Charles Melton has been on quite a run. His breakthrough performance opposite Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman in Todd Haynes’ “May December” changed the conversation around the actor, earning him some of the strongest reviews of his career and establishing him as much more than the heartthrob many audiences first knew from “Riverdale.” It also caught the attention of “Beef” creator Lee Sung Jin, who saw something in Melton’s performance that he wanted to explore further.
Melton learned just how serious Lee was during an awards-season dinner for “May December.” Lee, better known as Sonny, pulled out his phone and showed him a photograph from the “Beef” writers’ room. “He said, ‘This is in my writers’ room.’ And I was like, ‘Why?’ And he’s like, ‘We’re writing the character for you.’” It was specifically the rooftop scene from “May December” that had stayed with Lee. “It’s so heartbreaking, but it’s also so funny, but it’s also so young and old,” Melton recalls Lee telling him.
That character became Austin Davis, the earnest and deeply self-doubting former college football player at the center of the second season of Netflix and A24’s “Beef.” Austin works as a personal trainer and at an exclusive country club and is newly engaged to Ashley (Cailee Spaeny). Their seemingly conflict-free relationship begins to crack after they become entangled in the deteriorating marriage of their boss Josh (Oscar Isaac) and his wife Lindsay (Carey Mulligan).
Melton quickly becomes one of the season’s biggest scene stealers. Whether desperately trying to save a dying bee or fumbling his way through a physical therapy audition opposite Eunice (Seoyeon Jang), Austin is often hilarious precisely because he has no idea that he is. “The reason why Austin is so funny is because none of us are playing the joke,” Melton says. “Life is funny on its own without trying to tell a joke.”
There is much more happening beneath Austin’s easygoing exterior. He is half Korean and half white, and his growing connection with Eunice begins to surface questions about himself that he has never fully confronted. Ashley and Eunice come to represent different possibilities for Austin, not simply romantically, but in his relationship with the two cultures that have shaped him.
What makes the storyline work is that “Beef” never feels the need to announce what Austin is going through. Lee’s writing and Melton’s performance allow that uncertainty to emerge through his relationships and choices, resulting in one of the more nuanced depictions of a mixed Asian American identity crisis on television. Both Lee and Melton are Korean American and spent portions of their younger years in Korea, experiences that became part of their early conversations about Austin. “He’s Korean American. I’m Korean American,” Melton says. “I shared about that experience, and that was the texture of who this realized human being was in Austin.”
That collaboration has now earned Melton an Emmy nomination, one of 16 for “Beef” this season. The recognition follows the awards success of the first installment, which saw Steven Yeun and Ali Wong both take home Emmys for their performances.
Melton spoke with me about how “May December” unexpectedly led to Lee creating Austin for him, finding the sincerity beneath the character’s funniest moments and bringing his own Korean American experience to the role. He also discussed filming in Korea with his family watching from the set and what he learned from working alongside Song Kang-ho, an actor Melton calls “the greatest actor of all time.”
The following conversation has been adapted for print from my interview with Melton for “United By Rice,” with minor edits for length and clarity.
Awards Focus: Let’s talk about “Beef.” Sonny [Lee Sung Jin] had more or less identified you as an actor he wanted to play Austin. How did you enter the franchise?
Charles Melton: There was a dinner that Bing Chen with Gold House was hosting for me during “May December,” when we were doing the awards press circuit, and incredible filmmakers were there. Chloé Zhao, Lulu Wang. I’m so excited that I’m working with Lulu Wang here in the future, and then praying to cook something up with Chloé.
But Sonny sat next to me, and he showed me a picture. We connected at a few of these events, and he showed me a picture on his phone and said, “This is in my writers’ room.” And I was like, “Why?” And he’s like, “We’re writing the character for you.”
What Sonny does so well, it was a pinch-me moment, for one, but part of his collaboration is these really long meetings where you’re just being very vulnerable and sharing existential things and philosophies and certain impactful moments in your life. He kind of gauges the essence of who you are, and then he excavates into his writing what he knows only you can do.
So that was kind of the genesis of our meeting and the genesis of Austin that we created together. He grew up in Korea in his younger years. I grew up in Korea. He’s Korean American. I’m Korean American. So I was very moved to have an artist, a creator, write a Korean American story because I haven’t seen one of those. But not that that’s a talking point. He just came to me as an artist, and I just so happened to be Korean American. I shared about that experience, and that was the texture of who this realized human being was in Austin.
