“Beef” stars Steven Yeun and Ali Wong as two individuals concerned in a highway rage incident that spirals uncontrolled and begins to devour their each waking second. And regardless of that Yeun and Wong don’t have any precise beef with one another, that anger started to devour them exterior of the present, too — besides in actual life, it got here within the type of hives.
Throughout a Q&A following the world premiere of “Beef” at South by Southwest, the actors had been requested how they managed to decompress after performing such explosive anger on set.
“Our our bodies shut down,” Yeun mentioned.
“Steven and I each broke out in hives after the present. Mine was on my face. His was throughout his physique as a result of he’s weak like that,” Wong mentioned, to large viewers laughter. “It undoubtedly took a toll on us, however we didn’t even notice till after the present ended. I imply, I gained’t even speak about what occurred to your elbow.”
She continued: “I don’t suppose we knew that was going to occur. If we knew what we had been going to place our our bodies and minds via, perhaps we wouldn’t have mentioned sure, however we’re actually glad we did.”
Collection creator Lee Sung Jin is aware of a factor or two about that type of anger. Onstage, he revealed that “Beef” was impressed by a bout of highway rage that he really skilled himself.
“It was with a white SUV. A BMW, not a Mercedes,” he mentioned, as Wong’s character drives a white Mercedes within the present. “It honked at me, cursed at me and drove away. And for some cause, on that day, I used to be like, ‘I’m gonna comply with you.’ It didn’t finish prefer it did within the present — that’s why I’m right here, capable of speak to you at this time — however it undoubtedly made me take into consideration how we reside in such subjective realities the place we challenge onto individuals we don’t know.”
“Beef” is just not the primary collaboration between Jin, Wong and Yeun. Jin was a author on “Tuca and Bertie,” during which Wong and Yeun voiced lead characters. Jin mentioned that Yeun was one of many first individuals to listen to the concept for “Beef”: “We talked for like three hours. Conversations with Steven normally begin like, ‘Hey, I wish to speak to you about this present,’ after which three hours later, we’re like, ‘Why is God the best way he’s?’”
“What attracted me is that we acquired to play with one thing that we’re not requested to on the floor, which is our shadow selves,” Yeun mentioned. “This complete present is each character’s shadow self, and all of us have that. So to faucet into that — and to receives a commission for it — is nice. And hopefully to make you are feeling seen, too, as a result of this shit’s quite common.”
His prior connections with Jin and Wong made the function simpler for Yeun. “It retains you feeling protected, and it lets you be extra sincere. You’re not left by yourself vulnerability,” he mentioned. “While you get to precise this all in that security of friendship on set, you go house like, ‘I don’t actually discover that anyplace else.’ So it wasn’t too unhealthy. It’s simply holding up the stress that was actually gnarly.”
