That's the scene that begins “BTS: The Return,” a new Netflix documentary from director Bao Nguyen (“The Stringer,” “The Greatest Night in Pop”), produced by This Machine (“Martha,” “Karol G”) and HYBE, the South Korean entertainment company behind BTS and countless other international acts.

The mostly-Korean language film offers an intimate look at BTS' journey to their latest album, “ARIRANG,” released Friday. It also follows the seven member group — RM, Jin, Jimin, V, Suga, Jung Kook and j-hope — as they learned to reacclimate to their life in the fast lane, together again.

Here are key takeaways from the documentary film, which premieres on Netflix on Friday, March 27.

South Korea's mandatory military service comes up fast

As BTS fans are well aware, “ARIRANG” is the band’s first full-length release since all seven members completed South Korea’s mandatory military service. In South Korea, all able-bodied men aged 18-28 are required by law to perform 18-21 months of military service under a conscription system meant to deter aggression from North Korea.

In their documentary, mention of BTS' service emerges right away. In the first minute, while the band films their live video on the beach, RM mentions that he “learned to hustle” in the military. Then it cuts to footage of the guys getting their heads shaved and wearing their uniforms — and quickly thereafter, rejoining the band. In reality, they were separated for a number of years. Before announcing their comeback in June, all seven members hadn't been seen broadcasting live together since September 2022.

The road to ‘ARIRANG’ was swift

Shortly after returning from their mandatory service, the band decamped to Los Angeles during the summer of 2025 to begin work on “ARIRANG,” their 14-track, fifth studio album and first in nearly four years.

They lived in the same house together. It was tight quarters, and a tight turnaround: In the film, Jin says he joined the band in Los Angeles the day after completing his 2025 solo tour. For that reason, he missed some of the early writing and recording.

The journey was also bumpy. As RM mentions in the movie, a long lifespan for a K-pop group is not guaranteed.

Fans of the genre might be familiar with what is referred to as the “seven-year curse,” where a group disbands, or loses members, or contracts expires, and they fall apart. That has not been the case for BTS, still widely regarded one of the most popular bands on the planet. The question then, for them, became: Where does their sound go from here?

“We're doing a lot of experiments, trying to find out, like, what makes us special,” RM said. “What makes us BTS?”

They also felt the pressure to deliver a good album, and fast. “We've been out for too long,” said Jimin in one dinner scene. “Now that we're finally out of the military, we don't want to extend this break.”

Los Angeles was a creative hub

Working in and around Hollywood was a source of creativity for the band. The documentary shows clips of the guys in the studio working with some recognizable producers like Diplo and the South Korean songwriter Pdogg.

It also shows the band struggling to land a lead single and their in-studio dynamics: Suga playing guitar, serious and studious, V comforting an anxious Jin, so on and so forth.

Then they returned to South Korea to finish and mix the album.

The album really started to connect when they had a story

Boyoung Lee, executive creative director at Big Hit Music, told the band that in 1896, a group of Koreans arrived in the U.S. for an education, where they met music producer and ethnologist Alice C. Fletcher. Together, they recorded the first-ever Korean-language song in the U.S.: “Arirang,” the traditional Korean folk song that dates back to the 1400s and that inspired BTS' album title.

It also meant that the album was a true celebration of South Korea and BTS' efforts to bring their country and culture to the world. In one scene, Suga mentions changes needed to the song “Normal,” which he felt originally featured too much English and not enough Korean. “For this album, authenticity matters,” RM agreed.

Preparing for their comeback was daunting

Some members expressed reservations about how they may be received — what did their fans want from them, after so much time apart? And in an industry that demands reinvention? So, they worked as hard as they could, and in surprising ways: In one scene, V throws a baseball in a parking lot — seemingly to blow off steam. Days later he's throwing a pitch at Los Angeles' Dodgers Stadium. It's clear he was practicing as to not disappoint their fans.

Even when the band is relaxing at night together at their shared home in Los Angeles — enjoying pork belly, soju and beer — they are still shown talking about their music, what could've been done differently in the studio, what they might want to try in the future. It's a 24/7 process.

