MOVIE NEWS – Turning Red director Domee Shi has confessed to being a big fan of anime and video games – especially Zelda and Pokémon.

This February, Pixar’s latest film Turning Red, which tells the story of Mei Lee, a 13-year-old girl who turns into a giant red panda when she gets excited, debuted directly on Disney+.

Director Domee Shi talked about her hobbies and sources of inspiration in an interview with The Washington Post. The director pointed out that “geek culture” is now commonplace, unlike in the 1990s and 2000s, when she was vice president of the anime club in high school and “looked weird” to his peers.

Shi grew up as a fan of anime like One Piece and Sailor Moon, and this can be seen in Turning Red.

However, the director is also a fan of video games and shares a passion for Nintendo, a love shared by production designer Rona Liu, which influenced the film’s aesthetic.

“Both of us just love that chunky cute aesthetic, and that was definitely fostered by playing Nintendo games, like ‘Pokémon,’ like ‘EarthBound,’ ” Shi said. “There’s just something so appealing about how they are able to stylize their world in such an appealing, chunky, cute kind of way. When we were looking at the looks development for our movie, we looked at ‘Breath of the Wild’ and were like, ‘Wow, how are they able to make the world feel so beautiful and rich but are still able to simplify it?’”

Video games were also a significant influence on Turning Red director Domee Shire.

Domee Shi noted that “a lot of video games take more risks that way, versus animated films, which stick to a more traditional kind of look”. In addition to Breath of the Wild, Shi has played titles such as Metroid Dread, Super Mario Odyssey and Hollow Knight in recent years. She also bought a PS4 PRO during the shoot to get familiar with more current games and “immersed” herself in Red Dead Redemption 2, Ghost of Tsushima, The Witcher 3 and Death Stranding.

The director confessed that she is excited to get back to video games and has already added Elden Ring and Pokémon Shiny Diamond and Shimmering Pearl to his list.

Source: The Washington Post