Sandra Oh knew she had to join Netflix's next animated movie 'Over the Moon' after a producer stopped her car in a parking lot

• Sandra Oh ("Killing Eve") will voice a character in Netflix's next full-length animated feature, "Over the Moon."
• It's the final movie written by screenwriter Audrey Wells, who died in 2018 after a battle with cancer.
• During a press event, producer Peilin Chou said Wells wrote the film as a love letter to her daughter and husband before her death.
• Producer Gennie Rim recalled stopping Oh's car in a parking lot to get her to be a part of Wells' final film. Oh also appeared in Wells' first film.
• "Over the Moon" will stream on Netflix this fall.

Sandra Oh may not have been a part of Netflix's next feature-length animated movie if a producer didn't stop her car in a parking lot.

"I know the script had come to me and it was just not fitting in [to my schedule]," said Oh during a press event for the film with the cast and director that Insider virtually attended.

"Over the Moon" follows a young girl, Fei Fei (Cathy Ang), as she grapples with her father moving on after the loss of her mother. Fei Fei builds a rocket to travel to the moon to prove the existence of the goddess, Chang'e, a story her mother used to share with her.

Oh ("Killing Eve") voices Fei Fei's future stepmother, Mrs. Zhong.

The film is the first feature-length movie directed by legendary Disney animator Glen Keane. It's also the last film from screenwriter Audrey Wells ("The Hate U Give"). Wells died in 2018, at the age of 58, after a battle with cancer.

Oh has a long history of working with the screenwriter. She had previously appeared in Wells' first movie, "Guinevere," "Under the Tuscan Sun," and "The Princess Diaries," which Wells had a hand in writing.

"Over the Moon" producer Gennie Rim approached Oh at a Writers Guild memorial service for Wells in hopes to get her to be a part of the screenwriter's final movie.

"I did my stalker move where we were trying to get you to become part of this and I know the schedule wasn't working," said Rim, recalling the moment for the cast and crew.

This was the first time many of them were meeting for the first time since making the film.

"I knew you were there and I heard that you had left the building and I ran after you into the parking lot," Rim continued. "I stopped your car and I said, 'Please. Please. Please be a part of this.' I felt a wave of Audrey pulling me to come find you to be part of this."

"Everything about that moment was right," said Oh.

"I did know she was sick. Do you know what I mean? And, it's for lots of reasons that it's difficult to read something that you... that just is…" Oh said of it being tough to pick up and read Wells' script as she visibly held back tears.

After their parking lot encounter, Oh took a look at the script.

"When I read it, it was just like... It was like Audrey just basically punched me in the face," said Oh. "And it's just like, 'What are you doing? You need to…' Yeah, there's a lot of meaning in this for all of us and I do have a personal connection with that."

The film, based on the tale of Chang'e and the archer, Houyi, also stars John Cho, Ruthie Ann Miles, Phillipa Soo ("Hamilton"), Ken Jeong, Kimiko Glenn, and Margaret Cho.

During a nearly 40-minute conversation with press, producer Peilin Chou described Wells as "the heart and soul" of "Over the Moon."

"I came to know, much later in the process, how meaningful the script was to her," said Chou. "About a year in, she shared with me that she was sick and she didn't know how much time she had left."

"She had written this script as a love letter to her daughter and her husband with a very wonderful message about what happens when you lose someone, that the love that you share lasts forever," Chou added. "It was something she really wanted her daughter to have and know. She told me it was the most important script she had ever written."

Chou said it was important to Wells that the story was made and she was able to screen a version of the film before her death, which she "really, really loved."

"I was so happy that you stopped my car," Oh said to Rim, explaining it was as if Wells was telling her, "You did my first film. You need to do the last one."

"I'm so grateful that it was still open for me to be a part of and to join the cast," said Oh.

"We are grateful," said Rim, adding, "Thank you for not driving away from a crazy person who was running after you."

"Over the Moon" will stream on Netflix this fall.