KPop Demon Hunters: Netflix Movie Was Much More Violent Originally, Directors Reveal
ComingSoon Senior Editor Brandon Schreur spoke with KPop Demon Hunters directors Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans about the hit animated Netflix movie. Kang and Appelhans discussed how the movie has changed since it was originally pitched seven years ago, exploring the power of music in the film, and more.
“When they aren’t selling out stadiums, Kpop superstars Rumi, Mira, and Zoey use their secret identities as badass demon hunters to protect their fans from an ever-present supernatural threat,” the official synopsis reads. “Together, they must face their biggest enemy yet – an irresistible rival boy band of demons in disguise.”
KPop Demon Hunters is now streaming globally on Netflix.
Brandon Schreur: Maggie, I want to start with you. I read an interview you did in the past where you talked about how it was seven years from when you first pitched this movie to when it was released. I’m sure that was an incredible journey. Do you remember that first pitch meeting for KPop Demon Hunters? How did the movie change from that first pitch to the time when it came out?
Maggie Kang: Yeah, it was pitched over a brunch with my producer friend, who is also friends with Chris. It was literally kind of an elevator pitch. Like, it’s a movie about these girls who are K-pop idols, but are secretly demon hunters. He was like, ‘I love it, let’s do this.’
I thought he was totally joking, but the next week, he had a deal ready for me at Sony Pictures Animation. It was actually first developed as a lower-budget movie. It was going to be a lot more violent. It was going to be a much messier individual, kind of like a failure of the family, and it was a story of her kind of coming out of that and becoming this prideful person and making her family proud. Throughout the process, I think we were about eight months into development, and Kristine Belson said, ‘Guys, I think this is a bigger movie.’ That’s when we started to think about a bigger scope, hitting all demographics. That’s when Chris joined us and we started to write the first draft.
You know, it’s seven years, but animation — luckily and thankfully — goes through many different phases. You have the script phase, and then you start art and you start digital, where you’re actually making the assets. Then you start going into animation. There are all these different milestones you hit, so it’s a very rewarding process, even though it’s quite long.
Sure. I’m glad it all turned out so well; I’m sure there were a million steps to think about, but it’s great. Chris, I’d love to know about how you got involved with the project, too. Do you remember what it was that originally made you want to be part of KPop Demon Hunters when you heard about this for the first time? What excited you the most when you first heard about it?
Chris Appelhans: Yeah, two things. My wife is an author; she’s kind of like the first Korean American voices in Young Adult fiction. So she’s a very smart, funny, weird person. She was always telling me for years, ‘You’ve got to do better female characters.’ When I sat down with Maggie, she was like, ‘I have this vision for these girls that are funny, smart, weird, vengeful, and food-obsessed.’ I was like, ‘Please. Let me help you.’ That’s been really awesome to see those characters kind of forming a new archetype of what a role model can be.
The other part, I grew up as a musician as much as an artist. When Maggie and I, we met at some coffee shop and she told me about the movie, and I was trying to play it cool the whole time.
Kang: I know. I was like, ‘I don’t think he’s into this.’
Appelhans: Inside, I was like, ‘Holy crap, this is the one.’ I’ve wanted to do a film about music. One of the things that we bonded really early on was this idea — which can sound really cheesy — that you make a film about the power of music, as a connective thing. I had lived that, as a musician, my whole life. And Maggie’s an OG K-pop fan, so we both had a lived experience of how music can transform you.
I think that really helped us find a spine — it led to so many things, like the hunters and the homeland. All that mythology is a way to try and dramatize that somewhat cheesy concept. But we really believed in it. From that point forward, I feel like the movie really started to tell us what it wanted.
Thanks to Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans for taking the time to discuss KPop Demon Hunters.
Source: Comingsoon.net