On the afternoon of April 1, a press conference marking the Academy Awards win for Netflix’s animated film “K-Pop Demon Hunters” was held at CGV Yongsan I’Park Mall in Seoul’s Yongsan district. Directors Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans attended with composer EJAE (Lee Jae) and the producing team IDO (Lee Yoo-han, Kwak Jung-gyu and Nam Hee-dong).
Since its release last June, “K-Pop Demon Hunters” has swept major awards, winning the 83rd Golden Globe for animated film and original song and the 68th Grammy Award for OST. At the 98th Academy Awards, it won best animated feature and best original song.
Kang said the project began with a desire to see Korean culture reflected in animation.
“When I was young, the animations I watched were like ‘Mulan,’ seen through Chinese culture, or Japanese animation. I had never seen a work that contained Korean culture,” she said. “I wanted to give that kind of film to Korea. I needed it, but I felt all Koreans needed it. We love animation, but we felt we didn’t have our own project, so we wanted to make one.”
She also spoke about misconceptions surrounding Koreans raised abroad.
“I thought there were misunderstandings about people who are called ‘gyopo,’” Kang said. “There are many cases — people born in Korea and those who weren’t — but sometimes gyopo think, ‘I’m not fully Korean.’”
She added, “EJAE and I have worked in entertainment and reached global markets. As people who live in both cultures, I thought we could serve as a real bridge. I wanted to represent people like us — that even if you weren’t born and raised in Korea, you are part of Korean culture, and a different upbringing doesn’t diminish being Korean.”
EJAE said she grew up split between Korea and the United States and remembered being mocked in the U.S. for loving K-pop.
“I really liked K-pop. I liked g.o.d and H.O.T., but in the U.S. I was teased,” she said. “I came to Korea, lived as a trainee and worked on K-pop music, but I never imagined it would spread worldwide.”
She said the Oscars stage felt like a reversal of that experience.
“I used to be teased as a kid, but when I sang K-pop on the Oscars stage and saw the directors, actors and staff cheering, the lyric ‘unbreakable forever’ (from ‘Golden’) hit me and I cried,” she said. “I felt so proud.”
The team also shared behind-the-scenes details from the Oscars opening performance, which featured dancers dressed as grim reapers wearing traditional gat hats and performers in elegant hanbok. The sequence began with “Hunters Mantra,” led by two singers performing pansori in Korean, and transitioned into Huntrix’s “Golden.”
EJAE said she knew the stage would include Korean traditional music and pansori before “Golden,” but did not see the full “Hunters Mantra” performance until after the event.
“After everything ended, I watched it and cried a lot,” she said. “Ray Ami and Audrey — they grew up in the U.S. and didn’t know much about Korean culture. I thought, ‘Finally, we can do our country’s pansori on a stage this big,’ and I felt proud as a Korean. It was satisfying and moving.”
She added that she was too nervous to look into the audience during the performance, but later saw video of Leonardo DiCaprio and Emma Stone enjoying the stage while holding light sticks.
“I was really surprised. I didn’t expect that,” she said. “I thought, ‘This is the power of K.’”
The team said they decided who would speak onstage by playing rock-paper-scissors.
“We decide everything fairly with rock-paper-scissors. It’s completely Korean,” Kwak said. “Going to the Golden Globes and giving the Oscars acceptance speech were decided that way, so Lee Yoo-han went onstage.”
Lee Yoo-han said he regretted not being able to say everything because of time limits.
“I wanted to say to everyone’s families, to The Black Label producers, and to our members, ‘You worked hard, congratulations,’” he said. “It was a short speech, and I was disappointed I couldn’t say it onstage. But it was an honor, and I really enjoyed it.”
Nam said there were no major points left unsaid.
“We all discussed what to say, and there’s nothing we didn’t say,” he said. “I enjoyed everything from behind — watching the actors from the stage, and everything unexpected. It was all enjoyable and an honor.”
A possible sequel was also discussed.
“I still want to keep it secret,” Kang said. “I want to show it without a single spoiler. We have the big idea, but we don’t know the details yet. Like the first film, Chris and I will make the movie we want to see. It will be bigger than the first, with more events.”
Appelhans said the relationship between the film and its fans shaped how the team thinks about a second installment.
“Our relationship with the fans is special,” he said. “I think the fans found our film, discovered it and introduced it to the world. They feel like family who have been with us from the beginning.”
“If we make a second film, we want to bring what we had in the first,” he said. “That doesn’t mean repetition. It means surprising fans, overturning expectations and expanding the limits. Under all of that, I think there has to be ‘Koreanness’ — whether it’s the story, the culture or the mythic elements. Based on that, we want to break new rules and present a new story.”
Appelhans said he has come to understand Korean life through his family.
“I’ve lived as part of my family, my wife’s family, for 20 years,” he said. “I came to know Korean life by understanding my wife’s life — not by studying or observing, but by becoming part of it. I’ve been surprised watching how Koreans express love and endure pain. I think I’ve lived more than half my life with Korean ways of expression, and that’s how I learned and came to know ‘Koreanness.’”
On the scale of a sequel, Appelhans said Netflix has provided strong support and is enthusiastic about the next project, while stressing that story comes first.
“As film directors, we feel responsible for how we use the budget we’re given,” he said. “When we write, build the world and design characters, we work with the mindset of delivering the coolest spectacle. If you think of the budget as a ‘box,’ a bigger box can mean something. But what matters most is the story inside it. That foundation has to come first for the spectacle to work.”
“K-Pop Demon Hunters” is an action-fantasy animated film about K-pop superstars Rumi, Mira and Joy, who become hidden heroes protecting the world behind their glamorous stage lives. Released last June, it ranked No. 1 in all-time Netflix film viewing hours and recorded 325.1 million views over 91 days after its release.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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