Netflix Series ‘Beef’ Virtual Press Conference

Moviefone attends the press conference for 'Beef' with Steven Yeun, Ali Wong, and creator Lee Sung Jin. "I was blown away," Wong said of the pilot's script.

Lee Sung Jin, Ali Wong and Steven Yeun attend Netflix's Los Angeles premiere of 'BEEF' at Netflix Tudum Theater on March 30, 2023 in Los Angeles, California.

(L to R) Lee Sung Jin, Ali Wong and Steven Yeun attend Netflix's Los Angeles premiere of 'BEEF' at Netflix Tudum Theater on March 30, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Netflix.

‘Beef’, the upcoming Netflix series is wild, dramatic, and takes revenge to the next level. The series starring Steven Yeun and Ali Wong arrives on Netflix on April 6th.

The official synopsis for ‘Beef’ is: “A road rage incident between two strangers - a failing contractor and an unfulfilled entrepreneur - sparks a feud that brings out their darkest impulses.”

The series is created by writer/producer Lee Sung Jin whose writing credits include ‘It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia’ and ‘2 Broke Girls’. It first premiered at the 2023 SXSW Festival on March 18th and will have 10 episodes in total.

‘Beef’ stars Steven Yeun as Danny and Ali Wong as Amy. Series regulars include David Choe as Isaac, Young Mazino as Paul, Joseph Lee as George, and Patti Yasutake as Fumi.

Moviefone recently had the pleasure of attending the virtual press conference for ‘Beef’. In attendance were Steven Yeun, Ali Wong, and creator Lee Sung Jin.alway

Here are the 10 things we learned from the ‘Beef’ virtual press conference:

1. The Stars’ Initial Reaction To The Script For ‘Beef’

To kick off the press conference, Ali Wong spoke about her reaction when reading the script.

Ali Wong: Well, when I read the script, honestly, I was like, this is exactly what we pitched. So there weren’t a lot of surprises. It was more like when he pitched me the idea to begin with, which was very close to the pilot, I was... Yeah, I was blown away and I was like, that sounds scary, but really exciting, and I think I can do it.

Speaking about what blew her away about it:

“I think the thriller element. There’s like, I just haven’t done anything like that before, and just as the show has progressed too, I mean, that just comes out more and more where it’s like, it’s so suspenseful and I’m reading, just reading every page right away, just with so much anticipation and always, I never knew it was going to happen. Sometimes I knew what was going to happen because we talked about it, of course, but in the ways that it happened, it always surprised me, so."

Steven Yeun also spoke on his initial reaction on hearing the pitch for the series.

Steven Yeun: Well, when Sonny called me about just, we were just chatting a random conversation. He was like, “Hey, I have this idea for a road rage thing.” I was like, oh, that’s it. And it was as simple as that. But then for me, it wasn’t a surprise, but what was really exciting was to get the scripts and then see the dialogue and just what Sonny wrote. You’re just like, yeah, you have an idea of where the plot’s going to go. But then you read the dialogue and you’re like, ”Wow, this feels so real.”. It’s such easy but difficult vernacular that you’re almost, it’s written in a way where it was like, oh, Sonny was there in the room as a fly on the wall, and he overheard those conversations and he wrote it that way. And it’s like when you get dialogue like that for me, I’m just like, oh, this is going to be so fun.

2. The Series Was Inspired By A Real Life Incident

Creator Lee Sung Jin was involved in a real-life road rage incident that inspired the script.

Lee Sung Jin: It was a typical road rage thing where the light turned green and I didn’t go fast enough. And it was also a white SUV, it was a BMW though. And yeah, honked at me, said a bunch of things and raced off. And for some reason that day, I was like, “I’ll follow you.” And didn’t really have a plan in my mind. I was justifying it like I’m just following, I’m on my way home and I happen to be behind you. And I’m sure for that person, it felt like I was tracking him the whole run of the 10 highway. And so I thought there was something there about people who were very stuck in their subjective views of reality, and they’re projecting assumptions onto the other person, and that was the kernel of the idea. So I’m very, very thankful for that incident.

3. Ali Wong On Exploring Her Character’s Journey

The actress talks about parts of Amy’s journey that resonate with her, exploring topics that impact Asian women who are career driven.