“I wonder if we've done a good job here,” Jung Kook asks aloud.

They were unsure about ‘Swim’ as the first ‘ARIRANG’ single

Some members of the band thought the song “Swim” might be too low in energy to serve as their lead single. But they also weren't sure about “Dynamite” back in 2020, which became a huge international smash. It was their first all-English-language single and it debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 — a first for an all-South Korean musical act.

Suga appeared to be an early believer in “Swim.” “‘Oh, they can come back with a song like this?’ I think it'll be cool,” he told his band mates, fantasizing about fan reaction.

“It's a cool, mature song for us,” RM agreed. “It's time we give off a grown-up vibe.”

Appearing more adult — and writing songs that mirror where they are in their lives — was a priority.

“We've all gotten older in general,” said Suga. “We tried to express more about being an adult.”

Jorginho Frello, a player for Flamengo widely known as Jorginho, said that his wife and the child were staying at the same hotel in Sao Paulo as the singer, who is in the country for the Lollapalooza Brazil music festival, when the controversy occurred.

“During breakfast, the artist walked past their table. My daughter, like any child, recognized her, got excited and just wanted to make sure it was really her,” Jorginho said, in a lengthy text posted on Instagram in Portuguese and English on Saturday. The girl is the daughter of Catherine Harding, Jorginho's wife, and British actor Jude Law.

“She didn’t say anything, didn’t ask for anything,” Jorginho said, adding that a security guard then came over to his family’s table and spoke “in an extremely aggressive manner to both my wife and my daughter.”

Jorginho said that Roan did not deserve her fans' affection.

Roan addressed the incident on Sunday, also on Instagram. The singer said that the security guard was not her personal security and that she didn’t see a woman and a child.

“It’s unfair for security to just assume someone doesn’t have good intentions,” Roan said. “I do not hate people who are fans of my music. I do no hate children.”

Rio’s new mayor Eduardo Cavaliere weighed in on the controversy late on Saturday, saying that while he was mayor Roan would never perform on Copacabana Beach as Madonna and Lady Gaga have, and as Shakira will do in May.

“I doubt that Shakira would do that!” he said, adding that Jorginho’s daughter would be a guest of honor at the Colombian superstar’s upcoming free concert on Rio's sprawling sands. Cavaliere replaced former Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes on Friday.

Roan, who is openly queer and taps into drag culture, was the sassy toast of the pop world in 2024 with tracks that include “Good Luck, Babe!” “Red Wine Supernova” and “Hot To Go!” from her 2023 album “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess.”

Roan nudged aside Sabrina Carpenter to win the Grammy for best new artist last February.

After the lengthy texts, Jorginho posted a story of his daughter's excited reaction upon arriving at Carpenter's show at Lollapalooza. “Everything is well with the girls, and thanks for the messages,” he said.

The mystery of his identity has long been part of the value of his art, which for decades and across continents defied authority from public walls and self-shredded on the auction block. Now, Banksy’s apparent unmasking by the Reuters news agency has generated talk about whether the works themselves retain their cultural and financial value.

It also raises the question: Why pop the red balloon of his mystique in the first place? Many Banksy fans mourned the loss of the mystery and lashed out at the news outlet. One said it was like being told without warning that Santa Claus doesn’t exist.

“I feel like they are telling me how a magic trick is done,” said Thomas Evans, a Denver-based artist on Instagram. “Sometimes I just want to enjoy the magic trick.”

But some art experts say the murals and the message will survive Banksy’s naming because his appeal wasn't driven solely by his anonymity. He and his works — mischievous and also dark — stand as witnesses to injustice, oppression and inequality around the world, from the artist's native England to walled-off Bethlehem and war-ravaged Ukraine. Subtract his anonymity, they say, and the work still inspires reflection and discussion.

“People buy his works because they absolutely love it,” said Acoris Andipa, director of the Andipa gallery in London. “The main feedback that I get is that they really, frankly, don’t care if they know who he is.”

