Anderson .Paak Got His Ass Kicked Directing K-Pops! Movie With His Son | Interview
Anderson .Paak’s directorial debut is out this week, as the acclaimed musician releases his family comedy movie K-Pops! To learn more about his vision for the film, ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke with .Paak about directing his son in the film, using elements of his own life in it, and more. K-Pops! is out on February 27, exclusively at AMC Theatres nationwide.
“Meet BJ (Anderson .Paak), a fish-out-of-water musician on the search for stardom carrying a bruised heart from a complicated past relationship. On his journey to revive his music career, BJ lands a gig with a house band in Seoul for a K-Pop competition show. While working on the show, he discovers his long lost son, Tae Young (Soul Rasheed) is also chasing stardom. What follows is a story of uniting people and cultures through music and comedy, rebuilding relationships and learning how to trust people as they evolve,” says the official synopsis.
Tyler Treese: I was really impressed by this being your debut because your sense of humor really shines through. Even though it’s family-friendly, this is a film that the whole family can enjoy. It’s not just for kids. It’s the type of movie we don’t see as much in theaters anymore. So what made you want to go down this route?
Anderson .Paak: Yeah, I think that was why I think that… well first I was really inspired by my son and he inspired the whole thing, just spending time with him, creating a bond with him. During quarantine, I was at the house. There was no more touring, so I was chilling with the kids and seeing what they were interested in. And he wanted to be a YouTuber. He loved K-Pop. I was learning about both in real time, and all I could do was kind of like, always just pull from things that I know and from how I came up.
When it came to YouTube, I was like, well, man, this kind of reminds me of when I was doing skits with my little sisters and my big sisters, and we would just all day make little funny bits. We wanted to be like SNL or In Living Color. We had a blast, and I used to edit those videos, and it took me back to the genesis of my little filmmaking start, and I got to doing stuff like that with him.
I saw how naturally talented he was and how funny he was. He could dance, sing, he’d do everything. He wasn’t like, “try hard,” he was just kicking it with his dad, and we were having fun. Then I saw how he was getting all into K-pop. My whole house was taken over by K-pop, and I was like, okay, well, this reminds me of like the older acts, like. TLC, Boyz II Men, SWV, all these things I could see they’re pulling from the well of Black music from the 80s and 90s, and the producers and the sounds and stuff, and doing their own interpretation of it.
That’s not a new thing. Being a music nerd, we’ve seen people do interpretations of Black music and American pop music from the time of The Beatles to the Rolling Stones. So, there’s something about when other people do it, and they bring it over here, it becomes like a mania. So, I thought that was a similar thing with K-pop. I knew it had been brewing for years because my household was always kind of obsessed with it, but I think it was more of a Korean thing. Then it exploded out here, but by the time it exploded, they were already doing arenas out here and stuff. So I think people were like me were finding out and having to get on board.
So I thought that could be fun. What if I made a movie like that, where I didn’t know I had a kid, and he could be the next K-pop star? I had the opportunity to teach him about his Black heritage. He had an opportunity to teach me about the Korean side and we could show… I could provide like a bridge and show, and do funny commentary and show, tell a unique story where I can showcase both, while also being like a father-son film.
So it was tough, man. I got my ass kicked ’cause I was trying to tell this story, but also learning how to be a director of my first film, writing a film, acting, and also being a dad on set and working with my son. But if I had to do it again, I would. I can’t wait to do more.
You get one of the coolest scenes. You get to drum with Earth, Wind & Fire. How special was that?
That was huge, man. Like, the fact that they wanted to be involved, they’re probably my favorite band of all time. The fact that they were even down to be involved. We caught up on a Zoom, and they were like, “Just tell us what this is about.” I told ’em what it’s about and they were like, “You know what? We love the story we love, it’s about family. Let’s do it.”
The whole scene was based off of a real life experience I had when I was a kid. Earth, Wind & Fire was one of the first concerts that my mom took me to go see them in Vegas at Caesar’s Palace. Growing up, we knew all the songs because that’s how my mom played.
