Anderson .Paak is opening up about working alongside his son Soul on his upcoming film K-Pops!.
The 40-year-old appeared on The Jennifer Hudson Show on April 6, where he spoke about the movie and how it came together over several years. The film stars .Paak as a struggling musician who discovers he has a son with the potential to become a K-pop star. That role is played by his real-life son, Soul, who was 11 during filming and is now 15.
“The movie is about a washed-up musician, myself…BJ. I find out I have a son that could be the next K-Pop star,” .Paak said. “And it stars my real-life son, who was about 11 years old when we shot it. He’s 15 now. The movie took about five years to make, from start to finish.”
The project also reflects .Paak’s personal background. His mother is from South Korea, and his sons share that heritage, which became part of the story he wanted to tell.
“And we’re bridging the gap between Black culture, Korean culture. [It’s a] family comedy for everyone to go see. And I’m really proud of it,” he said.
According to .Paak, the idea for the film started during the COVID-19 pandemic, when Soul became interested in creating content online.
“I didn’t know what the heck that was. And I was like, ‘Okay, let’s do it,’” he said. “And we got to making skits and little funny bits, and I realized how naturally talented he was, how funny he was.”
As they continued working together, the experience reminded him of making videos with his own family growing up, which led him to start writing a script centered around their dynamic.
“I got more into being a YouTuber than he was. And so I was in there editing stuff, and it got me back to when I was a kid making all these little movies with my family,” he said. “So I was like, ‘Son! I’m going to write a script for us. I know you know about BTS, but what do you know about BET?’”
Filming took place in South Korea, which gave .Paak a chance to return to his mother’s home country while working closely with his son.
“My mom was born in Korea. She was an adopted child in Korea,” he said. “And so it was dope to go back over there and experience the homeland and see how different crews work out there and be out there with my son and really like developing a real bond with him, seeing how he works with other people and us working together. It was awesome, and I’ll never forget it.”
.Paak shares Soul and his younger son, Shine Tariq, with his ex-wife Jaylyn Chang.
