Maxance Vincent
There’s no denying KPop Demon Hunters has been an incredible success, in theatres, on Netflix, and on the music charts. It’s a movie that has taken audiences by surprise, but the universal power of the story, alongside great music, essentially set it up for greatness before it became a global phenomenon.
Awards Radar had the privilege to recently sit down with directors Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans, who are still trying to process how their movie became such a worldwide hit, and had many things to say about the power of animation as a whole:
For Maggie Kang, “it’s an exaggeration of real life. There are expressions that we feel we cannot convey through a human face. We can create those extremes through animation. So I think it’s satisfying to see and feel that visually, on a grander scale. I think most of us have watched animation growing up. There’s always that kid in us that still reminds us that we can still feel joy and in the smallest things, and take us back to those times when we enjoyed it as a kid, but also on a different level, as adults, through movies like this that are appealing to an older audience, telling deeper stories with darker themes and bigger problems. Because of that, this movie has specifically been appealing to a wider audience, because everybody can see something in it that’s for them.”
For Chris Appelhans, “kids are really smart, and they can’t always articulate the complex feelings they’re already having and perceiving about the world and the way they navigate it. I think it’s always smart to write stories that make sense to you as an adult and trust, in most cases, that kids will follow. If your storytelling is clear, interesting, and there’s some truth in it, they’re going to pick up on it, and they’re going to be interested.”
For vocalists and singers EJAE, AUDREY NUNA, and REI AMI, the fact that the movie is still breaking many records feels incredibly surreal.
EJAE explains that she has been on the project for about four or five years before release, and “it was a long journey, but the story was always amazing. It was all about the execution. Everyone does an incredible job. So when we watched it at the premiere, that’s when I felt that it had lots of potential.”
AUDREY NUNA states that “it’s one thing to break records. It’s another thing to break records that you didn’t even know existed. And it feels pretty miraculous for us watching everything happen.”
For REI AMI, “when the sing-along happened in theaters and we broke another box office record, I think that just goes to show the power of incredible films and art. This came out on streaming. People didn’t have to buy tickets and spend extra money to go to a theater and see it. They could have streamed it at home, but chose not to. They chose to get in the car, put the baby in the car seat, pack the diaper bag, and go to the theater. What kind of mom and dad wants to do that in this economy? Even after watching it millions of times, they still went to the theater.”
There was, of course, a lot more to talk about in our brief conversations, and you can view the full videos below.
Check out the full interview with directors Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans below:
Check out the full interview with singers EJAE, AUDREY NUNA and REI AMI below:
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