Arden Cho and Might Hong are recent off a visit to New York Comedian-Con, the place the celebs of the smash animated hit KPop Demon Hunters bought to signal autographs for the primary time collectively.

"I favored attending to borrow pink markers from Arden," Hong jokes, laughing alongside Cho on Leisure Weekly's The Awardist podcast.

Cho says she was struck by the big selection of ages of the film's followers. "You could have like little children and adults and households," she explains. "One among my favourite components is simply assembly households saying that they've been following me since Teen Wolf or YouTube days, and now they're watching the film with their children, and so they're like, 'Thanks for the added cool factors, as a result of I knew you earlier than they knew you.'"

"Cool" might be an understatement for what followers consider the Netflix animated musical, produced by Sony Photos Animation. Lower than three months after its June 20 debut, the film turned the most-watched title of all time on Netflix, surpassing season 1 of Squid Recreation. The soundtrack turned the primary within the historical past of the Billboard Scorching 100 to function 4 of its songs within the prime 10, and the music "Golden" was No. 1 on the Scorching 100 eight weeks in a row, finally unseated by Taylor Swift's new album.

The film, directed by Maggie Kang and Chris Applehans, facilities on a Ok-pop woman group, Huntr/x — comprised of Rumi (Cho), Mira (Hong), and Zoey (Ji-young Yoo) — which is a disguise for his or her extra vital jobs as demon hunters.

'KPop Demon Hunters' creators rule out live-action movie adaptation 'KPop Demon Hunters' originally had nothing to do with K-pop, creator reveals

Cho's first audition — means again in August 2022 — was for Celine, Rumi's foster mom and a former demon hunter as a part of the group referred to as "Daylight Sisters" alongside Rumi's mother, who died throughout childbirth. Six months later, although, she bought a callback to learn for Rumi — however she was hesitant.

"I used to be like, isn't Rumi the lead?" she remembers pondering on the time. "For a really very long time, I had a tough time being like, Oh, I'm proper for Rumi. And I don't know if it's as a result of I had informed myself that, perhaps I'm too outdated for Rumi, or perhaps I'm not Ok-pop idol sufficient. And I had identified that that they had auditioned loads of very proficient actors and singers, so I feel I undoubtedly had a little bit of imposter syndrome."

As soon as she bought previous that, although, it was all about diving into Rumi's story. Along with being a demon hunter — twist! — the Huntr/x lead singer is half-demon herself. Ashamed of who she actually is, she has hidden her true identification from these closest to her, besides Celine. It's one thing Cho associated to on a deeply private stage.

"The Asian tradition, particularly the Korean tradition, is so massive on solely displaying your greatest, by no means displaying your flaws, at all times being excellent, working so onerous. You gotta be smiling, you gotta be excellent," she says. "I associated with Rumi a lot in her relationship with Celine and what she felt like she needed to do, or what she needed to kind of keep it up her personal. … Hiding such an enormous a part of who she is and her identification, in a bizarre means, as a Korean American in America, I felt like being Asian was thought of a handicap, or being Asian was not an excellent factor."

Trying again, she needs, as an alternative of being "embarrassed of my tradition of personal about it," she had exerted extra confidence, which she has discovered due to this film.

"If someone stated my lunch was gross. I ought to have been like, 'You're gross.' However I don't know why, me as a child, if somebody stated I used to be gross, I went and ate within the lavatory," she remembers. "Voicing Rumi and form of strolling via what she goes via on this journey, it was, in an odd means, therapeutic for me as nicely."

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Whereas Hong confirms she additionally learn for all three Huntr/x women in her audition, she says she knew simply from the few script pages she was given, "I'm so Mira," she says, laughing. "She is me. I’m her."

The extra rebellious one of many group, Mira is a superb buddy and supply of power for these round her.

"She's rooting for the underdog or defending those that she seems like can't defend themselves and simply actually utilizing her ache as power to assist others," Hong says. It's that ache that she hopes to discover in a sequel. "I'm so interested by why Mira grew as much as be the best way that she is and the missteps or the ache of what she endured along with her household and the way that knowledgeable her worth system."

You may hearken to Cho and Hong's full interview on The Awardist beneath, together with what Cho wish to see within the subsequent film; and EW Sr. Editor Joyce Eng joins me to speak about Diane Keaton's legacy, and One Battle After One other star Chase Infiniti switching classes to go lead.

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