Category: Interviews

Opening in theaters on February 27th is the new family comedy ‘K-Pops!’, which was written, directed and stars musician Anderson .Paak (‘Trolls World Tour’).

In addition to .Paak, the film also stars Jee Young Han (‘Perry Mason’), Jonnie “Dumbfoundead” Park (‘Quiz Lady’), Yvette Nicole Brown (‘Community’), Kevin Woo (‘KPop Demon Hunters’), and Paak’s real-life son Soul Rasheed, as well as featuring a performance from Earth, Wind & Fire.

Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Anderson .Paak and Kevin Woo about their work on ‘K-Pops!’, how Paak came up with the idea for the film and why he wanted to direct, Woo’s first reaction to the screenplay, how he would describe his character, Earth, Wind & Fire’s cameo, and the choice to use animated transitions in the film.

You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interview.

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Moviefone: To begin with, Anderson, can you talk about having the idea for the film, developing the screenplay, and did you always plan to direct it?

Anderson .Paak: Yes, I knew I wanted to direct, but I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. But the genesis of the movie was inspired by my son (Soul Rasheed). During quarantine, I was stuck in the house, I couldn’t tour, so I was just chilling with my kids but before that I was touring for years straight. So, years go by, your kids get older, and you miss out on opportunities to really create a bond with them sometimes. This was a great opportunity for me to just do what interests him and figure out what his interests were. We had a ball. He wanted to be a YouTuber and he was obsessed with K-pop, and I didn’t know about either at the time. But all I knew was what I know, and I was pulling from the well of stuff that I knew. I didn’t know about being a YouTuber, but I knew that when I was young, me and my sisters, we loved making home videos and doing skits like we were on ‘In Living Color’ or ‘SNL’. That’s when I was like, “Son, let’s just do that, and maybe we can post that on your YouTube, and we can get you some subscribers.” That’s what we did, and that’s when I saw how naturally talented, and how funny he was, and musically inclined, and he was just picking up stuff. So, I was getting more hooked on being a YouTuber than he was, and I was up late editing videos. It just brought me back to when I was doing those films when I was a kid and realizing like, “Man, I want to make a film. I want to do something with me and my son where we can do this all the time. I want to develop a script.” Another thing that was happening was that my household was being taken over by K-pop. I didn’t know much about that, but I knew that my little kid who was eight years old at the time was obsessed with my music before that, and now he could care less. He was like, “BTS, this is the new group.” I’m like, “Okay, I got to figure out another way that I can be cool in the eyes of my son.” So, once I got introduced to K-pop and this stuff that he was listening to, I started realizing, “Oh, wow. This is pulling from the well of older Black acts like TLC, New Edition, and other boy bands, and I was even thinking about groups like Earth, Wind & Fire. Even when The Beatles came through, they were doing Black music as well, and doing blues and rock and roll. But for some reason when they came across the pond, and came with the little bowl cuts and stuff, the American kids were like, “We never heard this music before. This is amazing.” So that created the mania, and I thought it was similar. I thought, “Wow, this could be a unique thing that I could do where I could tell a story where I didn’t know I had a son that could be the next K-pop star. Maybe I was a washed-up musician. I can weave in these unique experiences that I had growing up with my Black culture and with Korean culture. I can put that in the film, and I can also put in a few teaching moments to show that this is the history of it, and if we acknowledge it, and we protect it, and we treat it right, it’ll treat us right. Now we can do something innovative and something new, our own interpretation of it.” So, it was an amazing process. But directing, I knew I wanted to do it. I didn’t want anybody around my kid. But none of the places that I went to really wanted to give me the opportunity, they always wanted to give it to another person until I got to Stampede Ventures and EST Studios. They were like, “Okay, we think you can do it. You can make an album, maybe you can do this.” One of the first days, I thought I could sleep in on a meeting and on a call time that was super early, and they sat me down right away. They’re like, “You can’t do that in film. This isn’t like the music industry, bro. There are so many people and so many things that you’re going to oversee. You have to be a leader and no one’s going to trust it and things are going to fall apart.” I learned quick, so I had to buckle up and get ready for those 6:00 AM call times, and those page turns, and figuring out what materials the extras were going to be wearing, and what color the walls needed to be. It was a lot, but I would do it all over again.

MF: Kevin, can you talk about your first reaction to the screenplay and how it honors K-pop music?

Kevin Woo: For me, it was a blast reading the screenplay. Anderson, and the team was smart about blending in K-pop culture, but not letting the narrative be too driven by K-pop itself. It was really about love, and family, and just finding your identity and your passion. But for me, as someone who’s from the K-pop world, it was intriguing. I loved how he incorporated the competition show that’s very popular right now in Korea and in Asia, with every kid wanting to be the next K-pop idol. But I thought it was funny. First and foremost, I just had a great time reading it. I think Anderson, it just came so naturally to him to play so many roles in the production of this film, wearing so many hats as a director, starring in it with his son, being a father on set, and also just being a leader and the captain of the ship. We just learned so much from his creativity and his input. It was just such a joy to play something that’s not so far removed from my actual career. So, it was such a huge blessing.