Naming the ghost — and the backlash — is engagement, too

Banksy, long thought to have been born Robin Gunningham around 1972, grew out of a tradition of street artists who viewed the undercover act of posting their art in public as a subversive form of expression. The postindustrial landscape of his native Bristol was his canvas and gallery. The walls of London, New York and elsewhere gave him a global stage just before the rise of social media.

Banksy's apparent identity has been an open secret among protective fellow artists, and long been easy to find online for those who wanted to know. The Daily Mail reported in 2008 “compelling evidence suggesting" that was the artist's birth name. It has been published by other news outlets, including by The Associated Press in 2016, as part of their coverage of the detective work.

Reuters reported last week that after The Daily Mail's story, Banksy changed his legal name to David Jones — the second most-popular name in Britain. It's also the given name of another rock star, the late David Bowie, whose Ziggy Stardust avatar inspired a 2012 Banksy painting of Queen Elizabeth II.

Bansky's lawyer didn't respond to a request for comment, and the artist's spokeswoman declined to participate in this story.

Reuters pieced together that a David Jones traveled to Ukraine with a well-known associate of Banksy's in late 2022 — just before the artist's work began appearing on buildings that had been bombed by Russia. Banksy later confirmed that he'd created seven murals in the war zone, including one of a child flipping over a grown man who is wearing a black belt. Russian President Vladimir Putin practices judo.

There's evidence that even some in the establishment he was protesting have accepted Banksy. They didn't arrest him, for example, after the Royal Courts of Justice removed a Banksy stencil depicting a judge in a traditional wig and gown beating an unarmed protester with a gavel. Some street artists groused that they might be arrested for creating such graffiti — but when it's a Banksy, it's art.

Robin Gunningham wasn't always so elusive

On Sept. 17, 2000, a Robin Gunningham was arrested for defacing a Marc Jacobs billboard atop a building on Hudson Street in New York.

In a handwritten signed confession, he described the work on the night in question: “I had been out drinking at a nightclub with friends when I decided to make a humorous adjustment to a billboard on top of the property,” he wrote in court records unearthed by Reuters and confirmed by the AP. “I painted eyeshadow a new mouth and a speach(sic) bubble” on the photo of a male model. He was charged with a misdemeanor.

The artist doesn't need an alleged naming to make news. He created multiple works just in London in 2025, and grabbed headlines elsewhere for having his art sold or auctioned for millions. But Banksy has courted a public image centered around morality, justice and guerrilla tactics — he's often likened to Robin Hood or Batman.

“Banksy woz ere,” he wrote with his animal murals at the London Zoo, which were removed in 2024.

Still, along with the sadness, there's ample speculation in the art world and on social media that the artist himself orchestrated this round of naming. He didn't deny the Reuters story.

That “would be very much in line with his practice of stunts and satire,” observed Madeleine White, the senior sales and acquisitions consultant at London's Hang-Up Gallery, “As they say, ‘all publicity is good publicity.’”

She noted, however, that the backlash is directed at the media — not the artist, or the potency of his work. Reuters says it opted to publish some, but not all, of the information its reporters uncovered about Banksy's identity, because he is a public figure, whatever his name — and he's had an outsized influence on public events and discourse. What's more, much of his work has been done on other people's property.

Banksy's star power is about far more than anonymity

Named or not, Banksy's stardom lives, art experts say.

It endures in the wonder of his ability to erect new art under the noses of authorities well into the age of closed-circuit television and social media. It appeals because his spectacle and wit draw people in and the settings — the hulk of bombed buildings, for example, or Israel's towering wall at the border of the West Bank — invite them to reflect. Now, fans are on the lookout for how and whether he'll respond to the news of Robin Gunningham and David Jones.

Joe Syer, a Banksy expert and founder of MyArtBroker, said that the artist has always responded to world events. “And that’s where the real relevance, and value, sits.”

