‘Beef’ Virtual Press Conference: An Insanely Good Show Will Soon Come Crashing Into Your Life
The main cast and showrunner of Netflix’s Beef sit down for a virtual press conference where they spill the beans on an incredibly fun show.
One of the most hotly-anticipated shows of the year is Netflix’s Beef. Developed by Lee Sung Jin, the show will star Steven Yeun and Ali Wong as Danny Cho and Amy Lau, respectively. The two are involved in an incident caused by road rage, which slowly starts to consume their minds over the course of ten episodes. Not much is known about how the show will unfold itself, but it has already garnered massive critical acclaim as one of the year's best comedy series. As of this writing, the show currently sits at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes with a total of fifteen reviews.
When reading the script, Wong’s immediate reaction was that it was “exactly what we pitched. There were a lot of surprises. When Lee Pitched me the idea to begin with, which was very close to the pilot, I was blown away. I was like, “That sounds scary but really exciting. And I think I can do it.” What truly blew me away about it was its thriller elements. I just haven't done anything like that before. As the show progresses, that aspect comes out more and more to the point where it's so suspenseful. And I’m reading every page right away with so much anticipation. I never knew what was going to happen while reading. Of course, I did know because we talked about it, but not in the ways that it was unfolding.”
In writing the show, Sun Jin discussed how a real road rage incident inspired him for the series:
“It was a typical road rage thing where the light turned green, and I didn't go fast enough. It was a white SUV, a BMW. The driver honked at me, said a bunch of things, and raced off. For some reason, during that day, I was like, “Eh, I’ll follow you,” and didn't really have a plan. In my mind, I was justifying it because I was on my way home, and I happened to be behind him. I’m sure that for that person, it felt like I was tracking him for the whole run of the highway. I thought there was something about people who are very stuck in their subjective views of reality, and they're projecting assumptions onto the other person. That was a kernel of the idea, and I’m very thankful for that incident. The idea stuck with me for about a year and a half. I don't advise doing road rages. But it does lead to shows.”
For Yeun, he was mostly drawn to the show by playing a more comedic role instead of being known to play in dramatic performances. In describing the process of playing Danny Cho, Yeun explained that “it was weird because it didn't feel like a switch. To play the comedy of Danny, you have to lean into the unfortunate drama of his life. It felt like being in it and out of it at the same time. That’s where the shame came in, where I was like, “Oh, I'm watching Danny go through this thing. How do I not bail on him?” All the time, I’m judging him, cringing, or trying not to make him make sense. But then you got to make it make sense. That was a challenge that occurred every day. I told Sun Jin daily, “why are you making me do this?”
Sometimes I wasn't sure why you took it so seriously. Ali caught me on a bunch of things. I enjoyed that aspect too. The friendship here is the most exciting thing. Everybody has each other's backs in the deepest, kindest, and most honest way. And that’s a thing that's rare to find.”
Funnily enough, the core Beef team is currently hard at work on another mega-project. Steven Yeun, Lee Sun Jin, and episode director Jake Scheier are all currently collaborating on Marvel’s Thunderbolts, which releases on July 26, 2024. Yeun will star in an undisclosed role described as important for the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, while Schrier is currently tapped as director. It was recently announced that Sun Jin is rewriting the screenplay from Eric Pearson, who will receive a story credit for the movie.