Anderson Paak is looking for an exit.
The multi-Grammy Award-winning R&B artist, rapper and drummer is about to dive into the world of filmmaking, where he will co-write, star in and provide original music. Korean pop musicwhich also happens to be his directorial debut. Even further, his on-screen son is played by .Paak’s real-life son, 13-year-old Soul Rasheed.
“I remember there was a moment where I thought I wasn’t going to make it,” Paak said of the film. “Then [writers] The strike happened and I was like, ‘Okay, I’m out. I asked my son, “Do you still want to do this?” He said, “I better do it.” I’ve been taking acting and dance classes for months! ”
The film, which will premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and is sold through WME Independent, stars Paak as a selfish, washed-up musician who plays a drummer on a South Korean pop reality show. It turns out that one of the contestants happens to be the son he never knew he had.
The project was shot on location in South Korea, which was a meaningful experience for .Paak, who is of Korean descent. “My mother was born in Korea,” he said. “She was adopted, she never met her parents. We got to go there with the family and get back to our roots.
Ahead of the film’s premiere, .Paak spoke with hollywood reporter On diving into the world of K-pop, working with his son, and future filmmaking ambitions: “For the next one, maybe I’ll just do one or two things.”
where did this idea come from Korean pop music From?
it starts with [COVID-19] Quarantine. Everything is shut down and I’m hanging out in the house and playing soccer with my kids. My son was really into YouTube and he said, “I want to be a YouTuber.” I was like, “Okay, let’s do it. We’re going to be YouTubers!” I went to his page, and it was a video game tutorial. He wanted to Subscribers, so I said, “Let’s try to do some skits! “We started chatting and I discovered that he had a natural knack for progress. We had a really close relationship. I started getting super into it. I was filming all these videos and staying up late editing them so we could post them. It was also around this time that my The whole house is obsessed with K-pop. His mom is fully Korean and I’m partially Korean, but I don’t know anything about my Korean heritage and I always push him to get to know his black side. “You know BTS. What’s a bet? I think this might be a funny story: If I wasn’t involved in my son’s life, and he grew up in Korea and I discovered him later, we had to understand each other’s culture.
How did you decide to direct this film yourself?
I think this is the first time we meet [with Stampede Ventures and Greg Silverman]. I had just played a show the night before and they wanted to meet at 8am or some crazy phone time. I was like, “No, push the meeting. Let’s meet later.” Greg said, “Look, man, I don’t know what the music industry is like, but that’s not how it works in movies. You have to be there.” There were a lot of people involved. If you really wanted to do this, especially if you wanted to be a director, you had to get there on time and make it happen. I want to do this and I’m going to go all out and I want to start making 10 to 15 music videos to make a video reel that I can watch. [Stampede].
.Paak (far right) with his son Soul Rasheed (center) and Jee Young Han in K-pop. “My son is ready,” Paak said. “At one point I just thought, ‘I need to start taking action.'”
Jack Giles Nate
How did studying K-pop inform this story?
That’s part of the reason we set it up as a competition show. Hat tip to my co-author Khaila Amazan. We started researching and found out that these kids had been in these groups since they were kids, and many of them were on these shows, e.g. Creation 101. I grew up with some boy bands: New Kids on the Block, New Edition, even the Jackson 5. All of these people have their own personalities – quiet, strong, for example – and in my research I discovered that there are similar characters in K-pop. When learning about its history, I discovered that they were inspired by 90s R&B and even gospel music. back to origins [the film]I want to be able to spend time with my kid and show him that no matter what you like, it’s wise to go back and learn its history in order to create something unique and original. It will always take care of you.
You talked about wanting to explore black and Korean culture in the story. Is this something you explore in film sound as well?
I want to understand duality. I want to give people a chance to hear some new music of my own and collaborate with other K-pop artists. I was able to work with some very talented K-pop producers. Dem Jointz produces for everyone in the K-pop industry and he helps produce these big hits like [film’s K-pop reality show] wild card scene and taeyoung’s last song. Then we worked with people like Crush and Jay Park, who made some guest appearances. Then there are the scores. We were able to work with a very talented prodigy, Emily Bell. The hardest thing was getting all these musical elements and numbers in the movie, but it was also one of the most satisfying. I just finished the whole mix now and it sounds great.
What is it like working with your son?
My son is such a soldier. When we were filming, he was becoming a teenager and going through puberty. This could have been a real train wreck, but it wasn’t. My son is more than ready. At one point I thought, “I need to start my work. He’s acting around me. I’m preparing for other things because I’m directing, and then I thought, “Wait a minute, let me go over my lines. “Everyone was very patient. There were days where I could tell he wasn’t feeling well as soon as he woke up at 5 a.m. every morning. At that point, you have to go into parent mode and say, ‘Okay, let’s do this. We still want to Find something else. By the time we got to the set, he wasn’t into K-pop anymore and he was like, “I’m in nirvana now. ” I thought, “Well, well, shit, we’ve got investors on board now, kid. ” (laugh.) I’m glad I was able to be there, work with him, and get to a place where he felt comfortable. He doesn’t flinch when he sees it. This is also very important to me.
After your feature film and directorial debut, would you like to get into filmmaking again?
I was obsessed – I wanted to do it again. I think if I were to act, I would benefit a lot from working with a really good director. Or with actors if I’m directing. Everything is a little difficult to do. For the next one, maybe I just do one or two things.
This story first appeared in the September 4 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
