Turning Red with Jordan Fisher

MIXED ASIAN MEDIA - MARCH 16, 2022

By Melissa Slaughter

Turning Red, Disney and Pixar’s latest film, is a story about growing up and how body changes are a part of that. Director Domee Shi (who won an Oscar for her short film Bao) wanted the film to be about puberty, specifically young people getting their period for the first time. The story revolves around Meilin, a 13-year-old girl who suddenly transforms into a giant red panda when she feels strong emotions. Sounds like puberty to me!

The film takes place in the early 2000s, and anyone who went through puberty in the aughts remembers the phenomenon that was boy bands. Everyone had to take a side: N*SYNC, Backstreet Boys, O-Town, 98 Degrees (my personal favorite). Like any proper pre-teens, Meilin and her friends have their favorite boy band: 4*Town.

I got the chance to chat with Jordan Fisher (To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before 2, Dear Evan Hansen on Broadway), who plays Robier of 4*Town. The first thing we had to dive into was Jordan’s love of Disney. 

Jordan: I had the time of my life. I'm a big, fat Disney fan and always loved Pixar films. I've got a son on the way, and I got to make this for him. I got to be in a boy band and, you know, immortalized in a Disney/Pixar film! If he chooses to grow up and listen to it, he’s going to be like, “That's my dad!” Hearing me singing and seeing that character. That is the coolest thing in the world to me. 

Melissa: Well, you're doing a Pixar film, you've done Broadway, you've kind of done everything. Are there any roles you haven't done yet that you want to pursue?

Yeah, I'm producing a lot right now, which is a lot of fun. My producorial debut is a film called Hello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between. Producer is a role that I've wanted to play for quite some time. I like the creative process. I love the business part of all of this as much as I love the creative and artistic side of it. (Probably got that to my mom).

What kind of stories do you like producing? Everything? 

I like human stories. You know, a rom-com, but make it about transition and family and mid-term to long-term decision making. Things like that, that are actually challenging things that we run into on a day to day basis. Moments of genuine connection. That's what I'm about right now, and if that changes a few years down the line, then great.

You’re a mix of a million things. You’re Black, white, Tahitian, Cambodian. Do you have any foods or traditions that you associate with that heritage? Maybe anything you'll pass on to your child?

Man, well, being adopted is a really interesting thing for me, right? Like, I'm from Alabama, and I'm a sports fan. As a sports fan growing up in Alabama, we don't have any professional teams because it's all college sports. So you get to pick your professional team. “Oh, I love New York; I like the Knicks. But I live in L.A., so I'll be a Rams fan.” You can do things, being adopted. Having white parents, but also knowing of my Black and Asian side and my Greek and Tahitian side.

Circumnavigating the globe a handful of times in my career, I've been able to have real experiences with different parts of my heritage that I wouldn't have been able to otherwise. I have been finding different things that I connect with my heritage — not just like “this is what we do as a family,” but that genuinely speak to me. I think I'm loving exploring all of that because my kid... genes are so weird, Man. We don't know what he's going to come out looking like, you know? It’s going to be up to me and my wife to inform him of his culture and his heritage and all of the things that he gets to be proud of.

I find that being mixed, and a few of my friends who are adopted say a similar thing, we get to pick and choose our traditions. Picking and choosing is very empowering and it’s fun to think about “what is mine and what is not?”

One hundred percent! Because we're all different. Obviously my genetic makeup makes me who I am today. Let me learn a little bit more about it, but the things that we don't genuinely connect with, we don't have to do anything with. 

Has being mixed influenced the way that you approach any of your roles?

Being mixed affects my day-to-day life, so it’s affected every role I've had. It's hard because naturally, we want to label everything. It's just what we do. There's no shame in that. It's comforting for us to be able to look at something and say, “Let me classify that and put it somewhere in my brain,” right? I don't take offense to that, but I'm painfully aware of the fact that I was like the only person of color in my school growing up and the only mixed kid in my town and the only dark kid in my family, until my little brother and sister were born. That kind of stuff affects my day-to-day. In terms of how my character processes and rationalizes and what not doesn't change any of that. But I'm sure that being the person that I am, being made the way that I am, affects how I approach everything.

It sounds like you have a very positive spin on it, which I also appreciate. Do you have any advice for mixed creators who are trying to make it in the business?

Represent! That's it! That's what you have to do. As a mixed creator, you make sure that you get some representation. Build! Build for you. If you've seen Tick,Tick, Boom, a character in the movie at the end of the film (an agent named Rosa, played by Judith Light) says, “Write what you know.” No one else can write a mixed perspective unless they're mixed. I'm writing a book right now on mixed perspectives because I have a mixed perspective that's true to me. And it's going to speak to somebody.

I'm going to end on a fun one. If you could create any boy band with anybody in the world nowadays who would be in your band? 

(after some serious pondering)

Harry Styles, me, Tom Holland and Mario. 

Turning Red is out now on Disney+.