Turning Red’s star explains her favorite line that was cut from the film

It’s hard to imagine To redden‘s Meilin Lee without the voice of Rosalie Chiang. Of the passionate “AWOOGA” to the big, sniffle crying, Chiang gives the brave 13-year-old protagonist of Pixar’s latest animated film a captivating joie de vivre and special kinship. Her behind-the-scenes stories from the film have become popular on TikTokwhere she shared the emergence of “AWOOGA” line. But Chiang was originally hired only to do the film’s scratch audio — the temporary audio track that many animated films use while they’re still in the early stages of production. However, her performance won over director Domee Shi and the other filmmakers, and they asked her to be Mei’s official voice.

Chiang recently spoke to Polygon about the exact moment that the character of Mei really solidified for her – and what Shi told her that influenced her approach to the character.

“It was the intro where she says, ‘I’m Meilin Lee, and since I was 13…'” says Chiang. “And after I said it once, Domee said: Okay, now can you say that like you drank 10 Red Bulls? And my 12 year old self was like I’ve never had Red Bulls. But I knew exactly what she meant. And I said it like I’d had 10 Red Bulls. And in that moment everything clicked. I just felt like everyone in the room sort of agreed Yes that’s it.”

Most of the time, Mei’s character came easily to Chiang. A huge K-Pop fan, she absolutely channeled her love of boy and girl bands into Mei’s enthusiasm for in-universe boy band 4*Town.

Image: Pixar

“My team at home and I — we literally just talk about K-pop. And we can talk about it for hours,” she enthuses. “Actually, Domee was one of the people who encouraged me to listen to K-pop. She introduced me to bands like Big Bang, 2PM.”

The scenes Chiang found most difficult were those in which Mei cries or is otherwise overcome by intense emotions. For example, when Mei’s friends first see her in panda form, Chiang says she needs to dig deep emotionally. The sequences she found easiest — like the iconic “AWOOGA!” Mei lets out while looking at her crush Devon — which bounces off in the opposite direction. Chiang says she had a lot of fun voicing those moments, as well as anything involving funny actions or lines.

She says there was one particularly hilarious line from an earlier version of the storyline that didn’t make it into the final version. It took place after Mei learned of her family’s connections to red pandas – specifically her ancestor Sun Yee, whose close connection to the creature gave the Lee family the ability to transform in the first place.

“In the original [version of the] Legend has it that Sun Yee used to have every wish,” explains Chiang. “But she chose to be a giant red panda. And Mei is like ‘You could have had everything! Fame, money, a damn hot body!’ I love this line so much. And I remember everyone in the room laughing [when we recorded it]. I was a bit sad it didn’t make it.”

To redden is now available on DVD and Blu-Ray, with some hidden easter eggs and deleted scenes found available.