It is very likely that Seoyang Jang showed her role in it meat Season two.
The British-Korean actress remembers scrolling through Instagram in the weeks before she auditioned for season two From the award-winning Netflix series, when I found a clip from the show’s first season. “I remember thinking to myself, ‘This is the kind of role I want to do,’” the 31-year-old says. Hollywood Reporter On zoom. It’s in Los Angeles for a lot of meat Press on, finding a brief moment of rest.
Jang plays Eunice, the smart assistant to Oscar-winning actress Yoon Yeoh-jung’s boss character, in the latest installment of Lee Seung-jin’s anthology series. She joins Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Charles Melton and Cailee Spaeny to complete the main cast for season two, which is set at a California country club.
The actress continues: “I think I showed it indirectly because I got to audition.” “I was so shocked that my appearances don’t really happen.”
Below, Jang shares how she found her way from starring in K-drama to starring meatWhy is it exciting to be surrounded by frivolous characters and what will you remember most from this experience.
I’ve done a lot of work in Korea, however meat It’s your second project in the US, right? How do you feel about his exit?
Even though I grew up in London and spoke the language, I never imagined or thought I would be able to work in Hollywood. In a certain way, I limited myself. I loved K-drama – I still love K-drama, I love K-drama so much – and I thought that’s what I wanted to do. Thinking this way limited me in the direction I wanted to go in, because nowadays, theater is global. You can do both. I was very adamant about wanting to do K-Dramas because that’s where my passion for acting first formed. Then I did butterfly. I met some amazing people, which opened more doors for me, and then I came meat. butterfly It was definitely a starting point for me. It was also a project that changed the direction of my career as a whole.
Did you move to Korea from London originally for work? Or have you moved on younger?
I started out as a K-Pop trainee.
With which company?
I can’t say, but it was a great company. I was chosen to become a trainee in an idol group when I was really young. I came back on my own when I was 19. From there, I gradually moved on and found my love and passion for acting. Then I gave up the K-Pop part and decided to pursue acting.
You’ve been involved in some big Korean projects, and you started acting because of your love for Korean dramas. What made you decide that you wanted to start auditioning in the United States?
It was never a conscious decision to try out Hollywood or Western roles. It was more so if a certain testing opportunity came along. It was literally just one thing leading to another – I was never one to decide to go down a path and try to follow it. It was just a natural process. In hindsight, I’m so grateful it happened that way.
What was going into this character? Sonny is very good at making this heightened world relatable, but Eunice often feels more relatable between some of the big moments and some of the more insignificant characters.
I feel like we all have these petty sides to ourselves, and it’s so refreshing to see these characters amplify that pettiness because I feel like we live in a world where we have to hold our tongues and keep doing that instead of acting in a way that we all want to dig deeper into. It’s definitely a joy to see and it’s a stress reliever in itself for me. But playing an ordinary character is relatable because she’s just trying to survive within her small community. She’s just trying to do her job, just trying to survive in her own way. We are all trying to do our best, but the method is different. Eunice, although she has an international school education background, grew up in a Korean family like me, and I think that poses a completely different dynamic because of the cultural differences.
You have some really great moments of lightness. In the first episode or two, when the boss comes in and Josh and Lindsay are talking, and she says to her, “There’s nothing worth translating.“
I like this part.
I loved it. The form of black comedy for this show is very specific. What did you do to prepare for this as an actor? Have you been keeping an eye on things?
No, because I directly identified with Eunice and related to her as a person. As I mentioned earlier, my family still lives in London now. When we first went there, my mom obviously didn’t speak English, so she relied a lot on us — me and my brother — to do translations for her. It’s funny because it gets to the point where it translates both ways. Let’s say, for example, my mother is an English person, and it gets to the point where you say: “You don’t have to do that, there’s nothing worth translating.” It’s very relevant. The reason why Sonny is able to do this is because, obviously, he grew up in Korea as well, so maybe he has experience with it with his family or friends or even has people around him who share similar experiences. This is very personal, very relatable and very authentic. When I read that part I said, “This guy…”
How was your cooperation with Sony?
Sonny is a very difficult person to read. I always try to find out what he’s thinking. I always try to find out if he likes it or not. I always try to navigate his ideas. But at the same time, the more I worked with him, the more scenes we did together, I learned very quickly that he had such a clear, brilliant vision of what he wanted to see in this particular scene and the show as a whole that it made me feel reassured.
