Road rage is something that I pointedly choose to avoid as an affliction. That is a good thing because I fail to avoid plenty of other rabbit holes that aren’t as readily vanquished by self control over here. Beef, on the other hand, lets all of the road rage hang out. The series’ trailer previews the lay of the land, in which Ali Wong’s character flips the bird at Steven Yeun’s already maxed-out character, and then… it. is. on.
All due to one near collision and mutual temper tantrums, these two essentially appear to destroy each other’s lives. It ain’t worth it! And even though the show does look like voyeuristic wish fulfillment for some audience members, Wong and Yeun recently spoke at SXSW and admitted that they didn’t know that this series would take a physical toll on them as well. Given that Yeun has been through some really horrible sh*t onscreen, it’s saying a lot that this show made him break out in hives after filming concluded, and the same result came for Wong, as reported by Variety:
“Our bodies shut down,” Yeun said.
“Steven and I both broke out in hives after the show. Mine was on my face. His was all over his body because he’s weak like that,” Wong said, to wide audience laughter. “It definitely took a toll on us, but we didn’t even realize until after the show ended. I mean, I won’t even talk about what happened to your elbow.”
Wong suggested that she might not have taken this job if she would have known how grueling the stressors of this show would be, although she is “really glad” that both she and Yeun took the plunge. Maybe it’s time for Wong to mentally relive her Keanu Reeves on-set moments as a stress reliever? It couldn’t hurt do that for any reason at all.
Netflix and A24’s Beef streams on April 6.
(Via Variety)