Steven Yeun and Lee Sung-jin talk 'Beef' success and facing our 'dark sides'

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Steven Yeun and Lee Sung-jin talk 'Beef' success and facing our 'dark sides'

Published: 02 Feb. 2024, 13:24

LIM JEONG-WON
lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr

A scene from Netflix original series ″Beef″ [NETFLIX]

The Golden Globe and Emmy-winning Netflix original series “Beef” (2023) spoke to so many viewers around the world because it depicted the universality of everyday life and its frustrations, according to lead actor Steven Yeun and director Lee Sung-jin.

“I wanted to make a series that highlights the honest and deep-seated darker emotions within us,” Lee said during an online interview with Korean reporters Friday. “When facing such dark sides within each of us, we can then understand each other and begin to accept ourselves and others.”

“Beef” tells the story of two Asian Americans, Danny Cho and Amy Lau, played by Yeun and actor-comedian Ali Wong, who meet after a rage-fueled car chase extends into a series of escalating altercations.

Danny is a struggling contractor while Amy is a successful businesswoman, and the two share an unexplained frustration that they project onto each other. As their revenge spree continues, their lives and their families intertwine in a comical yet dark story about isolation, class warfare and what it means to live in the cutthroat modern world.

Director Lee Sung-jin, left, and actor Steven Yeun pose with their trophies for Netflix original series ″Beef″ at the 75th Emmy Awards Governors Gala Winners Circle held at the LA Convention Center in Los Angeles, California, on Jan. 15. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

Yeun and Wong each picked up Golden Globes, as well as Emmy Awards, in a handful of categories earlier this year.

“In the field of arts, I think there is a venn diagram swinging from self-doubt on one side and narcissism on the other,” Lee said. “In the overlapping part of the diagram there is the art. You doubt yourself on whether anyone would be interested in what you create and at the same time you feel like you could win all the awards in the world, and ‘Beef’ came about in the middle ground of that.”

“It was hard to predict whether we would win awards with ‘Beef,’ and when we did what I felt most was gratitude,” Yeun said. “I am very thankful for being able to be a part of a series that spoke about the themes that ‘Beef’ addresses. If I could talk to a version of myself from the past, I would tell him to relax and take it easy.”

BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]