Steven Yeun Collides With His Own Past for ‘Beef’

They went through so much in one season.

Yea, and on a human level, the journey doesn’t stop there because you’ve come to some understanding. It is a continual practice to be alive. Maybe this is an origin story, who knows?

The three of you released a statement after hearing the reaction to David Choe being a part of the series. What was that process like for you?

Personally for me, I don’t really care to go too much into that aspect of the show. Talking about the show is most important, but I think for us, we didn’t want to leave people in mystery. We wanted to say what we wanted to say and the statement was pretty complete for us.

I think you have incredible taste. In just the past few years you’ve been in Sorry To Bother You, Okja, Burning, __Nope __and now Beef. What is your secret to saying yes to a script?

I don’t have any secrets. I am incredibly fortunate that I find myself being in positions where scripts that I didn’t know existed, or stories that I didn’t know existed, or directors that I didn’t know knew me approach me. So, I have to lead with that I’ve had a lot of luck. But for me, the thing that I always gravitate towards is “is the story trying to say something?” I don’t even mean like, is it trying to teach something? I don’t really care to teach anything. Is it trying to reflect something off of our society or off of something that I believe. I think every script thus far that I’ve said yes to had something that deeply resonated with me. 

You’re mentioning how people are coming to you now with their stories. When did it feel like that opportunity really opened up for you?

I think for me it was director Bong [Joon-ho]. He really took a chance on me with [his character in Okja] K and I feel so grateful to him because he saw me when a lot of people didn’t see me. Even myself, really. 

I think there were people that maybe were open to me, but I had to also have space and openness for them by saying no to a couple of the things that came right after Walking Dead. Let’s be honest here: it wasn’t like 10, 15, 20 things. It was like, “do you want to play like a tech CIA agent on the run?” And I was like, “no. I don’t.” If anything, The Walking Dead afforded me the ultimate privilege in feeling financially secure, amongst many other things. I’m very grateful for that experience for sure.

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