We are getting a second serving of “Beef,” now on its second series, launched last April 16 by Netflix.
The critically acclaimed anthology series from the brilliant mind of creator-showrunner-producer Lee Sung Jin offers a completely different flavor from the first “Beef” on the road rage story of Steven Yeun and Ali Wong.
This time, the story revolves around a Gen Z couple, newly engaged lower-level country club staffers Ashley Miller (Cailee Spaeny) and Austin Davis (Charles Melton), who witness an alarming fight between their millennial boss, General Manager Joshua Martin (Oscar Isaac), and his wife, Lindsay Crane-Martin (Carey Mulligan). Through favors and coercion, both couples vie for the approval of the elitist club’s billionaire owner, Chairwoman Park (Youn Yuh-jung), who struggles to manage her own scandal involving her second husband, Doctor Kim (Song Kang-ho).
In an exclusive interview with Lee Sung Jin (aka Sonny), he shared with us the most challenging part of creating the anthology series this second time around.
He said, “Oh wow. The most challenging part is probably wanting to do something different. We talked a lot about our favorite bands and favorite musicians. When a band does the same thing for their second album as the first album, you start to lose interest.
“So, I was thinking about all my favorite bands like Radiohead and The Bends. How do we do the same thing where we take a big swing on season two that surprises people but still retains, at the core, the spirit of what people enjoyed about season one in the first place?
“That was a very difficult task. So that was really hard. But I feel like the nature of our process is so collaborative. It’s not one person doing everything. It is literally hours and hours of conversations amongst everybody. That’s the only way we push this boulder up the hill.”
We also talked to Korean American actor Charles Melton (“Riverdale,” “May December”) exclusively, and we asked him what made him say yes to the project and to work with Sonny for the first time.
“It was easy. It was the fastest yes I’ve ever given to a collaborator, director, filmmaker,” the 35-year-old actor admitted.
Born in Juneau, Alaska, to Korean immigrant Sukyong and American Phil Melton, Charles added, “And you know what I love? Sonny’s voice is reminiscent of when I think about all my favorite films. Memories of ‘Murder,’ ‘Mother,’ ‘The Handmaiden,’ ‘Oldboy.’ You think about Park Chan-wook and Bong Joon Ho, you think about ‘Parasite,’ and then you think about those filmmakers and then the filmmaker who represents that in the West, the bridge, and that’s Lee Sung Jin, Sonny, and how he writes and expresses like there are no limits to his universe.
“It’s not just about identity. It’s about the ‘Beef,’ the nuance, the textures of life and reality. And I think, just that was an easy yes, and it really leaned into me as a Korean American, to really exist in my Korean-ness. I’ve never had anyone write a Korean American character for me.”
Charles, who grew up in Korea for six years, revealed that he is a military kid. “Sonny and I shared that personal experience of both growing up in Korea and in America. And so, it was ‘Beef’ season two for me, coming back home. I got to see my whole family again, and my Korean family, and they got to come to the set. It was a very full ‘pinch me’ circle moment of all. These artists, here in Korea, are shooting in the most beautiful places, watching right in front of me. Just fill this space with his presence. He’s the GOAT, you know?”
In a press conference with the cast and the creator, we also talked to Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan, who shared some of their experiences in the making of “Beef 2.”
Golden Globe winner Oscar Isaac, 45, confessed that what made him join the bandwagon was his very long Zoom conversations with Sonny.
He said, “We had these very long Zoom conversations. This was kind of our courtship. We started talking about our lives. Then it became clear to me the amount of information Sonny has. ChatLeeSungJin.
“Sonny had all these for my character – how he was born, where he went to school, how much he started to make early on, when he got a raise – all these kinds of things. And he had this for all the different characters. And then at the same time, as conversations would evolve, he could let a lot of that stuff go away.
“So, I’ve never had that combination of somebody who has so much information available and at the same time, so much flexibility of new information coming in, and how that shifts and changes it. My character wasn’t written as a Latino character and Lindsay (Carey’s character) wasn’t written as English. We found our way into that and found a way to make the mask of what I would wear for (Oscar’s character) Josh to be more transparent.”
British actress Carey, 40, has already worked with Oscar before in “Drive” (2011) and “Inside Llewyn Davis” (2013). And they have kept in touch with each other and stayed friends, looking and wondering when they would work together again. Until the “Beef” project came up and Oscar suggested Carey to Sonny.
Carey disclosed, “Oscar and I had always said to each other, ‘If there’s a part for you, I’ll put you forward.’
“And then he came good on that. But it’s just so easy to act with Oscar because he’s not acting. He’s able to feel people. He’s very bold in all his choices, but none of it feels forced. It feels very natural.
“And because we had a long lead-up, lots of conversations with Sonny, we had rehearsals, so when it actually got to shooting it, it felt like a play. That meant we could just try things differently. But there was a sense of real ease to it because he’s just such a good actor.”