MF: Kevin, how would you describe your character in your own words and his rivalry with Anderson’s character?

KW: I play a character named Kang, and he is very cocky, very arrogant, and I am the antagonist of this film. Which is funny because this world lives in a comedy genre, so I’m not a super villain, but in the world of this K-pop competition show I am the villain. We do have some sparks here and there, with Anderson wanting to work with the top contestant of this competition show called ‘Wildcard’. The tension between the two characters is very heavy in the first few scenes, but you get to see it all play out throughout the film. I think personally for me, it was truly a joy to play something I would never play in real life with Anderson, because I respect Anderson so much as a musician, and as a peer. To explore all these different layers with being that cocky superstar in front of Anderson, I would love to do it again.

MF: Anderson, what was it like directing Earth, Wind & Fire and performing on getting to perform with them on set?

AP: I was feeling like Kevin just said, I didn’t feel like I had no business doing that. Those guys are icons and I look up to them. They are probably my favorite band, hands down, that I grew up listening to. So, to have them on set and at the Hard Rock Cafe, for my first film, with a bunch of extras, and have my son on set was incredible. It was their full band, and trying to pull off getting their performance, having shots at different angles, but also seeing if they were cool with doing a few jokes that we had thought of before, I was nervous. I just wanted everything to go smoothly and everything to go perfect. They were just an absolute joy to work with. They were very cool. Right away they were one of the first groups that were down to be in the movie. I sat down on a Zoom, and was nervous, and I was explaining what the film was about. They’re like, “Just stop, man. We love it. We love the idea. We love that it’s about family. We’re down.” That was just huge, man. When I told my mom they were in it she was just like, “Oh, this movie’s legit.” It was great. Even to have those songs in the movie it was just huge, man. Those are some of the biggest, joyous, fun songs. ‘Let’s Groove’ and ‘September’, that’s the makeup of my childhood, what I grew up listening to in the car and at family parties. So, the fact that we got that in the film is huge.

MF: Finally, Anderson, can you talk about the directorial choice to use animation for the film’s scene transitions and time jumps, rather than shooting montage sequences?

AP: We ran out of money, so thank God for animation, because I didn’t know what we were going to do. But it was crazy because when I was doing the references for what I wanted scenes to feel like, a lot of them were coming from animated films. So, a lot of these earlier drafts that I was putting together, they always had these comps from different animated films. Once I was getting into the film, they say you make three films, you do the script, and you shoot another film when you’re on set, and then you do another film in post. As we were in post, it was like, “Oh, man, I want to do this and that.” I was like, “You know what, man? Wouldn’t it be cool if we can incorporate some animation to create a bridge, and to help with some of these transitions? Also, they could be great for some of these original music moments.” For that to shine I think they worked hand in hand, and I knew the perfect guys that I wanted to do it with. Rhymezlikedimez, I had already had a history with them with my group NxWorries. We’ve done several music videos and they’ve done stuff with us on tour. But I knew this was going to be their first feature film, and I knew they weren’t a studio where they had 30 people, it’s just like two guys and they’re in Europe. So, they worked well with us in going through our notes with my editors. I think they only recently saw the film when it was at Tribeca, they never even got to see the full thing until not too long ago. But they were right in line with it and just killed it. I think it was a unique thing that you don’t see a lot now with the animation and live action. It wasn’t initially the thing that we were going to do, but I’m so glad we did it. After they did one sequence, I was like, “Oh, we need more. Please. Can you guys do more?” I wish we could’ve done a few more. But I think it worked out perfectly, especially helping to bridge and transition things and give the movie just more of a unique feel.

What is the plot of ‘K-Pops!’?

A Los Angeles musician (Anderson .Paak) hoping to revive his career moves to South Korea to join a K-pop band and compete in a televised music contest. He soon discovers that his long-lost son (Soul Rasheed) is poised to become a K-pop superstar. While initially clinging to his son for another shot at fame, he decides to prioritize his role as father as the two grow closer.

Who is in the cast of ‘K-Pops!’?

• Anderson .Paak as BJ
• Jee Young Han as Yeji
• Jonnie “Dumbfoundead” Park as Cash
• Soul Rasheed as Tae Young
• Yvette Nicole Brown as Brenda
• Cathy Shim as Diamond
• Kevin Woo as Kang
• Will Jay as Sunghoon
• Emi Kim as Eujin
• Eddie Park as Michi
• Riley Lai Nelet as Dakho

List of Anderson .Paak Movies:

• ‘Trolls World Tour‘ (2020)
• ‘Trolls Band Together‘ (2023)
• ‘Sweet Dreams‘ (2024)
• ‘K-Pops!‘ (2026)

Buy Anderson .Paak Movies on Amazon