How the 'BTS: The Return' Filmmakers Got the Biggest Band in the World to Let Their Guard Down

The documentary BTS: The Return had a high bar to reach from the outset: How do you show a new side of the world’s biggest musical group? While their Netflix pop-doc debut may be the first time passive listeners become more familiar with the group, for many members of BTS’s dedicated (at times overprotective) fan base, ARMY, it follows their 11 HYBE-produced docs, long-running variety shows, and countless livestreams on the fan platform Weverse. It's no easy feat to present fans of the most-documented band of all time with something unique.

Still, the seven-piece is at an unprecedented moment in their career. The group has been on hiatus for four years; after all the members completed their mandatory military service last year, they moved to L.A. for two months to work on what would become their comeback album, ARIRANG. The matured boy group faced a crossroads at a moment when they were also at their most visible: Where does “a global emotional support system, a cultural juggernaut…[and] a multibillion-dollar economic ecosystem” go from here?

BTS: The Return follows that journey, while introducing both new fans and old to the K-pop phenomenon at their most personal and experimental. Produced by Martha and Marc and Sofia producer Jane Cha Cutler and helmed by The Greatest Night in Pop director Bao Nguyen, the film captures RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V, and Jung Kook in both domestic settings in L.A. and the studio, continuing through to their comeback preparations upon their return to Seoul. Throughout, viewers are placed in the band's POV, as they get candid about the pressures of the album's fast-tracked release schedule and debate with their label on making their music relatable and accessible to a global audience.

Though BTS has already filmed over 100 hours of content since their debut in 2013, Nguyen and Cha Cutler’s documentary marks the first time the group has worked with a production team outside their label/management HYBE. Nguyen tells Marie Claire how essential it was to establish a vulnerable trust with the members, in a private interview at the Four Seasons Hotel Seoul, hours before the band’s highly anticipated performance at BTS THE COMEBACK LIVE | ARIRANG. “It's important: that relationship that we have to build together, and the trust that they instill in me and our team to tell the story…I always say I'm not trying to make films about people. I'm trying to make films with people.”

With BTS: The Return out on Netflix now, Nguyen and Cha Cutler chat with Marie Claire about being a fly-on-the-wall in the band’s recording sessions, bringing their relationship with fans to the screen, and how they’ve reacted to the film.

Marie Claire: What was your first reaction when you heard about the opportunity to make this documentary?

Bao Nguyen: I had originally talked to some people at the label previously during their SoFi [shows in 2021] and had this idea of it being this sort of Homeric myth, like The Odyssey. That didn't work out, but when they came back, I was like, Oh my gosh, this is the craziest opportunity. I was surprised and honored that they had reached out about it. To be honest, I was super busy with other projects, but I was like, We’ve got to find a way to make this work. It worked out perfectly because it's such a specific moment in their next chapter.

Jane Cha Cutler: I had actually talked to HYBE America soon after [the members] went into military service, and tried to stake my flag in the ground, like, "I really want to do the documentary when they come back." So I would just check in every so often. And then it turned out great because Bao and I knew each other from working together and developing together.

MC: How long did it take for you to establish that comfort with the group where they were able to be super vulnerable on camera?

BN: I think because they are used to being on camera and have had many documentary crews with them, they were easier than a lot of other film participants and previous projects I've worked on. But at the same time, you're letting these strangers into your world that's really intimate, that's really personal. So it was over time that they opened up, in terms of what they were going to talk about.

At the beginning, I like to have a process where I'm not intervening at all. I'm just a fly on the wall and observing, not trying to interrupt the creative process in any way. But as they're getting used to our faces and our presence there, then I'm possibly asking questions that are slightly deeper.

We didn't [want to do] sit-down interviews because we wanted to be in the present moment of the story. But [one day] we were driving to the beach with Jin. I was hoping to capture him being driven to the beach and looking out at the Westside [of L.A.], but then he started talking to us. [The members] had so much on their minds that they wanted to get off their chests, and these car rides became confessionals for them. I knew when they started opening up voluntarily, then we had gained their trust, and they would let us into the room. That scene with Jungkook and Jin [saying goodbye before Jin returned to Korea] was really interesting too because it's the youngest member and the oldest member. I thought that was really special to see how they interacted with each other at that moment.