“If anything, Banksy’s anonymity has functioned less as a celebrity device and more as a way to keep the work universally accessible, detached from personality, ego, or biography,” he said in an email. “It allows the work to sit in public space, politically and culturally, without being anchored to an individual in the way the mainstream press often frames it.”

Christopher Banks, founder of the New York-based Objects of Affection Collection, reads Banksy's naming “not as a biographical event, but as a structural stress test” of the artist's system of managing his absence.

“Banksy's best works carry their meaning without the author. He was there,” Banks wrote, citing the artist's murals in Ukraine and his solidarity with the war's victims.

"The name matters less than the presence. The presence was always what the work was about.”

A British offshoot of the 51-year-old U.S. comedy institution has debuted to generally positive reviews, defying doomsayers who doubted the show would survive the trans-Atlantic journey.

The format of the first episode of “Saturday Night Live UK” stuck closely to the U.S. original. The 75-minute show opened with a skit showing Prime Minister Keir Starmer seeking help from a Gen Z adviser about how to talk to President Donald Trump, before the proclamation: “Live from London, it’s Saturday night!” Trump posted the skit on his Truth Social platform on Sunday, without comment.

“SNL” veteran Tina Fey was the host, taking questions during her opening monologue from celebrity audience members Michael Cera, Graham Norton and “Bridgerton” star Nicola Coughlan, who jokingly warned Fey that “British people tend to root for the failure of others.”

Certainly, many in Britain had predicted the show would fail, and reviews expressed surprise that it was — largely — pretty funny. The Telegraph newspaper called it “shockingly competent” and “occasionally hilarious.”

There was widespread praise for the cast of largely little-known comics: George Fouracres, Hammed Animashaun, Ayoade Bamgboye, Larry Dean, Celeste Dring, Ania Magliano, Annabel Marlow, Al Nash, Jack Shep, Emma Sidi and Paddy Young.

As in the original, the show featured topical comedy, offbeat sketches, fake commercials and the “Weekend Update” spoof of the news, as well as a guest musical act, the English band Wet Leg. Some of the humor was mildly edgy, including jokes about pedophiles, the Epstein files and disgraced royal Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.

Apart from the accents, one difference from the American original was the expletives. British broadcasting rules allowed for a liberal sprinkling of F-words.

Since its debut in 1975 “SNL” has become a pop-culture institution and helped launch the careers of generations of comedians, from Bill Murray to Eddie Murphy and Gilda Radner to Kristen Wiig.

Efforts to replicate its success in other countries, such as France, Japan and Italy, have typically been short-lived, though a version of the show remains on the air in South Korea.

The U.K. offshoot, which has “SNL” creator Lorne Michaels as executive producer, airs on the relatively little-watched channel Sky One and the NOW streaming service. But social media may bring a much bigger audience for clips. Fey’s monologue had more than 730,000 views on YouTube by Sunday afternoon.

The initial run is only eight episodes, and it remains to be seen how the cast fares without Fey’s assured guidance. Future guest hosts include Jamie Dorman and Riz Ahmed.

Nick Hilton in The Independent said the first episode's sketches included “a handful of hits,” but also moments when it seemed like “tepid cosplay” of the U.S. original.

Charlotte Ivers in The Times of London felt that “the spark is not there yet,” but The Guardian’s Lucy Mangan praised the program's ambition.

“It did not fail. And in the coming weeks, let’s hope, it can build toward real success,” she wrote.

He already has gotten plenty of them: most points scored, most seasons played, most minutes played, most All-NBA selections, most All-Star selections, most field goals made, most field goals attempted, most playoff games, most playoff points, highest career earnings ... James has all those marks, and probably many more.

And that list doesn't even include ones that James' Los Angeles Lakers teammate Austin Reaves adds to the tally — highly nuanced and perhaps made-up categories like most sneakers worn and most shoestrings used.

“He says a new stat every day about me,” James said.

James took outright possession of yet another record Saturday night, when he started the Lakers' game in Orlando and officially played in the 1,612th regular-season game of his career — breaking a tie with Robert Parish for the most in NBA history.

