Anderson .Paak Reveals the 1 Thing He Wants You to Take Away From His Deeply Personal Directorial Debut [Exclusive]

3 weeks ago 15

Published Mar 8, 2026, 10:00 AM EDT

Ryan O'Rourke is a Senior News Writer at Collider with a specific interest in all things adult animation, video game adaptations, and the work of Mike Flanagan. He is also an experienced baseball writer with over six years of articles between multiple outlets, most notably FanSided's CubbiesCrib. Whether it's taking in a baseball game, a new season of Futurama or Castlevania: Nocturne, or playing the latest From Software title, he is always finding ways to show his fandom. When it comes to gaming and anything that takes inspiration from it, he is deeply opinionated on what's going on. Outside of entertainment, he's a graduate of Eureka College with a Bachelor's in Communication where he honed his craft as a writer. Between The IV Leader at Illinois Valley Community College and The Pegasus at Eureka, he spent the majority of his college career publishing articles on everything from politics to campus happenings and, of course, entertainment for the student body. Those principles he learned covering the 2020 election, Palestine, and so much more are brought here to Collider, where he has gleefully written on everything from the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes to Nathan Lane baby-birding sewer boys.

Nearly two years ago, at the Toronto International Film Festival, Grammy-winning multi-hyphenate artist Anderson .Paak made the jump behind the camera for his feature directorial debut, K-Pops!. After over 15 years honing his craft in the Los Angeles hip-hop scene, playing with greats like Dr. Dre, forming Silk Sonic with Bruno Mars, and making some fantastic music along the way, it was a chance to explore a new creative frontier and make something beyond the scope of what he's previously done with music videos. Better yet, it was also a bonding experience with his son, Soul Rasheed, who co-stars with him. Now, it has finally arrived in theaters through Aura Entertainment and, in celebration, Collider's Michael Zimmermann was able to speak with him about the project through our music-centric series, On the Record.

Though much of the discussion was about the artists and tracks that inspired .Paak, he was also able to delve into his experience shooting his first film. K-Pops! is a family comedy that pulls from his relationship with Rasheed. Instead of playing a typical father-son dynamic, though, .Paak leads as a washed-up Los Angeles music artist who learns his long-lost child (Rasheed) is on the fast track to being South Korea's next big K-Pop star. Initially seeking to revive his career in the scene himself, he re-enters his son's life with hopes of using the opportunity for another shot at the spotlight. However, as they grow closer, he instead resolves to embrace being a proper father and helping him chase his own dreams by learning about and fully supporting what he loves.

With so much focus on family, .Paak hopes viewers will take in the film with their loved ones. It's also built on representation, sporting a diverse cast that not only features the rapper and his son, but also Jee Young Han, Jonnie "Dumbfoundead" Park, Yvette Nicole Brown, Kevin Woo, Cathy Shim, and more, while including cameos from real K-pop artists like Vernon, G-Dragon, The Rose, and Jessi. He told Zimmerman that he wants K-Pops! to inspire more togetherness between families over what they love to do together, while also sparking curiosity about other cultures.

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"Man, I just hope they have as much fun watching it as I did making it. I got to really build a bond with my son. Like, even before we shot the film, it was inspired by the bond I created with him from doing YouTube videos and just hanging out and being a dad. And I hope people get that from it. I hope people feel inspired to be with their families. I hope that there's more movies that showcase Black and Asian families on screen together and spreading joy. I hope that people that go just for K-Pops!, they learn more about other genres, learn more about other people in other cultures."

'K-Pops!' Has Already Become a Favorite With Critics and Audiences

So far, .Paak's first film is looking like a rousing success. K-Pops! was lauded after its premiere at TIFF, and now that audiences can see it on the big screen at last, they're also singing its praises. It currently holds an 86% Tomatometer score and 88% Popcornmeter score on Rotten Tomatoes, earning high marks for its charming and funny father-son story. Collider's Isabella Soares spoke to the positivity of the film in her 7/10 review, writing, "This isn't the typical tale of a parent begrudgingly setting their dreams aside for their child, but a rather optimistic outlook on how fatherhood can help a person learn from their mistakes and become a better version of themselves. A version their child would want to admire with the same awestruck wonder that Tae Young does when BJ is next to him." For their part, the cast also loved .Paak's approach as a director, with Shim describing him as a "master conductor" in an interview with Collider's Perri Nemiroff at TIFF and saying:

"I remember this one moment being on that stage, being on by myself with all the cameras pointing, and I needed to walk down the stage, say all the lines, hit this camera, look there, and then do this, and then do your arms. I was trying to figure out all this stuff, and I'm doing all this in very complicated Korean, and I remember that Anderson came over, and he's like, “Slow and smooth. Find your rhythm.” He directed me as if it was music, and then I just got it. I was like, “Okay, take a breath. Just own it.” And then it was like all the pieces just came together. So it felt like having a master composer, like a conductor, up there telling me how to do all the rhythm of it and then hit this camera, hit that camera, and then also giving me the inflections on the lines of how he wanted it to be put forth. So, it was really wonderful to have him at the helm in that way, wearing all the hats that he does."

K-Pops! is now in theaters. Stay tuned here at Collider for more insightful record store interviews with stars for our On the Record series.