''K-Pops!'' is a 2024 American

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

directed and produced by musician Anderson .Paak (in his directorial debut), who also wrote the screenplay with Khaila Amazan. .Paak stars in the film alongside

Jee Young Han Jee Young Han is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Marion Kang on ''Perry Mason'' and for her role as Esti Nelson on the Hulu/Onyx Collective series '' Unprisoned''. Career Film Han's career in film began starring in a s ...

, Jonnie "Dumbfoundead" Park (who also produced), Soul Rasheed, and

Yvette Nicole Brown Yvette Nicole Brown (born August 12, 1971) is an American actress. She starred as Shirley Bennett on the NBC sitcom ''Community'', as Dani in the 2015 reboot of '' The Odd Couple'' on CBS, and as Dina Rose on the ABC sitcom '' The Mayor''. Br ...

Premise

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

musician hoping to revive his career moves to

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

to join a K-pop band and compete in a televised music contest. He soon discovers that his long-lost son is poised to become a K-pop superstar. While initially clinging to his son for another shot at fame, he decides to prioritize his role as father as the two grow closer.

Cast

* Anderson .Paak as BJ *

as Yeji * Jonnie "Dumbfoundead" Park as Cash * Soul Rasheed as Tae Young *

as Brenda * Cathy Shim as Diamond *

Kevin Woo Kevin Woo (born November 25, 1991), also known mononymously as Kevin, is a South Korean- American singer-songwriter and television host based as a in New York City. He is primarily known as a former member of South Korean boy band U-KISS fro ...

as Kang * Will Jay as Sunghoon * Emi Kim as Eujin * Eddie Park as Michi * Riley Lai Nelet as Dakho K-pop artists Vernon,

Crush Crush may refer to: * Infatuation or limerence, the romantic attraction to another person * Puppy love, feelings of love, romance, or infatuation felt by young people Crush may also refer to: Film * Crush (1972 film), ''Crush'' (1972 film), a H ...

, The Rose,

Jessi Jessi may refer to: People * Jessi (musician) (born 1988), Korean-American rapper, singer, and songwriter * Gianluigi Jessi (born 1945), Italian basketball player * Jessi Alexander (born 1976), American country music artist * Jessi Colter (b ...

, and

G-Dragon Kwon Ji-yong (; born August 18, 1988), best known as G-Dragon (), is a South Korean rapper, singer, songwriter, and entrepreneur, known as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of K-pop". Born and raised in Seoul, South Korea, G-Drag ...

also appear in the film as cameos.

Production

Drawing from his own life in conceiving the film, .Paak developed ''K-Pops!'' with rapper

Dumbfoundead Jonathan Edgar Park (born February 18, 1986), known by his stage name Dumbfoundead (), is an Argentinian-born American rapper and actor. He began his career in the 2000s as a battle rapper in Los Angeles and has since become one of the most pro ...

and collaborated with Khaila Amazan on the screenplay. The project was first announced in 2022. Filming began in

in October 2023 after the production company

Stampede Ventures Jaeson Ma (; born Jason Cheng Yuen Ma, November 11, 1980) is an American entrepreneur, artist, minister, and media executive. He is the founder of the east-west talent, brand strategy & investment firm East West Ventures, a co-founder of 88risi ...

reached an interim agreement with

SAG-AFTRA The Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists

amidst the union's 2023 strike. Additional filming took place in

and

Al-Ula al-Ula (), officially AlUla, is an ancient Arabian oasis city and governorate located in Medina Province, Saudi Arabia, northwest of the city of Medina. Situated in the Hejaz, a region that features prominently in the history of Islam as well ...

; locations in the Saudi Arabian city were scouted by the film department of the

Royal Commission for Al-Ula Royal Commission for al-Ula (RCU; ) is a Saudi commission established in July 2017 to preserve and develop the 2,000-year-old archaeological and historical site of al-Ula north-western Saudi Arabia. Importance of al-Ula Al-Ula is the home of T ...

. .Paak and

Dem Jointz Dwayne Allen Abernathy Jr. (born July 17, 1976), known professionally as Dem Jointz, is an American record producer, songwriter and singer. He has been credited with production work for artists including Kanye West, Rihanna, Anderson .Paak, Emi ...

collaborated on original songs for the film, while

Emily Bear Emily Jordan Bear (born August 30, 2001) is an American composer, pianist, songwriter and singer. After beginning to play the piano and compose music as a small child, Bear made her professional piano debut at the Ravinia Festival at the age of ...

composed its musical score.

Release

''K-Pops!'' premiered as a Special Presentation at the

2024 Toronto International Film Festival The 49th annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from September 5–15, 2024. The festival opened with David Gordon Green's film ''Nutcrackers (film), Nutcrackers'', and closed with Rebel Wilson's directorial debut film ''The Deb (fil ...

on September 7, 2024.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, tt19896510 2024 films 2020s American films 2020s English-language films Films shot in Saudi Arabia Films set in South Korea Works about the music industry Works about K-pop