AF: You mentioned Sonny had told you he was writing the role for you. Do you know what he saw you in that really stuck in his head?
Melton: He saw me in “May December,” and he specifically referenced the rooftop scene. He said a version of, “It’s so heartbreaking, but it’s also so funny, but it’s also so young and old.”
It was just the contusion of all these different things he said that I was holding in that scene. It conveyed a lot. So I think that’s good.
That’s what I love about Austin, right? I think with Sonny, the reason why “Beef” is so funny, especially with Oscar and Carey and Cailee and all of us, and the reason why Austin is so funny, is because none of us are playing the joke. Life is funny on its own without trying to tell a joke.
That’s the kind of humor I’m drawn to. Sonny would talk about the Coen brothers. Someone paid me a compliment about doing what Brad Pitt did in “Burn After Reading.” I love Brad Pitt in that. That was one of my favorite performances of his. I think it’s really a difficult thing to do comedy without playing comedy.
AF: Austin has this struggle between his two identities or two cultures, his Korean side and his American side. Did that concept come out through some of those early discussions with Sonny?
Melton: I would say yes and no. Sonny and I really bonded over our love for Korean cinema and the subtlety of some of our favorite performances and the blending of genres. I mean, when you think of Song Kang-ho and what he does in every film, he’s the greatest actor of all time. He says so much with his eyes. You can see his humanity without him saying anything.
With Austin, I talked a lot about how Austin was who I was 15 years ago. I’ve had, and I still do have, self-doubt. Austin has this immense amount of self-doubt that we as an audience get to watch unravel in the most absurd circumstances when his heart is in the right place, and that’s funny.
It reminds me of some of my favorite Korean films. I mean, “Parasite,” “Memories of Murder” and “No Other Choice” by Park Chan-wook. There’s just so much nuance in not saying the thing. I think you just leave that up to the audience.
With Austin, he’s navigating so much. His relationship, his independence in that relationship, his codependency. He’s navigating making decisions from a place of indecision. That’s why when we come to Episode 8, where he’s in that taxi cab scene, we finally see, or think we know, why he’s making a decision, but he makes a decision to go back to Ashley.
For me, when I think of that image, I think of the masks, the paths of people pleasing and putting everyone before himself. It kind of just disintegrates, and then for the first time you see him make a decision for himself.
AF: There are different interpretations of that ending, too, and Austin’s arc. When I first watched it, I asked myself: Is Austin happy? Was this just a momentary blip in their relationship and a crush, or has he settled for something? How do you interpret the arc your character goes through and particularly that ending?
Melton: Like you said, it’s great because it’s up to your interpretation, right? I think of the ending shot of “Samsara,” which is the commentary on the cycles of life and generations and history repeating itself in a new timeline, right? And in that moment when we see Austin, it’s a glimpse into the future.
It’s just a moment. No moment is perfect. I think you see Austin in the first seven episodes, and you’re kind of seeing the crumbling of this puppy-dog honeymoon phase. You’re seeing the shadows of these characters truly be revealed throughout the show, where they’re not playing the part, so to speak, anymore.
For me, as an audience, if I’m looking at that, I’m like, yeah. I mean, who hasn’t been in a bad mood and then they’re reading late at night after a long day of work, their wife is asking them to do something, or vice versa?
I think that’s just the moment we see, and that’s left up to the audience. But I like to believe they’re out there living their best life, experiencing the circles of life, the cycles of life.
AF: One of the opening scenes where we’re introduced to you is you trying to resuscitate a bee with water. I’ve never seen that before. Did filming scenes like this ever make you break? Because to your point, you can’t really express the comedy of the situation on your face while you’re filming.
Melton: Break while filming? No, no, Ben. No, no, no, no.
That scene specifically, I remember filming that bee scene, and it’s heartbreaking. Yeah. It’s heartbreaking. On that day, in my work, it’s heartbreaking because you kind of see who Austin is in that moment of him trying to save the bee, being completely helpless and hopeless, but still trying. It was a pretty heavy scene for me specifically.
And then afterwards, there would be times where Sonny… Like, “Is everyone laughing at me? Why are they laughing at me?” Because I was so protective of Austin. When I’m in it, I’m in it.
Specifically in that scene, it didn’t just cut. Technically it was a difficult scene, but it didn’t just cut and then I’m laughing at Austin saving a bee. I think there’s no truth and authenticity in that.
