#The Unexpected Way Turning Red Star Rosalie Chiang Found Out She Got The Job

During a presentation for “Turning Red,” the team shared a video of Rosalie Chiang in the recording booth with director Domee Shi reading the lines for Mei Lee’s mother. For Chiang, this was just another day recording temporary tracks, but Shi had a plan up her sleeve. The scene Chiang was reading was a conversation between Mei Lee and her mother, which began with mom asking, “Do you have a moment?” Rosalie replied in character, “What is it?” With Chiang fully immersed in the scene, Shi then went off book, starting with the line, “Well, there’s something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about…” and then sneaking in the job offer:

It’s just that, well, [SIGHS] from day one, you’ve been doing an incredible job recording here at Pixar. Not only are you super talented, you’ve been absolutely fearless, and bring all of yourself to the mic every single day. And because of you, this character is alive. She’s smart, she’s goofy, amazing, dorky, and funny, and best of all, real. And because of that, and because of everything you are, we would love to make it official, Rosalie Chiang, on behalf of “Red,” will you play [Mei Lee] for us?

Chiang initially thought Shi wasn’t being serious, but when the reality set in that this temporary voice over gig had turned into an offer to star in a Pixar movie, she did what literally any human being on the planet would have done in that moment, and she cried. “It’s okay to cry!” Shi shouted back.

“As a producer, you get very few of those moments where you get to actually witness the moment you tell somebody they got the job,” Collins said. “So it was very fun.”