KPop Demon Hunters creator and co-director Maggie Kang knows she’s on the right creative track when she’s a little afraid.
“I think you should be scared to present stuff because that means that you’re doing something original and different,” she tells MovieMaker. “Hopefully we see more things that are different and creative minds can just really go for it.”
The animated hit, which Kang co-directed with Wish Dragon veteran Chris Appelhans, is Netflix’s most popular film in the company’s history, with more than 325 million views. That’s just one of the records it has broken: Its two-day theatrical sing-along release this past August gave Netflix their first top box office position ever, breakout single “Golden” spent weeks atop the Billboard charts.
The musical action comedy from Netflix and Sony Animation follows the K-pop group Huntr/x, which consists of Rumi, Mira, and Zoey, who moonlight as demon hunters. The film balances anime-influenced art with unforgettable songs and silly jokes, like Mira and Zoey chanting “couch couch couch” in anticipation of some much-needed rest post-tour. It’s all held together by the girls’ friendship, even through hard times.
“There was always that desire to show a different kind of female superhero that’s silly and not afraid to look stupid,” Kang says.
Kang, who has worked as a storyboard artist on Over the Hedge and Shrek Forever After, and as head of story on The Lego Ninjago Movie, was inspired by Korean mythology and a long-braided character named Rumi. When she brought the idea to Sony Pictures Animation, producer Aron Warner paired her with director Appelhans, who immediately saw the potential. They co-wrote the screenplay with Danya Jiminez and Hannah McMechan.
We spoke with Kang and Appelhan about meeting for the first time, seamless voices, and being “fueled by fear.”
Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans on Their KPop Demon Hunters Collaboration
Moviemaker: Maggie, since this all started with your character Rumi, how did you land on the idea of KPop Demon Hunters?
Maggie Kang: There was always that desire to show a different kind of female superhero that’s silly and not afraid to look stupid and likes to eat and was just always trying to be funny. That’s kind of who I am. I just wanted to see that female character and that was the tone I wanted for all the girls.
With Rumi, I think specifically we really loved the idea of our movie about demons, inner demons, and her inner demon. Being a literal demon felt like a fun way to play the main character and have her be this kind of burdened person, but also finding silliness in her so that she’s not a total drag, because that could be really annoying for a main character. That “couch, couch, couch” scene served a lot of purposes, but one of the things was like, “Okay, let’s see. We may be a little silly before we get to know what her huge emotional turmoil is.”
Moviemaker: Chris, how did you get on board and what did the co-director partnership look like between you and Maggie?
Chris Appelhans: I came right off of finishing Wish Dragon and was really tired. I was like, “Yeah, I’m going to take a nice long break and not do anything.” And then Aron Warner, who originally brought this project to Sony with Maggie, was like, “Oh, you should hear about this thing. It’s right up your alley.” Then I met Maggie. I was playing it cool on the surface, but within 10 minutes I’m like, “Okay, this idea is amazing — this person has good taste.”
On a personal level, I’ve been trying to figure out a good excuse to make a movie about music that wasn’t a conventional musical, and I just never had an idea that clicked. So this was an awesome opportunity to see what was possible by taking the pop music form and trying to tell stories with it without losing the cool part, which is what happens so often.
It was a great mashup of stuff that we both liked and I felt like the partnership was so easy. We pretty much saw the same movie in our heads. I think there are things that you want in a partnership that is a shared vision. But also there’s stuff that Maggie could bring to the girls’ relationships, to the comedy, to the range that I could never do.
Maggie Kang: I think it got to a point where one of us would be away and we’d be confident enough knowing that the other person wanted the same thing. We would make decisions for both of us.
Chris Appelhans: Even the writing, we would pass the Final Draft files back and forth and once somebody does a pass. It always felt like that whatever was missing from the scene, the other person would have an angle on.
Moviemaker: When the film was first announced, it was part of Sony Animation’s more mature slate. Was there an earlier juncture where it was darker before it became more family oriented?
Maggie Kang: Yeah, it was, and this was even before Chris came on. It was never really my want to make a movie that was very dark and very adult, I guess kind of like Blue Eye Samurai. That’s such a cool show. But me, I’m always going to be stupid, funny, and I’m sure that there is a movie that does both of that, but it wasn’t really the thing that I wanted to do. So I think where we landed tonally is exactly the movie that I wanted to make really from the very beginning.
Moviemaker: Tell me about finding the perfect assembling of the singers and the voice talent corresponding to the girls. You have two voices for one character and everyone’s just seamless.
Maggie Kang: [Laughs] It wasn’t, like, planned.
Chris Appelhans: What helped is we took a long time to cast all the parts, voice and singing. As in animation, we worked so hard on writing the characters and temping their voices, and screening the movie three or four times. By the time we were casting voices, we really knew who these girls were inside and out. We could not only pick the right actor or singer, but communicate very clearly about what’s happening inside of Rumi, Mira and Zoey. So that when Rei Ami or Audrey Nuna are performing the lyrics, they’re as tuned in to who this person is and what their desires and insecurities are as Ji-young Yoo or May Hong would be doing the voices.
Maggie Kang: I think even when we were writing the music, we knew who the characters were. And so even in their verse or the lyrics that they’re singing, we wanted to infuse that personality in them. When it came time to cast the singers, we knew the type of vibe we needed for each of the characters. When we met them, it was like, “Oh my gosh, you are the characters!” We feel that way about the voice cast, but also about the vocal cast. It’s so crazy.
Moviemaker: I’ve seen so many different artists saying, “I have not been able to touch my pen for months, and this movie brought it back.” How does it feel to know that?
Maggie Kang: It’s amazing that it sparked creativity in other artists. It’s a hard time for original IP, and I think everybody wants that and obviously the audience does, too. So for the artists specifically, I would say it was hard making this movie.
It’s pretty terrifying to put a new thing out there — even something like corn eyes or how stupid the girls are and how they eat on the plane. You’re like, “We don’t know if people are going to like this. It could be too much.” But we didn’t want to dumb it or water it down. We wanted to present it the way that we wanted to do it.
That’s scary at times. But I hope that we can see more projects and more movies that are just kind of fueled by fear, because that is true passion. I think you should be scared to present stuff because that means that you’re doing something original and different. Hopefully we see more things that are different and creative minds can just really go for it.
Chris Appelhans: I think if you said we’re going to make an animated movie about shame, I don’t think that’s like a real catchy pitch. We tried really hard to think about what that meant. It is a very personal story, even if it doesn’t necessarily seem like it on the surface, if you see the title. And I think, to what Maggie said, original IP is personal. Inherently because somebody has to want it to exist so bad that they bring it into the world.
I think hopefully this will crack the door for more and also give people that conviction to go out there and put all of themselves into a piece of work.
KPop Demon Hunters is now streaming on Netflix.
Main image: KPop Demon Hunters. Netflix.