In a current episode of Selection’s Actors on Actors, Ali Wong sat down with Jason Segel and talked about why she acquired into appearing from comedy and her expertise engaged on Beef — together with filming the finale episode and what in regards to the collection she’s most pleased with.
Earlier than they acquired into Beef, Jason, who additionally comes from a comedy background, requested Ali if she had at all times wished to “parlay” into appearing. “Probably not,” she replied. “I simply wished to inform jokes for a residing.”
Nonetheless, Ali defined that she had been working as a temp for a very long time and that she started appearing in sitcoms as a way to justify doing unpaid arise units at night time.
As the 2 started speaking about Beef and its escalating feud, Ali revealed that Beef’s script was nonetheless being written as they had been capturing, including that she didn’t even know in regards to the finale whereas filming.
Like Jason then described, the finale episode “so clearly crystallizes the theme that these two individuals are basically the identical. There are even moments the place [Ali’s character Amy and Steven Yeun’s character Danny] change voices and [are] like, ‘I’m you.’”
“And I completely did not perceive that that is what was occurring,” Ali mentioned of the voice change. Whereas the collection creator and finale director, Lee “Sunny” Sung-jin, had Ali memorize Steven’s strains along with her personal, he didn’t inform her why they had been doing so — solely to belief him.
“Have you ever ever filmed in a forest for every week?” Ali then requested Jason earlier than describing the expertise of filming the finale, calling it “wild.”
As a result of they filmed components of the finale for Beef at 2 a.m., Ali and Steven needed to run round in the dead of night. Although Ali acknowledged it appears to be like cool on digicam, she mentioned that, in actuality, it was terrifying and uncomfortable. “I felt like Shelley Lengthy in Troop Beverly Hills,” she commented.
Not like Ali, Steven wasn’t fazed by the placement or timing. “Steven had been on The Strolling Useless for seven years within the suburbs of Atlanta at three within the morning, operating away from the zombies,” Ali mentioned.
Actually, throughout rehearsals, Steven fell out of Danny’s truck (which had simply crashed over a hill) onto his shoulder and crawled by means of the dust thrice. “I used to be like, ‘You actually like doing it?’” Ali informed Jason. “After which [Steven] checked out me and was like, ‘I find it irresistible.’”
Referencing Jason’s newest work, Shrink, Ali then joked that she’d a lot quite play a personality like Harrison Ford’s Dr. Paul Rhoades — sitting for many scenes and cracking jokes.
Later of their dialog, Jason requested Ali what about Beef she’s most pleased with, and she or he mentioned the solid — significantly as a result of Beef has an all-Asian American solid. “I do assume that when you have got an all-Asian American solid, which is uncommon, then the individuals get to be individuals,” she mentioned.
“As a result of, now, when individuals consult with individuals in our present, they use different descriptors to explain the traits of the particular person quite than their race,” Ali defined. “As a substitute of claiming, ‘Oh, the Asian husband,’ they’ll say, ‘Oh, the man who has the sick cardigans, who’s actually optimistic and rides the bicycle.’”
