaters and head straight to the small screen on March 11.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment WriterPixar Animation Studios is promoting “Turning Red” producer Lindsey Collins and director Domee Shi into leadership roles at the company.Collins has been named into a new position, as senior vice president of development.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans EditorPixar’s “Turning Red,” now streaming on Disney Plus, is the story of Meilin “Mei” Lee, a 13-year-old who adores the biggest boy band on the planet, 4*Town. She is amazed to wake up one morning and find herself transformed into a giant red panda each time she gets excited or stressed.Speaking with Variety, director Domee Shi teased that the animated feature, in true Pixar style, is filled with Easter eggs galore, from teasers of the upcoming “Lightyear” to homages to Toronto’s cityscape, with a lot of pandas woven into the set pieces.

Jon Burlingame editor“Turning Red,” Pixar’s latest animated adventure, posed some pretty big musical challenges: it’s about a 13-year-old girl, obsessed with a boy band, whose Chinese ancestry literally looms large as she turns into a giant panda when her emotions spin out of control.It demanded a trio of world-class talents: Grammy winners Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell for the songs and Oscar, Emmy and Grammy winner Ludwig Göransson to compose the score.That such high-profile talents were available and eager to contribute to “Turning Red” says a lot about the music-friendly reputation of Pixar, which has won five music Oscars (including last year’s “Soul”) and 11 more nominations for either song or score since the original “Toy Story” in 1995. Tom MacDougall, president of Walt Disney Music, conferred with director Domee Shi — whose personal coming-of-age, mother-daughter conflict story inspired “Turning Red” — and reached out to all of them in 2019, before production on the film began.MacDougall had been a fan since Eilish’s early hit “Ocean Eyes” and was impressed, he says, “by the breadth of the territory that their songwriting and performing covered” ever since.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans EditorColor wasn’t the only consideration for production designer Rona Liu and director Domee Shi when they were developing the look of Disney Pixar’s “Turning Red,” available on Disney Plus March 11. They also wanted “chunky cute.”That meant building everything to look bigger and rounder for the coming-of-age story of a middle school girl, Mei, voiced by Rosalie Chiang, who transforms into a giant red panda each time she feels anxiety or gets angry, as she navigates between being a free-spirited teen with her posse of best friends and an obedient, all-A student for her mom.Liu says it was Shi who wanted to use the idea of a red panda, an animal native to Asia that has not been widely portrayed in media.

Disney+ on Friday, March 11! Watch NowThe animated family film stars Rosalie Chiang and Sandra Oh, and the newest Pixar movie features three new original songs from the GRAMMY-winning sibling duo, Billie Eilish and Finneas. Finneas, who was no stranger to acting prior to his music career, also voices one of the members of the boyband group, 4*Town, in the film.  director and co-writer, Domee Shi, is also known for the Oscar-winning Pixar short,, as well as her work on, and.

Disney+ on Friday, March 11! Watch NowThe animated family film stars Rosalie Chiang and Sandra Oh, and the newest Pixar movie features three new original songs from the GRAMMY-winning sibling duo, Billie Eilish and Finneas. Finneas, who was no stranger to acting prior to his music career, also voices one of the members of the boyband group, 4*Town, in the film.  director and co-writer, Domee Shi, is also known for the Oscar-winning Pixar short,, as well as her work on, and.

Pixar‘s highly anticipated new movie Turning Red is here!

Zack Sharf “Turning Red” cast members spoke up in support of the new Pixar film and its universality following a controversial review for the animated movie that was published by CinemaBlend. The review was pulled offline after being called “sexist,” “racist” and more by members of the press. CinemaBlend managing director Sean O’Connell wrote the review, saying that the film’s appeal was limited because it’s set in the Asian community of Toronto.“I recognized the humor in the film, but connected with none of it.

12-time Emmy nominee Sandra Oh gleamed in an orange sequin dress for the Canadian premiere of Turning Red, which took place at the TIFF Bell Lightbox in Toronto on Tuesday.The Korean-Canadian-American 50-year-old looked elegant in the embellished short-sleeve frock and silver heels selected by styling duo Jill Lincoln + Jordan Johnson.Hairstylist Lisa Vella curled Sandra's raven fringed bob and make-up artist Simone Otis applied her bright red pout for the film festivities. Hometown pride: 12-time Emmy nominee Sandra Oh gleamed in an orange sequin dress for the Canadian premiere of Turning Red, which took place at the TIFF Bell Lightbox in Toronto on TuesdayAt one point, Oh took out her phone for a red carpet selfie alongside producer Lindsey Collins and filmmaker Domee Shi, who made her feature directorial debut with Turning Red.The four-time SAG Award winner voices overprotective and strict mother Ming Lee in Pixar's animated puberty comedy, which premieres this Friday on Disney+.

Most of the discussion, thus far, around “Turning Red,” Pixar’s 25th (!) animated feature and its first to be solely directed by a female filmmaker, has been around its distribution. “Turning Red,” like last year’s “Luca” and 2020’s “Soul,” will debut exclusively on direct-to-consumer streaming platform Disney+, forgoing a traditional theatrical release.