It's an obvious tribute to James' longevity. He is in his 23rd season, one more than Vince Carter's previous record. Entering Saturday, there are 79 players who have logged NBA minutes this season and weren't even born when James played his debut game in the league on Oct. 29, 2003.

“It’s not like I’m like writing things down and looking at the record book and saying: ‘I’m going to get that, I’m going to get that, I’m going to get that.’ It just kind of happened," James said. “It was not on the list of things that I wanted to accomplish.”

Everything he does now raises the bar. Every point he scores, every shot he takes, every game he plays just widens the gap a little bit more between him and everyone else on the stat lists. He has accomplished all the big to-dos on his wish list entering the league — four NBA titles took care of that — but the accolades that have come his way in recent years are ones he savors as well.

“I wanted to be the best player in this league at some point," James said. “I wanted to be one of the greatest, if not the greatest, to ever play this game. I wanted to be an NBA champion. I wanted to possibly win rookie of the year, make All-Star appearances, win a gold medal, win some MVPs, those were some of my goals. But some of the stuff that’s just been happening over the course of the last few years has been super-duper cool.”

The records James has

A breakdown of some of the NBA records that James owns at this point:

— Points. James entered Saturday with 43,229 points. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is second on the list with 38,387.

— Minutes played: James’ total entering Saturday was 60,676. Abdul-Jabbar played 57,446 and only seven players have reached 50,000 in their careers.

— Field goals: James (15,884 entering Saturday) recently passed Abdul-Jabbar (15,837). Karl Malone is the only other player with more than 13,000 makes.

— Field-goal attempts: At 31,350 entering Saturday, James is just over 3,000 shots ahead of Abdul-Jabbar. He is not getting caught there anytime soon.

— Consecutive double-digit games: James' streak of 1,297 consecutive regular-season games with at least 10 points ended earlier this season. Michael Jordan (866) had the second-longest such streak, and James is not getting caught here for at least a decade. Kevin Durant had the longest active streak entering Saturday at 316 games; he'd have to play until at least 2038 to catch James' streak.

— Most award selections: The 22 All-Star selections and 21 All-NBA picks ... forget it, they're not getting caught unless Victor Wembanyama plays from now until around 2048 or so.

— Double-digit games: James has scored 10 or more points in 99.44% of his regular-season games entering Saturday, a staggering 1,602 times out of the first 1,611 appearances. He's not getting caught there, either. (He also is the leader in 20- and 30-point games — and is tied with Allen Iverson for sixth most on the 40-point-game list.)

— Playoff scoring: James has 8,289 playoff points while nobody else has even reached 6,000. As is the case with the regular-season scoring number, it's almost inconceivable to think about him getting passed on this list.

— On-court earnings: He's up to around $580 million through this season, and that doesn't take into account his massive on-court empire. (But with the way salaries are rising, it's almost certain that James' on-court earnings number will get passed and probably within the next decade.)

Where can James still move up?

No. 1 on these all-time lists might be hard to get, but James can move up a few notches in a couple of categories (assuming he returns to play next season).

— Assists: James is fourth on the all-time list and almost certainly isn’t going to catch record holder John Stockton (15,806), but he could catch Jason Kidd (12,091) early next season and Chris Paul (12,552) by the end of next season.

— Steals: Stockton’s record (3,265) is out of reach, and Paul’s No. 2 spot (2,728) and Kidd’s No. 3 spot (2,684) likely are as well. But James — currently sixth on the list — would have a chance at catching No. 5 Gary Payton (2,445) and No. 4 Michael Jordan (2,514) next season.

— Made 3-pointers: James is currently sixth and odds are that’s where he’ll be whenever he retires, unless he plays multiple seasons after this. Stephen Curry, James Harden, Ray Allen, Klay Thompson and Damian Lillard are the five names ahead of James on the 3s list; of those, Allen is the only one who is retired and he’s more than 300 ahead of James.

