‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Creator Maggie Kang on the Global Hit No One Saw Coming

“KPop Demon Hunters” is the brainchild of Korean-Canadian animator Maggie Kang. It’s Netflix’s biggest-ever film and follows Rumi, Mira and Zoey, members of the girl band Huntrix, as they battle to save the world from dark forces.  As you’ll hear, Kang grew up loving Korean pop music long before it was globally cool and forged a Hollywood career on films including “The Lego Ninjago Movie” and “Kung Fu Panda 3.” In this conversation with Mishal Husain, Kang explains how she had always hoped a story about Korea would one day come her way. But it never did, so she came up with her own. Kang is in the middle of a life-changing moment. Her movie has already scored wins at the Golden Globes and the Grammys, and now all eyes are on the Oscars. The extraordinary thing is that no one expected “KPop Demon Hunters” to be such a smash hit. Husain asks Kang what it’s been like adjusting to all the attention, and of course whether there’s a sequel in the works. 03:06 - “A global phenomenon”04:17 - The screaming fans05:01 - The movie theater screenings 06:49 - Pitching “KPop Demon Hunters”09:27 - Living between two cultures12:04 - Growing up as an “outsider”16:34 - Kang’s first animation book 17:16 - “I liked to draw” 18:21 - Recording the voiceover, over and over20:11 - The story of “Golden” 21:39 - Rumi, Mira and Zoey in “Golden”23:00 - Waiting for “the tingles”25:25 - “We kinda worried it was a little cheesy”27:27 - Helping the world find Korean culture29:30 - Choosing the title for a “kooky” movie34:20 - A message from Kang to the fans34:48 - “There’s a sequel, surely?”35:14 - Live action “KPop Demon Hunters”? 37:01 - “I’m still very grounded”37:22 - Diving back into the sequel? 38:00 - “Wow! You are going to the Oscars!” Read this interview with Mishal’s notes on Bloomberg Weekend: www.bloomberg.com/latest/weekend-interview Contact The Mishal Husain Show [email protected] Visit https://www.bloomberg.com/mishal Contact The Mishal Husain Show [email protected] Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.