Danielle Feinberg Reveals The Surprising Wes Anderson Influence On Pixar's Turning Red - Exclusive
Disney and Pixar's latest movie, "Turning Red," will finally hit Disney+ on March 11, and viewers are in for a treat. The film follows Chinese Canadian immigrant Mei Lee, an awkward teenager with a penchant for turning into a giant red panda whenever she gets overexcited. The beautiful animation draws inspiration from the '90s and is full of bright pastels and cute retro details like Tamagotchis and cheesy boy bands. It also explores Mei's relationship with her overbearing but loveable mother, Ming.
During an exclusive interview, Pixar stalwart Danielle Feinberg revealed, "with 'Turning Red,' you're getting to represent people on the screen that are not necessarily represented very often. To me, that's the icing on the cake of making these movies is getting to not only put a good movie out in the world, but getting to represent different people up on screen is ... That's the best."
Looper caught up with the visual effects supervisor of "Turning Red" to find out how Wes Anderson's movies ended up influencing Disney and Pixar's latest release.
Finding inspiration in Wes Anderson movies
Opening up about the inspirations behind "Turning Red," visual effects supervisor Danielle Feinberg revealed, "It was really cool because [production designer] Rona [Liu] was really into having this very orchestrated color." Viewers might be surprised to find out that Wes Anderson was actually a big inspiration for on "Turning Red."
"I'm such a color nerd that I was like, 'This is so fun,' and I've watched so many Wes Anderson films and love how particular every scene is with color," Feinberg explained. "It was really cool to be a part of that, and Rona — really, her and her group, they spent a lot of time thinking about each location and what were the colors that best served the story and what was each character's color palette and sticking with that."
Feinberg continued, "Being a color nerd, that's super fun for me, and I loved that it gives a different feeling and also a freedom of ... Something doesn't have to be the color it is in real life. You can tweak that to fit this orchestrated color, so it was really cool."
"Turning Red" premieres exclusively on Disney+ on March 11, 2022.