5 Things We Learned at the 'KPop Demon Hunters' Press Conference
The singing voices of HUNTR/X (EJAE, AUDREY NUNA & REI AMI), and directors Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans, discuss bringing 'KPop Demon Hunters' to life.
(L to R) Chris Appelhans (Director/Writer), Maggie Kang (Director/Writer), EJAE (Vocalist - Rumi / Songwriter, “Golden,” “How It’s Done,” “Your Idol” & “Hunter’s Mantra”), AUDREY NUNA (Vocalist - Mira), and REI AMI (Vocalist - Zoey) attend the press conference for Netflix's 'KPop Demon Hunters'. Photo: Netflix.
Netflix's 'KPop Demon Hunters' has been taking the world by storm. It is not only the streaming platform's most-watched movie, but the sing-along version made waves at the box office. Moviefone attended an in-person press conference with the singing voices of HUNTR/X (EJAE, AUDREY NUNA, and REI AMI), as well as directors Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans, where they shared stories about creating the music for the film and what the fan response means to them.
KPop Demon Hunters
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1) Rehearsals For The Fist Live Performance Of 'Golden' Are Bringing The Girls Closer Together
'Kpop Demon Hunters'. ©2025 Netflix.
EJAE, AUDREY NUNA, and REI AMI will be performing 'Golden' live for the first time on 'The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon' on October 7th. When talking about rehearsals, it is clear the trio's bond is getting even stronger because of them.
AUDREY NUNA: We're blessed to have seen this woman, in
real life, sing this song for probably the first time in the world, in rehearsal. And just to be in the presence of this, honestly generational talent is, for us, just... she learns from us, she was saying, but we also learn so much from everything that [she does].EJAE: Well, it's such a hard song, but I can sing it with these girls by my side. I'm not kidding. We sound so fantastic. But no pressure. Don't expect so much, but you should, at the same time, because we work really hard.
2) Maggie Kang New 'Golden' Was A Hit As Soon As She Heard It
(L to R) Chris Appelhans (Director/Writer), Maggie Kang (Director/Writer), EJAE (Vocalist - Rumi / Songwriter, “Golden,” “How It’s Done,” “Your Idol” & “Hunter’s Mantra”), AUDREY NUNA (Vocalist - Mira), and REI AMI (Vocalist - Zoey) attend the press conference for Netflix's 'KPop Demon Hunters'.
Maggie Kang recalls how she felt when she heard 'Golden' for the first time.
Maggie Kang: I took my Airpods out. I'm listening to it. I just heard the few notes in the beginning, and then I just had tears. I knew it was it. I was like, this is it. It was just so magical right from the beginning. I was like, oh my gosh, we finally got it. Then I started crying. And then I cried more because I was like, it's getting better and better.
3) REI AMI Needed To Allow Herself To Be Honest & Vulnerable To Pull Off The More Emotional Songs
(L to R) Zoey (voice by Ji-Young Yoo), Rumi (voice by Arden Cho) and Mira (voice by May Hong) in 'Kpop Demon Hunters'. ©2025 Netflix.
When asked about balancing the power of her musical performance with vulnerability, REI AMI reveals that she worked really hard with the executive music producer, Ian Eisendrath.
REI AMI: I think the songs like 'How It's Done', 'Takedown', that's very much my lane. The aggression, the high energy. That's just something I ooze in my sleep. But when it came to songs like 'What It Sounds Like' where Zoey is required to completely strip all that people-pleasing tendencies and look inward and be like, why do you care about the opinions of others? Why do you never put yourself first? Why are you choosing between the parts of yourself that make you whole? Focus on the whole, right? That just requires me to be brutally honest and not put up this strong facade that I put up a lot. And that was really hard. That was an emotional journey I had to really process. I even stepped out at one point and I started crying because I couldn't get it right. I couldn't evoke that honesty. I was so frustrated with myself. And honestly, thank God for Ian. He saves me every time. Music saved me. So, 'What It Sounds Like', it's a very personal one.