I wouldn’t be able to do the work if I’m thinking about how this is funny. It’s almost like relinquishing any set form, structured idea so then moments can be revealed to me in a scene, you know?
AF: You really do have to immerse yourself in the emotion of what Austin is truly feeling in that moment. It’s a very pivotal scene for us to understand who Austin is.
Melton: Yeah, I think that’s just part of the work. Everyone has their own processes to get to that place, but hopefully they’re healthy in how they do it. But yeah, you have to believe in it.
AF: Along those lines, Austin has been described as kind of a himbo character. In the wrong hands, Austin could have been played too much as a trope and not been taken seriously. Was that a hard calibration to find?
Melton: You know, when I first read it, I had a lot of judgment reading Austin, which I think is normal sometimes, especially when it’s so close and vulnerable to you and you’re creating this being and collaborating about who this character is with the creator.
But then I knew Sonny trusted in me, and I trusted in him because he knew that I was going to take off the page what was two dimensional and bring my essence to kind of fill in the space in between the words.
Sometimes I’d be a little frustrated with myself because I kind of just had to relinquish control and completely be vulnerable to just be.
There’s a thing, let me try to articulate this. Whenever I talk about process, it’s so difficult because it can be so cliché or lame. But it’s like I was completely aware of Austin, and I have to be completely aware, but then I have to completely eliminate that awareness of who he is to completely embrace and be embodied by what he is, who he is, with me.
I know I’m on a set and everyone makes this what it is. I know I have different marks and whatnot, but there’s kind of this trick in the process where you have to just forget that in a healthy way. Like, this is real life. We’re playing, we’re having so much fun, this is an imaginary world, and who knows what’s going to happen next?
AF: In the show you also get to work with Cailee Spaeny, Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan, and then of course legendary actors from Korea (Youn Yuh-jung, Song Kang-ho). At this stage in your career, do you take a little bit from their performances or from watching them do the work that they do? Is there anything that stuck with you that you’re going to bring with you into future projects?
Charles Melton: Yeah, I just think each and every one of them are so brilliant and incredible and have such rich inner lives outside of the work, but then bring that richness into their work. When we’re on set, you never know what’s going to happen. Everyone’s so prepared, and they’re not just showing up.
I would say each and every one, I have strong memories with, strong experiences with, and we’re all fairly close. Cailee’s one of my best friends.
Song Kang-ho. Song Kang-ho to me, when I first worked with him, I couldn’t believe it. I was in awe to where I got emotional. I had to excuse myself and kind of shed a few tears. Just the artist he is, even on set.
They turned around and they were setting up to shoot Carey and Cailee and myself. I kind of like to be the first one on set usually, show up, and I’m not afraid to run my stuff or think or just sit. I went to set, and the cameras aren’t even on Song Kang-ho, and he’s already there just running it and rehearsing it and moving through things and walking.
I was just like, “That’s one of the greats, and it’s him right there. Look at him, just by himself in this room, working things out.” It was incredible. I almost feel guilty to share that with you because it’s such a sacred moment, and I got to witness that and be with him.
AF: As you’ve evolved in this industry and in the types of roles you look for, how does your identity influence the roles you’re interested in? Where do you think the current state of opportunity is for actors like yourself?
Melton: I love what I do. And why limit art to identity? I’m an artist, you know, and there’s so much space. There’s so much space being created naturally. More space is coming.
I’m so grateful that Sonny is a part of that space where he’s creating great art, getting people from all walks of life and different cultures to be a part of his vision and what he’s creating.
For him to be a part of the first story that I know that really touches on the half Korean, half white experience, half Korean American experience, was very close to me for many reasons. What draws me to a character is not the ethnicity, and I don’t read characters because of their ethnicity. I read characters. I read human beings.
When opportunity presents itself, when the work or the structure of the art form is touching on certain issues or certain parts of the human condition, for example, in Austin’s case, his identity and him coming back to Korea, for me that was very monumental because we ended up filming the finale, Ben, in Korea.
My whole family in Korea and Seoul, Korean farmers and people like that, they could never imagine coming to my set, and they came to my set and watched me film. They didn’t even know what my character’s journey was.
But it was also very powerful for me and did something spiritually, on a DNA level, by being there, being home, being back to my roots. And also, in some way, shape or form, it informed Austin.
AF: Congratulations and good luck through awards season.
Melton: Thank you. Take care.