MC: You mention being a fly on the wall, but the film includes a lot of very close, intimate shots. How did you capture that while also staying inconspicuous?

BN: We shot mostly on zoom lenses because, especially in the recording studio, they're very small spaces, and I didn't want to move the camera around to get the shot too much. With moments like on the beach, we would use these zoom lenses as well to be there and capture these close-ups without intruding on this beautiful moment that they were sharing together as a band.

JCC: I also think it helped that half of the movie was shot in L.A., where things are a bit more relaxed generally, but also for them in particular. I feel like they could kick back a little. Even though there was this stress of having to finish the album, it's not their home. There was a little bit of an ah, okay [feeling], not as much chaos around.

MC: Media coverage about K-pop groups tends to focus on how passionate the fans are—there’s that cliche image of a bunch of screaming girls—but this film only includes brief nods to BTS’s ARMY. How did you decide when to mention the fans and when to leave them out?

BN: For me, it's always looking at POV and whose perspective each scene is from. In the moment where [the members are] doing a Weverse live, they're very front-facing, so you can see how the fans interact with them. Starting the film at that moment was really important for me, because it's this anchor that most people, and obviously ARMY, recognize. We show the interaction with the fans, and then we cut to Jungkook's hand holding the camera, seen through our own lens. It shows that this film is about something intimate and behind the scenes of what the fans are interacting with publicly. And I know that the livestream was recorded and dissected by the fans. ARMY freeze-framed it and showed our boom operator's foot, and I was like, 'Oh, no.'

For me, that's when the group's personal lives and the story of the film collide with the fan reaction. And another moment was when V was at Dodger Stadium. But for the most part, they were there recording the album with themselves, with each other. So it was important for me to keep that perspective on our story. They talk about how much they owe to the fans and how much they're inspired to create something great because they don't want to let the fans down. I thought having their intimate conversations about what they were doing in relation to the fans was different than necessarily cutting back to fan reaction all the time.

JCC: For that question of, like, ‘Why didn't you show K-pop fans as like the screaming group of girls?’ I think that's because the members don't look at their fan base that way. They don't think of ARMY that way. There are moments like during the Weverse live, when the comment, "Miss you husband," comes up and RM replies, "Miss you wife." That's the playful interaction. But then it's more serious or a touching emotional moment when they're watching the old videos of themselves, and they see the Busan concert, and it's like, "Oh, I miss them." I think that's a beautiful thing. That's a genuine reaction to their fans, whom they love.

MC: I found it interesting that, after the documentary focuses on the behind-the-scenes, day-to-day lives of the members, it ends with just a preview of this massive, global cultural event comeback performance for Netflix. Was that a decision from the beginning to save those big rockstar moments for the film’s conclusion?

BN: I wanted the film to ramp up. The L.A. chapter and them recording is very unique and different from their image in Korea, right? You recognize these images of them in photo shoots and being huge celebrities coming back to Korea at the airport, but these quieter moments where they're interacting with each other at the dinner table or riffing on the direction of the songs and albums. I think that progression was really important. For audiences that don't understand the scale of BTS, we had to show that, but we knew we weren't going to have this big concert scene. How do you negotiate showing the scale, but it has to be in relation to what the story of the film is? That's why the [Yet to Come] screening scene where they could reminisce was really important, because you're seeing them react in real time to the fans and what they miss.

MC: How has the band reacted to the film?

BN: I haven't seen them since they've seen it, but we've gotten messages where everyone's like, "They love it. It's so different. They're really grateful for us." That warms our hearts. I mentioned earlier that I like making films not about people, but with people, and this felt like they were part of this journey with us. It's hard seeing yourself onscreen even if you're used to it. So them being generous with their time and them showing us gratitude for making this film means a lot to me.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.