February 18th, 2019 
Jackson Murphy 
Domee Shi and Becky Neiman-Cobb were two of hundreds of Pixar creators who worked on the studio’s award-winning, Inside Out. Little did they know at the time that 5+ years later they would be Oscar nominees – Shi as director and Neiman-Cobb as producer – for Bao, Pixar’s latest quirky, thought-provoking animated short.
Domee Shi: It still hasn’t yet sunk in for me – until we actually go. But it’s been amazing seeing the world embrace our weird little short. Seeing how much love it’s been getting – how much attention. It’s cheesy to say, but the real reward was being able to make it at Pixar with such an incredible crew. And this nomination is the super fancy cherry on top.
Becky Neiman-Cobb: I was actually just thinking back to production, and it felt like we took a lot of risks with this short – stylization of our characters, and our story is a bit surprising. It’s like what Domee said: it’s so cool that we got to make it. And then to get this recognition is so encouraging.
Jackson Murphy: And Domee, you are the first woman to direct a Pixar short. First of all: it’s about time!
DS: Right?! Thank you. It’s an incredible honor. I’m so humbled to be the first. But I’m happy to say I’m the first of many because we have our Spark Shorts program at Pixar. It’s a new, experimental shorts program, and there are a lot of up and coming, amazingly talented female directors. You’re going to see a lot of their work. So I’m excited.
JM: You worked as a storyboard artist on the duo of 2015 Pixar movies, “Inside Out” and “The Good Dinosaur”. Was it while making those films – or afterwards – that you pitched “Bao”?
DS: When I was working on “Inside Out”, I had come up with the idea for “Bao”. And it was just a little spark back then – an idea I had rolling around in my head of this lonely old lady that raises one of her dumplings as her own kid. And then I pitched it to Pete Docter, the director of “Inside Out”, just to get his take on it. And he was really encouraging and super supportive of the idea, and he loved the twists. And that gave me the confidence to pitch it to the studio in 2015.
And at that time, I was in between “Inside Out” and transitioning onto “The Good Dinosaur”. My day job was still storyboarding for these feature films, and then I worked on “Bao” on evenings and weekends and any downtime I had, until it was greenlit by Pixar at the end of 2015.
JM: All animation – all the time. I love it! Becky, did the adjectives quirky, unique and different pop into your head when you first heard this concept?
BNC: Yeah. It’s funny, I was asked by Jim Morris, our President, if I would be interested in producing. Before I even knew Domee’s idea about it, I was in – because she and I had worked together on “Inside Out”. So we had an existing professional relationship, and… I admire her work so much. I knew whatever it would be would be awesome. And then I remember the first time seeing the boards [of her pitch], I was pregnant.
So it’s been a personal kismet that I became a mom while working on a short about a mom. For me, I connected with it pretty instantly – even though it was something that was really specific to Domee’s upbringing and culture. I just found so much of it so relatable. This could be an Italian family. This could be a Jewish family. It sounds a lot like my family – I’m Jewish. I connected to the emotion of it pretty instantly.
JM: So Domee, does this story mirror incredibly close to… what it was like growing up for you?
DS: Parts of it are pretty similar. The whole concept of an overprotected little dumpling: that’s me. That was me – and kind of still is me. I’m an only child. My mom and my dad have always hovered me and made sure I was safe and made sure I never wandered away too far. I definitely had that frustration that the little dumpling has in the short – just wanting to have my own freedom and break free. But I was a good kid – I was a good little Asian kid who never disobeyed her parents. I think the dumpling in the short is a little bit more rebellious. I think I had all those same feelings – I just never acted out on them as much.
JM: I’m an only child as well. You do have to respect your parents. Was it always a dumpling or were any other foods considered?
DS: It was always dumplings. I stirred around with different types of dumplings before we landed on the final design of the Bao character. There are so many different types of Chinese dumplings in this world, like shumai and soup dumplings, boil dumplings, pot stickers… but I think we landed on this steamed bun dumpling shaped because we loved how his head forms a cute, little tip that we could also translate into a hairdo when he turns into a real boy. So that was our reasoning behind choosing that particular type of dumpling.
And for me, personally, dumplings have always been a huge part of my relationship with my mom and my family members. Making dumplings is just something that you do in our family – around the dinner, on holidays, on Chinese New Year. My mom is so good at making them, and I have so many memories of wrapping dumplings with her on weekends while we watched soap operas on TV. For me, a dumpling is the perfect food symbol for family. So it was always dumplings for that reason.
JM: This must’ve been an emotional experience for your mom watching this for the first time. Was it?
DS: Yeah. She’s still very much my mother. And my dad is also… both of them are very proud of me, but they’ll always kind of be my parents. And that means – when I showed it to them, they were like, “Oh, we’re very proud of you.” But it’s not like the parents in the short who start bursting into tears and tell me how much they love me and pepper me with kisses. They’re still my very Chinese parents, so they’ll show their love and appreciation in their own, unique way.
My dad is a painter and he taught me a lot about art growing up. So when he first watched it, the first thing he said was, “I love it. But I have some notes about the colors.” And I was like, “Dad. No. We’re not taking any more notes.” (laughs)
JM: That ship has sailed. One of the things that has always fascinated me is how you decide what short gets paired with what movie. Becky, how was it decided that “Bao” would be shown in front of “Incredibles 2”?
