It’s arduous to think about Turning Pink’s Meilin Lee with out Rosalie Chiang’s voice-over. From the passionate “AWOOOGA” to the large, sniffly crying, Chiang imbues the plucky 13-year-old protagonist of Pixar’s newest animated film with charming zest and particular relatability. Her behind-the-scenes tales from the movie have turn into in style on TikTok, the place she shared the genesis of the “AWOOOGA” line. However Chiang was initially simply employed to do the movie’s scratch audio — the momentary audio observe many animated films use whereas they’re nonetheless within the early phases of manufacturing. Her efficiency gained over director Domee Shi and the opposite filmmakers, nevertheless, they usually requested her to be Mei’s official voice.
Chiang just lately talked to Polygon concerning the actual second when the character of Mei actually solidified for her — and what Shi advised her that knowledgeable her method to the character.
“It was the intro the place she goes, ‘I’m Meilin Lee, and ever since I turned 13…’” Chiang says. “And after I stated it as soon as, Domee was like, All proper, are you able to now say it as if you drank 10 Pink Bulls? And 12-year-old me was like, I’ve by no means had Pink Bulls. However I knew precisely what she meant. And I stated it as if I drank 10 Pink Bulls. And that second, every little thing clicked. I simply felt that everybody within the room form of reached an settlement, like Yeah, that is it.”
For essentially the most half, Mei’s character got here simply to Chiang. As a giant Ok-pop fan, she completely channeled her love of boy and woman bands into Mei’s enthusiasm for the in-universe boy band 4*City.
![mei standing atop a mountain full of boys, against a pink and rainbow landscape, she raises her hand up and beams of light emit from it. everything is sparkly](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/l3SAQQaY_Vcjmo3qh-OsNE6cqOo=/0x0:3781x2064/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:3781x2064):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23457026/4kturningred_animationscreencaps.com_179_copy_2.jpg)
Picture: Pixar
“My squad again dwelling and I — we actually solely discuss Ok-pop. And we are able to speak for hours and hours and hours about it,” she gushes. “Truly, Domee was one of many people who inspired me to hearken to Ok-pop. She launched me to bands like Huge Bang, 2PM.”
The scenes Chiang discovered the toughest had been those the place Mei cries, or is in any other case overcome with intense emotion. The primary time Mei’s buddies see her in panda kind, for example, Chiang says she needed to do some actual emotional digging. The sequences that got here best to her — like the enduring “AWOOOGA!” Mei lets out whereas taking a look at her crush Devon — ricocheted in the other way. Chiang says she had a good time voicing these moments, in addition to something involving humorous actions or traces.
She says there was one significantly hilarious line from an earlier model of the plot that didn’t make the ultimate reduce. It passed off after Mei learns about her household’s ties to purple pandas — particularly, her ancestor Solar Yee, whose shut connection to the creature gave the Lee household the flexibility to remodel within the first place.
“Within the unique [version of the] legend, it was once that Solar Yee had any want,” Chiang explains. “However she selected to be an enormous purple panda. And Mei is like, ‘You could possibly have had something! Fame, cash, a smokin’ sizzling bod!’ I like that line a lot. And I keep in mind everybody within the room laughing [when we recorded it]. I used to be slightly unhappy it didn’t make it.”
Turning Pink is out on DVD and Blu-Ray now, with some hidden Easter eggs and deleted scenes accessible to seek out.