The Turning Red star explains her favorite line was cut from the movie

It’s hard to imagine Turn redby Meilin Lee without the voice of Rosalie Chiang. From passionate about “AWOOOGA” arrive loud, cry, Chiang imbues the unlucky 13-year-old protagonist of Pixar’s latest animated film with a zest for seduction and relativity. Her behind-the-scenes stories from the movie became popular on TikTokwhere she shares the origin of Series “AWOOOGA”. But Chiang was initially hired only to do the opening sound – the temporary sound many animated films use while they’re still in the early stages of production. Her performance won over the director Domee Shi and other filmmakershowever, and they claim she is the official voice of Mei.

Chiang recently spoke with Polygon about the exact moment when the character of Mei really became solid for her – and what Shi told her helped her approach the character.

“It was the introduction where she said, ‘I’m Meilin Lee, and ever since I turned 13…’” says Chiang. “And after I said it once, Domee was like, Okay, now can you talk as if you’ve taken 10 Red Bull pills? And I was 12 years old like, I never had Red Bulls. But I know exactly what she means. And I speak as if I had taken 10 Red Bull pills. And that moment, everything flashed. I just feel that everyone in the room has reached an agreement, like Yes, this is it.”

For the most part, Mei’s character came to Chiang easily. As an avid fan of K-pop, she completely infused her love of boy and girl bands into Mei’s enthusiasm for the boy band in the universe. 4 * Towns.

Image: Pixar

“My team came home and I – we were really just talking about K-pop. And we could talk for hours about that,” she said. “Actually, Domee was one of the people who encouraged me to listen to K-pop. She introduced me to groups like Big Bang, 2PM.”

The scenes that Chiang found the most difficult were the scenes where Mei cried, or in other words passed with intense emotion. Mei’s friends first saw her in panda form, for example, Chiang says she had to learn about real feelings. Scenes that come most easily to her – like the iconic “AWOOOGA!” Mei walked out while looking in her lover Devon – ricocheted in the opposite direction. Chiang says she had a great time voicing those moments, as well as anything involving action or humorous lines.

She said there was one particularly hilarious line from an earlier version of the plot that didn’t make it to the end. It takes place after Mei learns of her family’s relationship with the red panda – specifically her ancestor Sun Yee, who has a close connection to the creature that gave the Lee family the ability to transform. right from the start.

“In the original [version of the] in legend, Sun Yee ever had any wish,” explained Chiang. “But she chose to be a giant red panda. And Mei was like, ‘You can have anything! Fame, money, a ‘hot’ smoker!’ I love that line so much. And I remember everyone in the room laughed [when we recorded it]. I’m a bit sad that it didn’t work out.”

Turn red Now available on DVD and Blu-Ray, with some Hidden Easter Eggs and Deleted Scenes available to find.