— Triple-Doubles: Russell Westbrook (209), Nikola Jokic (191) and Oscar Robertson (181) aren’t within reach. But James (currently fifth with 124) could pass Magic Johnson (currently fourth with 138). And this is a category where James sure seems like he’ll be passed in a few years; his current Lakers co-star Luka Doncic already has 90 triple-doubles.

Brendon's family announced the death in a statement posted on his social media accounts Friday. They said he died in his sleep of natural causes, but did not say where or when it happened.

Brandon played Xander Harris, a close friend of lead character Buffy, on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” that ran from 1997 to 2003. The supernatural series, which started on the WB network and then moved to UPN, was about vampire slayers, led by the teenager Buffy, who battled a wide range of demons, werewolves and other dark forces while also navigating life in high school.

“Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” based on the movie of the same name, never received many awards, but it has been cited by many critics as being one of the most influential shows in TV history.

Sarah Michelle Gellar, who played Buffy on the show, posted a photo of herself with Brendon on Instagram on Saturday.

“I saw you Nicky,” she wrote. “I know you are at peace, in that big rocking chair in the sky.”

Brendon also appeared on the TV show “Criminal Minds" between 2007 and 2014 and alongside Bradley Cooper in the Fox sitcom “Kitchen Confidential,” an adaptation of Anthony Bourdain’s memoir, that aired for just one season in 2005.

Brendon was in the films “Redwood” in 2017, “The Nanny” in 2018 and “Christmas Slasher" in 2024.

Brendon also wrote several issues of the Buffy comic book series.

While Brendon was best known as an actor, his family said in their statement that in recent years he found his passion in painting and art.

“He was passionate, sensitive, and endlessly driven to create,” the statement said. “Those who truly knew him understood that his art was one of the purest reflections of who he was.”

Brendon announced in 2023 that he had suffered a heart attack. He also underwent two spinal surgeries for a rare nerve compression condition called cauda equina syndrome that can lead to pain and weakness in the lower body.

Brendon also openly talked about his battle with depression and appeared on two 2015 episodes of “Dr. Phil” to discuss his struggles with alcohol and mental health and a string of arrests for public intoxication, vandalism and domestic violence.

His family said that while Brendon “had struggled in the past,” he was on medication and treatment to manage his diagnosis and was “optimistic about the future.”

The Gay Games XII Valencia 2026 is an international sporting and cultural festival scheduled from June 27 to July 4, 2026, open to LGBTQ+ people, allies, and participants of all identities. Held every four years, the event promotes equality, diversity, and inclusion through participation rather than elite competition, welcoming athletes and spectators without qualification based on skill or experience.

Organizers describe the games as a 10-day gathering focused on LGBTQ+ identities and allies, featuring sports competitions, cultural activities, opening and closing ceremonies, and community building. The schedule spans eight to ten days, with the opening ceremony on June 27 including a parade of participants marching behind their countries' banners, followed by shows, dance, concerts, and awards. The closing ceremony on July 4 will feature music, dance, and entertainment to wrap up the festival.

Sports offerings include 37 competitive disciplines such as aquatics , athletics , badminton, basketball, beach volleyball, bowling, cheer, chess, dance sport, dodgeball, dragonboat, e-sports, fencing, field hockey, football , golf, grappling, martial arts, padel, petanque, powerlifting, rowing, rugby, sailing, softball, squash, table tennis, tennis, triathlon, volleyball, and wrestling, plus non-competitive exhibitions and local sports like colpbol and pelota valenciana. Cultural highlights encompass Pride Bands Festival, Pride Chorals Festival, literary meetings, culinary festivals, art exhibitions, photography marathons, short films emphasizing lesbian and trans feminist themes, theater, fashion, music, video mapping, and workshops.

Participants gain access to the event village, ceremonies, six days of free concerts and cultural activities, and spectator entry to sports venues, excluding private parties and VIP events. Registration is open, with options like a 5k/10k race entry at $30, encouraging global involvement. Valencia's selection as host underscores Spain's progressive LGBTQ+ human rights laws and its Mediterranean cultural vibrancy.