A lot of times, a lot of things are left up to the actors, but sometimes it feels a little lonely and scary. Working with Sonny, because he knew exactly what he wanted, I felt very safe being on the ship and having a captain who knew his direction, who knew his compass. It was this feeling of security for me. One difference I noticed while working with him is that he’s not afraid to show his own vision, which a lot of other directors don’t do. In that aspect, not only did I enjoy myself, but I think we were able to quickly figure out where I needed to go. I think this was a very good collaboration on my part. I don’t know how he feels.
I’m sure he feels the same. It’s funny to hear you say that you can’t read if you like it or if you don’t like it. How does this affect your performance? Are you thinking of ways to surprise him to get a reaction if you’re not sure?
I think all the actors would agree with me, but I just wanted to please Sonny. (He laughs.) That’s all I wanted. I just wanted to make him happy. It wasn’t stressful per se, but after every take, I was looking at Sonny and trying to read his reaction. If he’s loving a scene, I know he’s smiling, but he’s smiling in a subtle way. It is not very clear to others, but you have to look at it at the right time to realize it, to be reassured that you are on the right path. Then if he starts laughing, you think, well, I did something right. And then, if I kind of think about what different version are we going to try in the next shot?
How well do you know the first season of Beef? Did you watch it? Enjoy it?
Considering how great the first season was, it was very hard not to watch it because there was so much hype around it. When the movie came out, I watched it and thoroughly enjoyed myself, but not for the usual reasons. It was very shocking to me, I had never seen anything like this before. It actually portrayed the worst versions of ourselves well, but obviously in a more exaggerated way. I think I related to it so much that I was embarrassed by myself.
This is what Sony is really good at, bringing humor out of the worst aspects of people. It’s funny that a few days or weeks before the experience Season 2 performance, I received a photo on Instagram of a movie meat The first season clip came. I remember thinking to myself, this is the kind of role I want to do, because it came right after that butterfly. Then I forgot about it. But obviously I think I showed it indirectly because I got the test. I’m so shocked that my manifestations don’t really happen. I don’t know about you.
No, I don’t.
I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. But it was the first time it had actually happened. I was so shocked and so grateful. As soon as I got the audition, I knew this was the kind of role I wanted to play, especially if it was a precursor to Hollywood. I felt like it was a good way to portray myself, not just in terms of acting, but as an actor, because there are Korean lines and English lines.
What did you find relating to Eunice that made you want this role? Or what about it didn’t feel connected to the topic that made you want to accept it?
She is a very smart person. She obviously had to go through a lot of competition and a lot of societal pressure. I had never worked for a corporation — much less the richest woman in South Korea — so that was a quality I respected. Also, being involved in life, I feel like this is something I have to improve on. Someone who is able to put aside her greed, and sometimes her own thoughts, and move forward for whatever reason. That’s something I wanted to portray because when you act, you’re allowed to become that person, right? It always feels good. When I first read the script, there was a specially written scene where Eunice has to split her legs and be nonchalant about it. This made me realize that she is smart. She’s doing really well in her life, and she’s resilient. I’ve got it all. I love when I have to physically work and physically change for a role. That’s always the fun part of acting. Mind you, I haven’t stretched a day since.
When you look at this show as a chapter in your life, what do you think your takeaways will be?
Going back to my point where I said I was unknowingly limiting myself, I think my perception has definitely changed. When I was sitting on set, waiting for scenes with Youn Yuh-jung seonsaengnim — I call her seonsaengnim because [term of] Respect – In Los Angeles when I was surrounded by people who were not Korean while working, it was a very strange and surprising feeling for me. It’s something I never dreamed of, not just for myself, for any Korean actor. I think times have definitely changed. I get goosebumps just thinking about it.
I imagine being with her – she is truly a pioneer – adding an extra layer on top.
Many layers. It would be great to sit next to her in Korea, let alone Los Angeles, while she does the same Hollywood project she does. This is something I will never be able to understand. This just shows how times really change. with Demon hunters in kpop And BTS and all these amazing Korean people. I feel proud of them. I’m so grateful to be in the position I’m in.
