Bao Nguyen, who directed 'BTS: The Return,' answers our burning questions about the making of the new documentary.
The new Netflix BTS documentary BTS: The Return is a fascinating look at the creative process—in all its joys and frustrations—behind the making of the Korean septet's comeback album, Arirang. Director Bao Nguyen, whose documentary work has analyzed iconic pop culture moments from “We Are the World” to Saturday Night Live, brings an insightful, cinematic eye to the much-documented career of BTS.
The Return is an intimate portrayal of the biggest band in the world going through very relatable struggles amid an extremely heightened situation . Below, Bao Nguyen talks to Teen Vogue about directing the documentary, how much access he got to BTS, and which quote from the members has stuck with him months after filming. BTS: The Return streams on Netflix on Friday, March 27. Teen Vogue: When did you first come on board for the project? Bao Nguyen: Well, it's sort of a long story, but I won't be too long. I had approached the label right near the end of their SoFi tour back in 2021. When I was at the concert, it was just sort of quite epic in many ways. For me, BTS was almost like Odysseus going away to war and ARMY was like Penelope, having this longing for their heroes to return. And so, I approached the label then with that idea, but they were deep into military service and everyone had sort of separate lives. And they came back to me the summer of 2025 saying, 'Well, the group is back. They're recording an album. Would you be interested in making a film about that? ' So, that's when it started. TV: You talked about going to the show. What first interested you in BTS's story that made you think you would be the right person to tell it? BN: Sometimes I don't ever think I'm the right person. I think I'm the right person to tell this version of the film. And so with BTS: The Return, I thought about, again, how epic the story is, how I can frame it in a way that is not just about the making of a new album, but about these almost mythical figures, iconic figures, returning to themselves, returning to a world, returning to creation, and making something that's really personal. That was my perspective on the story. I think everyone has the right to tell the story of BTS, and nothing for me is definitive. I want people to be able to have their chance to tell that story. So with this specifically, I felt I was the right person just because I had that specific angle. TV: What was the preparation process like? Did you watch other BTS documentaries, vlogs? BN: Yeah. For me, I like having the sense of discovery when I'm making a project because I want to go through the same process as a viewer when I'm making it so it feels organic when people are watching it as well, but I always come in prepared. I watched almost everything. There's so much content about BTS, I couldn't watch everything, but I watched most of the films just to get an understanding of who they were, both as a group and individually. But when I started filming, I wanted to let the moment really inform the film itself because it's such a unique moment, such a special moment in BTS's time, that I didn't want sort of everything to cloud it. I wanted to come in with a fresh perspective. TV: What kind of access to the members did you have? BN: So in terms of access, BTS is one of the most visible and biggest bands in the world, if not the biggest, so I knew I wasn't going to spend 24/7 with them. And so, that gave me the idea of like, how do I really get intimate and get their POV into the film as much as possible? Then I got the idea of giving them these old school camcorders. For me, that video footage feels like it's your uncle or your dad filming you at home, like doing home videos. So, I love the texture of that. We gave them a little training on how to use it. Obviously, they're used to using their phones all the time, so there was a bit of a learning curve. But I knew that once they got the hang of it, then they would create this intimate footage that we would never see through our own cameras. … But for the most part, the label was very giving and they understood as artists working with another artist what it meant to help me create this piece that was intimate. TV: Was there a specific member that wanted to use the camcorders the most, that did the most footage? BN: It was funny. In the beginning, everyone was excited, but I think there is, again, as I mentioned, a learning curve about those cameras. And so, we would see a steady decline in the usage of the cameras when they would come back and it's like... In the beginning, they shot a lot, and then I just had to remind them like, “Oh, this would mean a lot to the film and having that perspective is really important for the story.” TV: There are several scenes at HYBE in this documentary. Were you or your team in the room during those or were you providing a camera to do it remotely? BN: So, the film is set in LA and in Seoul, and I was fortunate to spend a lot of time in Seoul. It's such a great city. I was there on location all the time in the room with the members. To create that sense of intimacy too, I was also a cinematographer on the film, so there weren't too many people in the room at certain times because it was just me and a couple crew members and the band members. And so, yeah, I was lucky to be there all the time with the group, which I wouldn't have it any other way. TV: With some of those scenes, why was it important to you narratively to show their discussions about Korean versus global audience and how the marketing of an album works? BN: For me, I love process, like creative process, even technical process. And when you're the biggest group in the world, you have to think about all these different aspects from not just the artistry of a song, but also how do you present that song to the world? So, I knew getting the mechanics and understanding the message and the theme and how they got to that was important just to give a sense a bit of what they were thinking about. One of the things I learned making this film is just how heavy the crown that they wear is, like to be able to make amazing music, but also