The 100-day event with Gia Metric amplifies visibility for transgender and drag community members, aligning with the games' mission to foster respect and celebration for LGBTQ+ people. Community responses highlight the event's role in building safe spaces for LGBTQ+ athletes and allies worldwide, similar to the Olympics but centered on inclusion. As preparations continue, the milestone reinforces anticipation for a gathering that unites thousands in sport, culture, and pride.

Its star, executive producer and sometimes director Noah Wyle said Friday that the HBO Max hospital series is also a throwback of a different sort — it actually shoots in Hollywood at a time when film and television production has shifted to other places with more favorable economic conditions. Wyle said “The Pitt,” which won the Emmy for best drama for last year's first season, is “proof of concept” that the model can work.

Wyle spoke at a hearing organized by California Sen. Adam Schiff held at City Hall in Burbank, the Los Angeles-adjacent city that is home to most major studios, including the Warner Bros. lot where “The Pitt” shoots.

“I was asked to participate in today’s hearing to tell a success story,” Wyle said. “I’m happy to report we’ll commence shooting season three this summer, and that a rising tide has indeed lifted all boats.”

Wyle said California's recent tax breaks for production made making the series in Burbank possible. He said the show's first season brought nearly 600 production jobs, and its ripple effects brought $125 million to the state economy.

“That is proof of concept,” he said. “That is replicable. And it is vital to the strength of our industry and to our city to support these incentives.”

Wyle, 54, played a central character on NBC's “ER” from 1994 to 2009. His return to a Hollywood hospital — fictionally in Pittsburgh — with “The Pitt” won him an Emmy for best actor in a drama.

Lean years came in between, when he had to go the increasingly far-off places smaller roles took him.

“I’ll speak from personal experience and say that I haven’t slept in my own bed in 15 years while I’ve been working as an actor. Since the end of 'ER,'” Wyle said. “It’s hard on families, and I can speak to that. It is hard to fracture your industry that way.”

Schiff and other members of Congress who spoke said they are working on nationalizing production tax breaks that states have instituted.

U.S. Rep. Laura Friedman, whose district includes Burbank and its studios, addressed objections to cozy treatment for a business snuggled in wealth.

“We give tax credits to many industries. Hollywood is not asking for special treatment,” she said. “This is something that is standard across the United States for industries that we have determined that we care about.”

Matthew Loeb, president of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, which represents most behind-the-scenes crew members, lamented Marvel recently moving its production hub from Georgia to England.

But he said the same project-by-project production model that can be difficult for his members can make change more possible. It’s not as hard for film to come back as it might be for other industries.

Paramount's pending acquisition of Warner Bros. was a running theme, with all expressing worry that its consolidation will mean loss of production and jobs

“This merger could define whether Los Angeles remains the entertainment capital of the world or becomes an afterthought,” Friedman said.

Paramount leaders have given a broad commitment to making 15 major motion pictures for both studios each year. That was welcomed, but skeptically.

“The big missing piece is that there is no commitment about where they’re going to shoot 30 films,” Loeb said.

Wyle, Schiff and others emphasized the jobs that thrive around entertainment entities, from hotel workers to equipment vendors to food servers to dry cleaners.

“All those livelihoods are tied to a production shop setting up in their community,” Schiff said.

U.S. Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove said workers of all sorts from her Los Angeles County district have an interest in Hollywood thriving.

“After my acupuncturist took the needles out of my back, she said, ‘Can you do anything to help bring back entertainment jobs?’” Kamlager-Dove said.

The performance at Gwanghwamun Square launches a months-long global tour spanning dozens of shows across the United States, Europe and Asia.

All seven members of the band — RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V and Jung Kook — recently completed South Korea’s mandatory military service, and hope to reclaim their status as one of the world's biggest pop acts.

The hour-long concert comes a day after the group released its fifth album, “ARIRANG,” which had already logged several million preorder sales since January.

The band’s management company, HYBE, said RM injured his ankle during a rehearsal Thursday but was expected to perform with some limitations.

