RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Beef creator Lee Sung Jin welcomes reactions of any kind. Whether a viewer is looking to debate a plot point with friends or argue over their favorite character, the writer-director is just happy people are talking about the series.
"It's just fun that in this climate where you have so many things vying for everyone's attention to have a show that they'll be able to connect [with]," he tells The Hollywood Reporter . "That's what you hope for as a showrunner, is just to spawn a reaction, something that makes you feel something." Related Stories TV 'Margo's Got Money Troubles' HMU Team Used Over 100 Eyeshadow Containers to Paint Elle Fanning's Body Green TV 'Your Friends and Neighbors' Showrunner Is Surprised Jon Hamm Didn't Get an Emmy Nod: "A Performance That Should've Been Recognized"
The hit anthology series, which returned for its second season earlier this year, has been getting reactions out of viewers since its critically acclaimed first season. In 2023, season one raked in eight Emmys, including best limited series or anthology, lead actor, lead actress, writing and directing. Season two could prove to be just as fruitful — the show earned 16 nominations.
"Season two was so much about hedonic adaptation — how we as humans get so used to the new status quo that we get accustomed to — and I'm trying not to do that with awards because I do want to have it feel that I am really grateful for it," Lee says. "I want to enjoy every moment."
The showrunner opens up to THR about making season two of the hit series and why he doesn't take the spotlight for granted.
What was your biggest takeaway as a showrunner, writer and director about this season coming out and people's reaction to it?
That people seem to be resonating with [material] born out of the intimate conversations and collaborations among the creatives on the show. So many people have come up to me about the Josh and Lindsay fight. An older couple might tell me it felt like we were inside their home. I think back on how that fight developed — not only was it born out of the writers room, but it was hours and hours of conversation with Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan. We rehearsed it and kept fine-tuning it, trying to remove any falsehoods. Carey would remember something about someone in her life, and in Oscar — it was really a melting pot of a variety of truths that every creative [on the show] brought and threw into the pot. It's cool to see that those specificities are what people respond to. There's the trite thing that networks often tell you when you're writing is in your specificity is where the universality will arise. You're like, "OK, OK." But I'm getting to see that in action.
Has it made you think about your own writing a little differently going forward?
It just continually affirms, from season one into season two and on, just to keep trying to be myself and remain hyper-observational to the textures of life. For whatever reason, we as a collective consciousness seem to be very similar beings experiencing similar stimuli. The more I can self-reflect and examine myself and be like, "OK, what intrusive thought have I not said out loud? What am I ashamed of?" The more specific I can get with that [the better]. Then, suddenly, there's someone else in the world on the opposite side of the planet who's like, "Wait, I thought only I felt that." I think in our collective reckoning with these private parts of ourselves we start to make the whole thing feel lighter and then less alone. That continues to be my writing north star.
From season one to season two, how do you feel the scale of what you're making changed?
Not too much. Because season one, the penultimate episode also had tons of action and everything came to a head at Jordan's mansion. In my opinion, I'm very biased, but the work that our crew and cast put in this season felt like a graduation of season one, where season one felt very raw and grungy and almost so pure in emotion. Season two, I don't think it's better or worse — it's sort of a graduation and becoming a little bit more polished, a little bit more refined. The same fight at the skin clinic season one maybe would've been handheld and not a oner. Whereas in season two, it starts to feel a little bit more elegant. That energy felt more appropriate for the energy of the narrative in season two because it's so much about time passing and love and generations, set at a country club. That different mood is probably the biggest difference rather than scale. If we were to ever do a season three — of which there are no plans right now — but if we ever were to do a season three, I hope to continually find different textures and different ways to paint the season because I just don't really like repeating myself.
With season one, you had a great awards run. Given the amount of nominations you received this year, it could play out similarly. Do you feel different about it this time? Does it feel perhaps a bit more comfortable?
It definitely feels different. Season two, the external pressures definitely go up because expectations have been set and a precedent exists. I feel that, but I try to drown it out the best I can. The thing I love about awards season is less about necessarily the numbers or necessarily matching anything of season one, but more it's a chance to celebrate people on the cast and crew that I'm so extremely proud of.
There's some exceptional work being done this season — obviously, our incredible cast that are nominees: Oscar, Carey, Charles Melton and Youn Yuh-jung; James Laxton, our DP; Olga Mill, our costume designer. It's a chance to shine a light on people that do not always get to have the spotlight. Our editors, Lauren Connelly and Laura Zempel, for example. That's really my favorite part of this because so many people work so hard on this. Also, it's like a double-edged sword because Cailee Spaeny and Finneas to me are as good as it gets performance-wise and score-wise. Having...
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