have to represent an entire country to the world. That's so unique to a band like BTS, and I wanted to make sure that we really underlined that in the film. TV: The group also has a couple discussions about the direction of the album. They are maybe not arguments exactly, but just serious discussions about what they're making. How did you film that process without making it feel like they have to perform in some way? BN: So in the film, you'll see that there's serious debates about the directions of certain songs and the direction of the album. For me as a filmmaker trying to show intimacy, like you can't force it. You have to earn the trust of your participants and then they will kind of allow you into that world organically. You can see in the vulnerability and sort of the intimacy of the conversations that they allowed us to cross that threshold in many ways. I think it shows that the band, even though they are a group, they are individuals with their own opinions and their own sort of taste. And I found that really important to depict because some people might think that they can't tell the difference, but everyone is so different. Everyone has such unique talents and opinions that it was really important to show that. TV: I know sometimes in our own coverage on BTS, I kind of go through and make sure each member is getting equal weight in something I'm writing. How did you approach that in the documentary with making sure each member is getting their own moment to shine, but still balancing that overall arc? BN: Yeah. I know how important it is that each member... Again, they're sort of the sum of their parts, right? And it's important that they each have a representation and a voice in the film. And so, we made sure if we're going to do sort of a series of personal scenes, that we have a personal scene with every single member, and certain members are more camera shy and they don't want to talk as much. So, I also want to respect that, like how much that they wanted to allow themselves to open up to the cameras. It was a constant collaboration with the group, with the label, to make sure that everyone had as much equal voice as they wanted in the film. TV: What was the most challenging part of this film to make? BN: For me, the most challenging part of making this film transforming this maybe heavy responsibility that I came into it with and realizing it's such a privilege. I'm so privileged to be able to tell this story of BTS and their return in this really unique moment in their life. And because I was able to transform it, I think it made a better film because I myself was vulnerable in making that film, and sort of life was reflecting art in many ways. I think listening to them of how they understood that this album was going to be something that everyone was going to put under a microscope, but they knew that doing it together was the only way that they can do it. So, all our film crew also felt this weight and responsibility, but I was like, you can channel the same energy that BTS has in terms of we're doing this together, this is a collaboration. And at the end of the day, we're really proud of what we made and we just hope the world loves it and understands how hard it was, but how, again, grateful we were for making it. TV: Is there a quote or anything a member said that has stuck with you in the months since you finished? BN: This was by happenstance in many ways. I mentioned that Odyssey and Greek mythology were a framework for the film, and we were just like sitting in the car with RM and driving from the home in LA to the studio, and he just starts talking about kairos and chronos, which are these Greek concepts of time, of chronos being sort of like measured time and linear time, and kairos being immeasurable and sort of like life in terms of moments and impermanence. And that was something that I... That was early on in the filming and that just clicked with me that what I thought coming from the outside of what their journey was also was something that they saw in their own perspective. And RM is obviously such a philosophical and wise person. So when he said that, I knew that we were going to have a chance to make a really great film. TV: I was really interested in the beats about aging and how you change as you grow up, and how the members so clearly wanted to show that they have grown up. Why was it important for you to have that arc in there about how we all change as we age? BN: Well, if you think about it, a lot of the members have spent half of their lives together, right? And to go through that evolution... I can't fathom what they've gone through as brothers to each other and to the world, right? I knew the film was about this moment, they were reflecting on a lot of these themes. So, it just came out naturally, like when V talks about things are changing around him, has he changed at all? And then Suga talking about he doesn't know whether he's going to do this till he's old, till he's gray. These just naturally came out while we were having these scenes in the car. I think it's interesting to think the group is getting older and this is 2.0 in a way to them. They're having this time to think about things as opposed to maybe when they're on tour or they're just working all the time. But this moment, this return, really gave them this space to breathe and reflect. TV: For someone who's coming into this and has never listened to BTS or watched any content, but they watch the documentary, what do you think is most important for you that they take away from it? BN: So for sort of non-ARMY who watch the film or who are curious about the film, I hope that they relate to just this idea of being away from something that you love, that you're passionate about, and what it means to return to yourself, return to what your previous version was or what your new version was. I think as humans, we can all sort of relate to that idea of a new chapter in our lives. Does that chapter mean sort of reforming our past identity or creating a whole new one? That's one of the things that really resonated to me when I was making this film and those themes talking to the members.
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