Ali Wong: I mean, I think that feeling like in the pilot when she’s receiving all those texts and she’s like, “Make it stop.” You know that feeling where it’s like everything’s going wrong. The lint in the dryer, you forgot to clean it, so it’s like the dryer almost caused a fire in the house. There’s a mouse running around in the garage that’s eating all the Halloween candy. There’s like... You haven’t paid that bill for dental cleaning or whatever. And it’s like, it just is all piled on, and you’re like, I have no time to enjoy the things that I’ve worked really hard for. I mean, I think we all have moments like that. So yeah. But I don’t know if catharsis is the word, I think. It was more like the friendships we developed off-camera really provided a lot of catharsis, but really the actual work of this was really wonderful and fulfilling, and it was really challenging too.

4. Steven Yeun Makes The Switch From Dramatic Roles To Comedic Roles

The actor is known for acting in dramatic roles such as Glenn in ‘The Walking Dead’ or Jacob in ‘Minari’, and is taking a more comedic route in ‘Beef’.

Steven Yeun: It was weird because it didn’t feel like a switch. Meaning, Danny is just, like to play the comedy of Danny is to just lean into the unfortunate drama of his life. So it felt like being in it and out of it at the same time. That’s where the shame part came in, where I was just like, ‘Oh, I’m watching Danny go through this thing.” And it’s like, how do I not bail on him? All the time, I’m just judging him, judging him, judging him, cringing or not trying to make him make sense, but then you’ve got to make him make sense. And that was a challenge. That was every day, I think I told [Sonny], I was like, “Why are you making me do this?”

Joseph Lee as George, Ali Wong as Amy in 'Beef.'

5. Balancing Storytelling Between Comedy And Drama

Creator Lee Sung Jin talks about how much the writer’s room helped with the progression of the show.

Lee Sung Jin: Oh, man. I don’t know. Just kind of stumbling about. Yeah, the writing’s hard, it’s the worst, and having a great writer’s room helps a lot. We spent an inordinate amount of time just making sure that the core progressions of the season felt right. And that’s probably what I spend the most amount of time on, is just making sure the beats feel good, and then all those other things just kind of happen organically. You know, you just try to add textures and specificities that feel true to life and true to people you know.
And then just all those themes naturally bubble up, but it’s definitely not top-down where I’m like, I want to tackle identity or anything like that. It’s just trying to write characters that feel real.

Ali Wong as Amy, Ashley Park as Naomi in 'Beef.'

6. Ali Wong Talks The Most Physically Challenging Scenes

The actress recounts having to run through the forest in the dark and working with animals for the scene.

Ali Wong: Running in the dark looks cool on camera, but the reality of doing that, especially when you’re in a trench coat and it’s dark and you can’t see branches beneath you that get caught in your trench coat. I mean it, I just wasn’t used to it. Again, I was excited about this whole thriller element. And when you’re actually doing it, you’re like, this is scary. But it was nice because I was with Steven because he’d been on ‘The Walking Dead’, is it seven seasons? Yeah, seven seasons in the suburbs of Atlanta running away from zombies. So he was hopping around in the forest like it was his playground, and it was so interesting to see him so at home in the forest at two in the morning while I was like, Shelley Long in 'Troop Beverly Hill.' I was like, “Get me out here,” but it was really fun. But actually what was challenging was hiding how terrified and uncomfortable was. So that was the most challenging part, and trying to be a fraction as tough as Steven.

The actress also talked about working with crows in one scene.

Ali Wong: There was talons on my arm. Yeah. So it was, when I look at it, actually being there was not tough. It was just repressing the fear and it was like two acting jobs. It was performing for them and then performing.

7. Lee Sung Jin’s Favorite Scene From The Series

The creator talks about a specific scene that was emblematic of the series and his favorite of the series

Lee Sung Jin: I’d say probably... Oh man, there’s a scene in episode seven and I’m trying to think about how to use words to not spoil anything, but it involves the two leads, and they’re in Amy’s home, and there’s sort of this confrontational conversation that happens at a dinner party, and I really loved the way you two played that scene. Quite powerful, but so minimal and it’s very existential and it gets me in my little heart and yeah, I think it’s a really... I mean, they crushed it. And so that’s probably one of my favorite scenes. And the way Jake shot that too is incredible. And yeah, it’s very emblematic of the mood of the show, I’d say.