BNC: You know what, it was a total happy accident. We started production on the short in 2016. Because the shorts program is sort of the indie wing of Pixar, we have to get scrappy. We don’t have a lot of resources our budget, so we end up having to start and stop production if feature films need people. For example, we were in production during the time of “Coco” and “Incredibles 2”. We had to have artists go on to make sure those features were up and running, which meant that our production calendar timeline ended-up expanding. The timing of when we were going to finish the short ended-up landing in line with being in front of “Incredibles 2”, but it was never a plan. We started it – and we didn’t quite know when we would finish it.
And when it looked like we were going to be done in time for “Incredibles 2″… we were completely overjoyed. We knew that “Incredibles 2” was so highly anticipated by audiences. People would be really excited to this, and more people would be able to see our short. We were really thrilled.
JM: I spoke with [Incredibles 2 producer] Nicole Paradis Grindle about a few weeks ago. She told me, Domee, that your “drawings were incredible” and “you caught Brad Bird’s eye at that point”. You also worked on “I2” – on that great scene involving Jack-Jack and Edna Mode. It’s one of my favorites. It must’ve been amazing for you to make the short that’s playing in front of a movie that you also worked extensively on.
DS: Yeah. That was pretty surreal. I mean, I didn’t work that extensively on “Incredibles 2”. I was lucky enough to work on it for a month. But I was so happy to be able to contribute in any way to Brad’s vision. I’ve loved his work ever since “The Iron Giant”. We watched his films religiously in animation school. It’s been pretty awesome… just fathoming the idea of our short being in front of a Brad Bird movie. It’s really, really cool. And it’s just such a crazy coincidence that both our short and “Incredibles 2” revolve around awesome moms. And they’re both very different – but how they fit in the family – the whole parent/child dynamic. It’s really cool that we were paired together.
JM: Can you picture yourself back at animation school? You’re watching one of those Brad Bird movies – and then you think you might get to work with Brad Bird someday.
DS: No. (laughs) I had no idea at all that I would be here right now. In animation school, my dream was just to be able to draw for a living – and not starve. So I achieved that goal. So that’s great. Everything else is just an amazing bonus. It’s surreal being able to work here at Pixar and work with the people that you admire so much. But now you kind of… supposed to see them as your equals: “Oh, hey. What’s up, Brad? How was your weekend?” It’s still very awkward for me.
JM: Now, you have also storyboarded for “Toy Story 4”. I know everyone at Pixar keeps tight-lipped on things. But what can you tell me about “Toy Story 4”? Anything you can possibly share for the wonderful Animation Scoop readers?
BNC: (laughs)
DS: I guess all that we can say is that it’s awesome, and it’s very unexpected. And watch the teaser. I’m looking at my publicist, Krissy, and wondering “Can I say this?” Bo is gonna be in it. I had a blast drawing her. Can I say that? Okay, cool. I grew up watching “Toy Story 2”, so this was awesome being able to contribute to such an iconic franchise. I can’t really say anything else besides that. You should re-watch the trailer and go through it frame-by-frame to find any easter eggs in there.
JM: People have been doing that with the “Frozen II” trailer as well.
BNC: Totally.
JM: I’m so glad Bo is back. And Domee, you’re going to direct a Pixar feature that’s going to be released in 2022. How did you get the news that you’re now going to be taking on a feature?
DS: I think it was while we were wrapping up “Bao”, our President invited me to his office. And then he said, “We’d like you to start developing some ideas for feature films at Pixar. Do you want to do it?” And I was like, “Yes!” (laughs) “Are you sure? Okay.”
BNC: Before you change your mind!
DS: We’re still in development right now. We’re still hammering out the story.
BNC: There’s no release date.
DS: There’s no real, solid release date right now. Even though I’m in development for it, I’m still super paranoid and superstitious. Anything can happen. I don’t even know if this will ever see the light of day. But I’m just happy that I’m able to get paid to work on cool stories that I come up with in my head – and work with awesome people that can make that happen.
JM: I think it will see the light of day. We’re looking forward to what you have next.
DS: Thank you.
JM: So I think you have a good chance of winning on Oscar Night. Do you have a speech ready? Are you ready for this?
DS: (laughs) No, I’m not ready. I’m not ready at all. I’m also too superstitious. I don’t want to jinx it. I think… I’d want to be caught off guard and splutter through thanking everybody, then to jinx it. It’s so weird. Like Becky was saying, it’s kind of like buying a house.
BNC: Yeah. When you look to buy a house… when you’re making an offer… you have to really love that house so much that you’re willing to put all of your money – and all the money you don’t have – into this house. But you also have to be willing to walk away if your offer doesn’t get accepted – and be okay with it. So we’re kind of striking that “Oh my gosh, we’d be so excited if this happened.” But we also totally understand if we don’t because it’s truly an honor that we got this far – for us and for our crew.
JM: And that’s some great advice too for when I buy a house. I wish you all the best on Oscar Night.
DS: Thank you.
Krissy: Thank you, Oscar. I mean, Jackson. (laughs)
JM: You’re already thanking Oscar. There you go! I think you’re ready.
BNC: That was Krissy, for the record. (laughs)
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