4) Chris Appelhans and Maggie Kang Took Inspiration From Bong Joon Ho
(L to R) Chris Appelhans (Director/Writer), Maggie Kang (Director/Writer), EJAE (Vocalist - Rumi / Songwriter, “Golden,” “How It’s Done,” “Your Idol” & “Hunter’s Mantra”), AUDREY NUNA (Vocalist - Mira), and REI AMI (Vocalist - Zoey) attend the press conference for Netflix's 'KPop Demon Hunters'.
Chris Appelhans reveals an unlikely inspiration behind 'KPop Demon Hunters' - Bong Joon Ho.
Chris Appelhans: What Maggie and I really wanted to do, and some of our bonding, I think, as filmmakers came from both being huge fans of Bong Joon Ho. He has this crazy range of tone. You're watching 'The Host' and you're like, "Oh, it's a family comedy. Oh, God, it's a horror movie. Wait, now it's romantic." So we loved it. We had all these ingredients and all these aspirations to have these girls that were awesome, legitimately glamorous and magnetic in a way that they can compete with in real-life K-Pop. And then we wanted them to be chugging kimbaps, and being so goofy, and wearing their pajama pants, and then off to a K-Drama date. So there was this range in animation and musical ideas, choreography, and fighting. Probably seven or eight really critical ingredients, and the animation had to unify all that. So those girls had to make funny faces and then turn to the camera and look beautiful, and the audience had to go with it. That's a technical challenge.
5) The Saja Boys Group Name Has A Double Meaning
'Kpop Demon Hunters'. ©2025 Netflix.
When asked about finding the name of the demon boy band, The Saja Boys, Maggie Kang reveals that there is a double meaning.
Maggie Kang: The idea of The Saja Boys came very early. It was probably within the first month of coming up with the concept. Always wanted the Jeoseung Saja, which is the Grim Reaper of Korean Demonology, and they are like the black cat demons that we see at the end that the Saja Boys turn into. Saja has a dual meaning. It means messenger, but it's Jeoseung Saja, which is like the Grim Reaper. So it has ties to that demon. But it's also lion. And so because these guys are two-faced, it just felt like a fun way to lean into the wordplay of that. And I was like, well, also, nobody's gonna name any group Saja Boys because of that.
'Kpop Demon Hunters'. ©2025 Netflix.
What is the plot of 'Kpop Demon Hunters'?
When K-pop superstars Rumi (Arden Cho), Mira (May Hong) and Zoey (Ji-young You) aren't selling out stadiums, they're using their secret powers to protect their fans from supernatural threats.
Who is in the cast of 'Kpop Demon Hunters'?
- Arden Cho as Rumi
- EJAE as Rumi's singing voice
- Rumi Oak as young Rumi
- May Hong as Mira
- AUDREY NUNA as Mira's singing voice
- Ji-young Yoo as Zoey
- REI AMI as Zoey's singing voice
- Ahn Hyo-seop as Jinu
- Andrew Choi as Jinu's singing voice
- Yunjin Kim as Celine
- Lea Salonga as Celine's singing voice
- Joel Kim Booster as Romance Saja
- SamUIL Lee as Romance Saja's singing voice
- Alan Lee as Mystery Saja
- Kevin Woo as Mystery Saja's singing voice
- SungWon Cho as Abby Saja
- Neckwav as Abby Saja's singing voice
- Danny Chung as Baby Saja's singing voice
- Daniel Dae Kim as Healer Han
- Ken Jeong as Bobby
- Lee Byung-hun as Gwi-Ma
'Kpop Demon Hunters'. ©2025 Netflix.
Movies for fans of 'KPop Demon Hunters':
- 'The Boxtrolls' (2014)
- 'Wolfwalkers' (2020)
- 'Over the Moon' (2020)
- 'Green Snake' (2021)
- 'Turning Red' (2022)
- 'Nimona' (2023)
- 'The Bad Guys 2' (2025)
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