8. Steven Yeun Talk Playing And Relating To A Character That Seems Stuck

Yeun’s character Danny Cho tends to make bad decisions, from rage-driving to physically fighting his siblings. He speaks about being able to relate to that when he was younger.

Steven Yeun: Yeah, I think for me, I relate to Danny in that when I was younger, I was certainly stuck in something like that. Of just I was raised immigrant like he did too, so I relate to this need to, as the firstborn son, control my environment in whatever way shape I can. And I relate to Danny in that way, so I can see someone who does not live in an awareness of himself constantly feeling like his story, or not even knowing that he’s living his own mind story out over and over again, that he’s constantly just put under by the way he sees the world. And I think that’s a gnarly place to be for someone like him, but he’s genuine in his frustrations. If someone would talk to him, he would just be like, “I’m telling you, this is happening to me.” And if he could just get out of his own way, he could open the door and leave, but he doesn’t know he holding himself hostage. So yeah, it was, I wouldn’t say cathartic, I would say for me, it was harrowing at times to go back to that place where I couldn’t see my own reflection in my own mirror when I was younger.

9. Amy’s House Was Designed To Give The Feel Of Being In A Cage

Wong’s character Amy puts on an armor every single day of her life. The costume department designed Amy’s outfits and color palette to be opposite of what she would be thinking internally.

Ali Wong: I have to give a lot of credit to the head of costumes, Helen (Huang), she’s amazing. So she dressed me purposely. Like, Amy would never wear this outfit that I’m wearing right now. She would never have this hair. She would never have these earrings. This would be too loud and too gauche for Amy. She wears very coated, expensive shapeless neutrals. And grace, I mean, Helen purposely dressed me like that and her expressing her sense of humor, and also she wanted me to have this armor because it’s like she thought it was so funny to dress Amy in these tans and creams and camels and whites, but then Amy have these insane thoughts. So that’s a choice that Amy makes because this is who she wants to be, but it’s also making her feel trapped. Same thing with Amy’s house, like those wooden slats you see in Amy’s house.
So Grace (Yun), who’s an amazing production designer, she spaced out those wooden slats perfectly to, while superficially they seem like very zen and serene, she built them in a way that makes it feel like a cage. So all of that really helped me feel like that.

Steven Yeun as Danny, Ali Wong as Amy in 'Beef.'

10. Wong And Yeun Remember The Most Memorable And Emblematic Scene

For Wong, the most memorable scene was on her first day of shooting with Yeun, they were running out of time (and sun) to finish the scene and only had time for 3 more takes. The scene required Wong to chase Yeun through the house.

Ali Wong: It was just really fun. And that kind of set the tone for the rest of the shoot. I was like, oh, I mean, I talked about this before, but because I didn’t know Steven and his process that well, I was like, okay, since we’re playing enemies, in between takes and during lunch, is he going to throw a donut at my head? Is he going to go like this to me every time I try to speak to him? And then it was like, I mean, that kind of set the precedent that we will always connect in between takes, because really it’s not about us being enemies, it’s really about these two people having a connection.

For Yeun, it was a more vulnerable and quiet scene.

Steven Yeun: I think a lot of that exists in episode 10. A lot of the quiet moments were, for me, really fun to unpack. And I think even just like... Well, it’s spoilers. Just kind of being in a vulnerable, natural condition internally and externally between Danny and Amy. Those are very, to me, the show.

To wrap up the press conference, Lee Sung Jin has something to tease for the final 2 episodes of the series.

“They escalate and they get... The two trains collide, and we try to get to deeper emotions past the basic rage, sadness, happiness, and kind of try to figure out why are we the way that we are, why does reality kind of suck most of the time. So we try to go to some deeper spots while also having a very well-placed fart joke in the mix.”

The directors for the dark comedy series include Hikari, Jake Schreier, and Lee Sung Jin. ‘Beef’ premieres on Netflix on April 6th.

(L to R) Steven Yeun and Ali Wong attend Netflix's Los Angeles premiere of "BEEF" at Netflix Tudum Theater on March 30, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Netflix.