So, me and my little sister, these two little kids in the front row singing and all the lyrics to the song, and they’re like, “Who are these little kids? They know our music.” They were like, “You know what? Come up on stage,” and I got to go on stage and dance with them and I never forgot that. So, when I was coming up the script, I kind of wanted to put that in the film and figure out how to put that and we got to do some improv with them.
It was amazing. I was really nervous shooting that scene because I didn’t have a lot of time and I was dealing with… Like, we shot it at the Hard Rock Cafe and I had a bunch of extras and then I had the band and had right there and those are my idols and I didn’t wanna piss them off and I wanted everything to go smoothly. It did and they were great and they let me… like, we threw out some jokes and they were down to do it and I got to play with them, which was like, wow. It was a big honor. Yeah, that was one of the big moments from the movie.
Your son, he is just a charisma magnet. He’s incredible in this film. How was that set experience? Because I’m sure you want to make him cherish this, and it looks like he had a blast filming it, but you’re also trying to be on budget and be on time and it is work. So how is it finding that right balance there? Beause I’m sure you just wanted to have a blast with your son.
Anderson .Paak: And I did, and I had a ultimate good time and shout out to my team and they helped me balance it out. I had the incredible DP, I had incredible production, wardrobe, makeup, hair. Everybody, they were on point. They were on point with making sure that, “Okay, we’re gonna take care of this guy. This is his first movie, but we wanna make sure he is good to make sure his son’s good.” I was really focused on making sure that my son was okay on set, that he was good with his lines, I was good with our lines and it could be as natural as possible. Also it was something that he could watch and not be like, “This is cringe. I hate it.” I knew it was going to be like a capsule.
He was just like a baby when I started the idea and it took so long. We knew how movies work from making the script and then finally shooting and then editing. So, he was like eight years old when we thought of the idea. By the time we were shooting he was 11 and, and then going through puberty on set. So, he went from being like obsessed with K-pop to loving Slipknot.
So, I was like, “Oh, man, okay, well, some things I have to pivot now and we got to figure it out.” But he was with it. There was a time where, right before we shot, I had cold feet. I didn’t know if I could pull this off. Like being on set 6 a.m. doing these script changes, acting, being a father on set, but also trying to make sure that we got our lines together and then trying to do the music and dealing with the politics of K-pop and all the groups.
I was like, “I’m in over my head, maybe I can’t do this.” I was like, “You know what? Let me ask my son if he still wants to do this.” Because at the end of the day, if he doesn’t, maybe that could be my out. Because he deserves to be a kid at the end of the day. I asked him, “You still wanna do it?” He’s like, “Man, I better do it. I’ve been in acting classes for a year straight. You got me in choreo. I’m ready to do this. Are you ready to do this?” I’m like, “You know what? I am, let’s get it. We’re gonna learn and we’re gonna start strong and finish strong and we’re gonna do it together.”
It was amazing. I had to balance it out, but I think it was my team and we just got through it, man.
You were in the Michel Gondry Pharrell film, Golden. Was that a bummer to see that not get released? It sounded so cool from everything that I was hearing.
Man… Just honestly, though, it was such a miracle and a honor to be on set to be able to be under Michel and work with him. He’s a legend to me. He’s done some of my favorite works and just to be able to be on that cast and be on that set with those amazing actors and just to see the set design, the outfits that Pharrel had us in… I had a blast and I had just a very little role and then I was there and I had a great time in the city.
I learned it just a lot, even from being on set little as I did, I learned a lot from Michel. I was working on K-Pops! at the same time and was telling him, and he gave me some great insight and pointers. I know it didn’t come out, but I’m grateful for opportunity to be on set, and hopefully maybe they’ll release it later or something, but I’m grateful for the opportunity I had.
Thanks to Anderson .Paak for taking the time to talk about K-Pops! and his career.
Source: Comingsoon.net