The vast majority of professional reviewers liked ReportPixar’s twenty-fifth feature film, directed by Domee Shi (2022), the Chinese-Canadian filmmaker who won an Oscar for her short film Beam (2018). To others, it didn’t seem like much, but rather the least notable of the study since. Cars 2 (2011). But in every story, there are always points of view.
“The inspiration for this film comes from my life, I grew up like Mei, as a silly, clumsy, confident, obsessive thirteen-year-old girl who is going to face big changes,” she tells us. Dome Shi in an interview with her and the producer Lindsay Collins. Not in vain, he knows perfectly well what a childhood and adolescence in Toronto like that of Meilin Lee, the protagonist of Report.
“I woke up and my body had changed, I had hair everywhere, my emotions overflowed and I went from being my mother’s sweet little girl to fighting her every day”, continues the filmmaker; “And I just wanted to know what was going on at the time and make it a fun and entertaining movie.” There is no doubt that intimacy is a source of creativity at Pixar.
‘Bao’ Oscar didn’t influence ‘Red’ development
When asked if the Oscar for Beamthat Domee Shi obtained during the development of Reportsomehow influenced him, she jokes looking at the producer: “I would have liked to show the Oscar to Lindsey [Collins] and say, “Look, that means you should give me more moneyso you already know”.
“When you get the go-ahead for a movie, you get the same amount of money whether you’re Pete Docter, who’s done four movies, or Domee Shi,” he continues. “They can tell you that’s the time they’re giving you and all these people to make the movie. So true They don’t distinguish between an Oscar winner and someone who didn’t.”.
The struggle of the protagonist, that of many Asian immigrant children
About knowing both the culture in which the adventures of Reportthe filmmaker explains, “I feel like Mei being that kind of Chinese girl makes this story very unique and new, and something I really wanted to explore is a very specific fight that many Asian immigrant children have to face: how to honor themselves, their parents and their families.
“And there’s no easy answer,” he continues, “and I think for me and a lot of other kids who really love our parents, we really want to be good to them and recognize the sacrifices they have done. But we also grow up in a very different environment from yours, in the West, listening to different music, dealing with different kinds of children and becoming different people, and that can lead to estrangement from family”.
“And there’s something sad about that, but you want to keep it without going overboard at the same time,” admits Domee Shi, who knows exactly what she’s talking about from the biography she referenced more early. “I think that’s Mei’s fight: ‘How I honor both realms; I don’t know if I can do it.” And I think that’s all a dramatic and interesting story to explore”.
Women, in power with ‘Red’
have worked with many women in positions creative decision during the development Report It’s been “fantastic and really exciting” for Linsey Collins. Last November, “they had the opportunity to show it to everyone at Pixar, like two thousand people, guests and others; And it was the first time that 90% of them had seen something on the big screen because they were doing it all the time at home.”
“We usually go on stage and the bosses welcome and thank everyone for their presence”, explains the producer. “And there we were; we look around and we were all women on stage for the first time. And we felt the audience, our friends and colleagues, applauding that we were all women for the first time. They were all very proud, even though they hadn’t worked on the film, that this had happened.”
An eclectic animation style
“It was tricky because we wanted to create a really unique look for the film, a mix between eastern and western animation. Because Mei herself is a mixture of both,” says Domee Shi. “And my biggest influences are Disney and Warner Brothers, but also Japanese anime and Hayao Miyazaki movies. And we wanted a marriage of both in the movie.
“So all the departments joined hands: art, animation, character design, camera… We had to stylize the film, and explore it in all aspects of the production, not just some or in a realistic way”, abounds . So all parts of the film was to be styled as if the anime knew Pixar. And everyone was excited.”
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And Lindsey Collins adds these words to the question: “We had the studio artists draw for the effects team and they were able to put it in motion and in CGI. It’s hard and delicate because it looked like it would be very easy, and it wasn’t. Because, when those who collaborate on an artistic work decide to offer something unique, theirs must cost them so that it does not sound as if they have already seen it.
