Netflix’s ‘Beef’: Steven Yeun breaks down his emotional church scene

I didn’t expect to burst into tears during a song about Jesus in episode 3 of Beef, but it appears neither did Steven Yeun’s character, Danny Cho.

In the third episode of A24 and Netflix’s series, aptly titled “I Am Inhabited By a Cry” and written by showrunner Lee Sung Jin, Danny finds himself at the Living Glory Church after everything’s gone to shit. His bubbling road rage war with Amy Lau (Ali Wong) has led to his truck being vandalised, with Danny retaliating by almost torching Amy’s car with her daughter inside it, which disturbs him deeply. So, he begrudgingly leans on the overt smiles beaming at him from a pamphlet he’s been given and heads to the church.

Tentatively finding his spot in the congregation, Danny takes in a performance by the church’s band led by Edwin (Justin H. Min). The lyrics hit Danny hard: “Are you hurting and broken within?” Maaaaybe. In this moment, despite his greatest attempts to force it down, Danny bursts into tears at the chorus. Eventually, amid heaving sobs, Danny joins in singing and finds himself comforted by Pastor Kim (Eddie Shin). Later, he explains it away in disbelief. “I think I just needed a good cry or something.”

“That scene was one of my favourites,” Lee told Mashable. “Jake Schreier, our producing director, shot that; it’s shot so beautifully. Larkin [Seiple], our DP, shot it in a very honest way, it didn’t feel like we were glamorising the moment but also not making fun of it either. We just really had wanted to reflect this Korean church experience as honestly as we could.”

Yeun said, “That one was interesting because I’m familiar with that feeling of going to a collective place where you’re overwhelmed by this feeling of, like, you’re holding so tightly to yourself until you go to those places, and then you’re able to let go because everybody’s communally doing something.”

It’s the first time we’ve seen Danny’s vulnerable side in the series, as he’s usually aggressively trying to convince everyone around him he’s in control or exploding in rage over goings-on. The scene wasn’t an easy one to achieve, with all that was required of Yeun in the emotional upheaval of it all.

“That scene was actually tough because Steven didn’t cry on the first couple takes, and he was like, ‘I’m going to need a moment,'” said Lee. “We moved on, we shot other scenes and came back, it still wasn’t working. What we ended up doing is we switched the song; we had prerecorded that track with the band, and I think what Steven needed was the original song that he had grown accustomed to. Once we played that, and he felt all the extras singing along, I think that sense of community broke him down. At least that’s what he tells me. That’s when you just saw Danny let the walls down and have everything crumble.”

“I remember walking into that church sequence, and they were shooting most of the other actors there,” explained Yeun. “I think I’m emotionally there, it’s going to be good, I think I’m going to be able to get there. Then they flipped the cameras on me, and then for sound, everybody else stopped singing, and then I couldn’t go there. I was all of a sudden super dry. I was like, what is happening?

“I think what was cool was like, several years ago, as an actor, I might have tried to force it or panicked, or tried to, like, squeeze everything out of it. Instead, I just asked Sonny [Lee Sung Jin] and Jake, ‘Can I take a break? Can you guys shoot some other things? Can I just go back, reset myself, and then figure it out?’ In doing so, I realised, oh, I need them to continue to sing, because they’re all watching me, and it’s taking me out of the reality — you’re supposed to lose yourself, but everybody’s staring at me as we’re shooting this. Once everybody started singing again, it just came really easily. Then that taught me that’s what’s happening to Danny here — he’s feeling the joy and the emotional catharsis of losing himself.”

“That’s what’s happening to Danny here, he’s feeling the joy and the emotional catharsis of losing himself.”

Wong told the story of when she first saw Yeun’s church scene and had a reaction he didn’t expect.

“I love that scene,” she declared. “We were at Korean barbecue, and I had come from watching that scene when we went out to dinner. It was, like, just Sonny, Steven, me, and Jake. And I was like, ‘Steven, oh my god, that scene when you’re crying in the church. I laughed so hard.’ Stephen was like, ‘You laughed?’ I was like, yeah, it’s hysterical. And he was like…”

“Why would you laugh?” remembered Yeun.

“‘Why would you laugh?’ And then I was like, ‘I gotta go to the bathroom!'” said Wong. “Since then, it led into this whole discussion, but that Steven was so committed and unaware of how funny it was is tantamount to making it work. That’s how committed he was, you know, because if he were to, like, cartoonishly fake cry, [it] would have been a totally different thing. I love that scene so much.”

“I agree. It’s funny to then come into awareness about it, too,” added Yeun. “It’s really fun.”

Beef is now streaming on Netflix.(opens in a new tab)