Officials expect the BTS concert to draw more than 200,000 people to the Gwanghwamun area, including 22,000 fans who secured free seats in the designated viewing zone and others planning to watch on screens nearby. It will be streamed live on Netflix.

“It will be amazing because it’s been so long that BTS (was) not with us,” said Dallila Di Tullio, a 32-year old fan from Italy, who called the concert a once-in-a-century event. Marta Corona, a 25-year-old Polish fan, said she would be seeing BTS in person for the first time since a 2019 performance in London. “It’s been a while — I’m very excited,” she said.

BTS debuted in 2013 and has a legion of global supporters who call themselves the “Army.” It became the first K-pop act to top Billboard’s Hot 100 chart in 2020 with their first all-English song “Dynamite.”

Jung Dukhyun, a pop culture commentator, said that the impact of the BTS returning as a full-group after years of pause would be tremendous at a time when global fandom for K-pop has grown much stronger, as shown by the success of Netflix’s animated sensation, “KPop Demon Hunters.”

Criticism over stringent crowd controls

Police and city officials are imposing stringent crowd-control measures, closing nearby streets, roads and museums, halting the area’s subway and bus services, and sealing off dozens of surrounding buildings, in what amounts to a full-day shutdown of the district.

Cars will be barred from the main road between Gwanghwamun and Seoul City Hall for more than 30 hours through Sunday morning. The government has stepped up anti-terror monitoring, citing global tensions and large crowds of international fans, while police deployed surveillance vehicles and jamming equipment to block unauthorized drones. The restrictions have forced nearby shops to close and deliveries to pause.

While South Korean officials have taken crowd safety more seriously since a deadly 2022 Halloween surge that killed nearly 160 people, critics say the controls are excessive and undercut the symbolism of performing in Gwanghwamun, seen as Seoul’s spiritual heart and most prominent gathering space.

Hundreds of thousands have gathered in Gwanghwamun in recent years to mourn, protest and celebrate as the country weathered tragedy and political upheaval. The BTS concert comes about a year after waves of demonstrators filled the area, calling for the ouster of then-President Yoon Suk Yeol over his brief imposition of martial law in December 2024. Those months-long rallies were marked by a festive atmosphere and a striking blend of politics and pop culture, with protesters singing and waving colorful K-pop light sticks, and ended without major safety accidents.

Drawing on culture and heritage

The new BTS album, “ARIRANG,” draws on a centuries-old folk song regarded as an unofficial anthem in both North and South Korea while Gwanghwamun and nearby Gyeongbok Palace form a sweeping historic backdrop to Saturday’s show.

South Korean officials are counting on the event to promote the country’s culture and growing soft power. In a statement Wednesday, President Lee Jae Myung said the BTS performance would provide “a special moment that people around the world will remember for long.”

“While one pillar of the album is defined by BTS’ identity, the other is shaped by the emotions they feel in the present, specifically universal sentiments such as joy, pleasure, and profound love,” HYBE said in response to questions from The Associated Press.

The 14-track record, with lead single “SWIM,” was recorded in Los Angeles as the group reconvened after years apart.

Group’s comeback coincides with K-pop’s global rise

The group's comeback follows a nearly four-year hiatus driven by South Korea’s mandatory military service, which requires most able-bodied men to serve 18 to 21 months under a conscription system aimed at deterring aggression from North Korea. BTS members began serving in 2022, with Suga the last to complete his service in June 2025.

Despite their yearslong break, experts say BTS’s outlook remains strong, backed by its massive fandom and the continuous global rise of K-pop. South Korea’s SK Securities said Wednesday the group’s “ARIRANG” world tour is likely to become the biggest K-pop tour ever by scale and revenue, with 82 shows planned globally in stadiums of around 50,000 seats.

“They had a fairly long hiatus but still have a historically powerful fandom. As they come back, they’ll likely immediately enjoy a warm welcome and intense fever around the world,” said Ha Jae-keun, a cultural critic. “I think they’ll likely have a second heyday.”