Casting a television series is often described as finding the right actor for the right role. For Jeanie Bacharach, the job is closer to assembling an ecosystem. Every casting choice affects every other casting choice. A performance that works brilliantly in isolation may feel completely wrong once placed alongside a different actor, a different energy, or a different style of storytelling. On a series like Netflix’s “Beef,” where comedy, heartbreak, discomfort, and emotional devastation can exist within the same scene, that balancing act becomes even more complicated.
Bacharach understands that challenge as well as anyone. Over the course of her career, the casting director has helped shape acclaimed series including recent Emmy recognition for “Dying for Sex,” “The Bear,” and “Black Mirror.” Her work often centers on finding actors who can bring specificity and humanity to characters that might otherwise exist as archetypes. That philosophy proved especially valuable when she joined the second season of Lee Sung Jin’s Emmy-winning anthology series.
Unlike many casting assignments, “Beef” Season 2 did not begin with a blank page. Lee had already identified several key performers, including Charles Melton and Cailee Spaeny, before Bacharach officially joined the project. Oscar Isaac had also emerged early as a favorite for Josh, the country club manager whose ambitions and insecurities help drive much of the season’s conflict. Rather than viewing those early decisions as limitations, Bacharach describes them as building blocks. Once several cornerstone pieces are in place, the challenge becomes constructing an ensemble around them that feels cohesive both on screen and behind the scenes.
That process involves far more than simply identifying talented actors. Throughout our conversation, Bacharach repeatedly returned to the importance of acting styles. An ensemble functions best when performers are operating from a similar emotional language, particularly on a show like “Beef” where the tone can shift dramatically from one moment to the next. Speaking about Isaac, Mulligan, Melton, and Spaeny, she points to the honesty and groundedness they each bring to their work. Those qualities became guideposts for every subsequent casting decision.
One of the more fascinating observations Bacharach makes concerns audience familiarity. While Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan arrive with decades of acclaimed work behind them, she believes there is an advantage to having younger characters portrayed by actors who feel slightly less familiar. Audiences immediately understand the dynamic between Josh and Lindsay because of the performers’ established presence. Austin and Ashley, meanwhile, benefit from a different kind of relationship with viewers. Their relative freshness allows audiences to project themselves into the characters and reconnect with an earlier stage of life marked by idealism, uncertainty, and possibility.
That same attention to specificity extended to the season’s Korean storyline. Finding performers capable of navigating both English and Korean dialogue presented its own challenges, but Bacharach was equally interested in finding actors who carried a sense of mystery. Seoyeon Jang’s Eunice needed to feel intelligent, worldly, and difficult to fully read, while Matthew Kim’s Woosh required a careful balance of charm, vulnerability, and ambition. Neither character could be reduced to a simple type. As Bacharach notes, some of the most interesting people are those who initially appear to be one thing before revealing deeper contradictions underneath.
The Korean side of the ensemble was further strengthened by the presence of Youn Yuh-jung and Song Kang-ho, two performers whose stature in Korean cinema can hardly be overstated. For many American viewers, they may simply appear as compelling supporting players. International audiences recognize them as artists whose careers have helped shape modern Korean film. Their inclusion speaks not only to the global scope of Season 2, but also to Lee Sung Jin’s willingness to pursue the strongest performers available regardless of geography.
Awards Focus recently spoke with Bacharach about joining “Beef” for its acclaimed second season, the challenge of building an ensemble around actors already identified by Lee Sung Jin, why acting styles matter as much as star power, and the delicate process of finding performers who can thrive within one of television’s most unpredictable tonal landscapes.
Awards Focus: Season 2 features an entirely new cast. I’ve heard Sonny talk about writing with specific actors in mind, so I’d love to understand that first conversation you had with him. What were some of the goals and objectives you came away with regarding who needed to be cast and what qualities were most important for these characters?
Jeanie Bacharach: Charles (Melton) was someone he already had in mind and had reached out to before the season started and before I came on, as was Cailee (Spaeny). Sonny and I had conversations very early on, even before I was officially on, about both Oscar (Isaac) and Carey’s (Mulligan) characters. In fact, when I first met with Sonny, Oscar was someone he had already been leaning toward, but he wanted to kick around ideas. He also talked about these two very important Korean roles that Seoyeon Jang and Matthew Kim would eventually play, Eunice and Woosh. He gave me an early heads-up because it’s always a challenge finding the right people when you’re getting more specific about needing actors who are Korean and can speak both English and Korean.
AF: Casting Oscar and Carey was obviously critical because those two relationships really drive the season. Starting with Josh, it sounds like Sonny had already identified Oscar. Do you know what it was about Oscar that made him feel like the right fit for the role?
Bacharach: It was important to separate the different generations represented by the two couples, so there was always a desire to lean into someone in their forties and create that distinction from Charles and Cailee’s characters. We knew Josh and Lindsay were going to be a rough couple. The audience needed to see likability, vulnerability, and humor just as much as they saw ambition and desperation. Josh is trying to belong in a world that doesn’t entirely feel like his own. He’s aspirational. He’s fighting for something. He’s not quite the perfect guy. You get the sense he’s spent his whole life working and scraping to get where he is.
Oscar can do all of that. He has that edge. He can be the guy fighting the system, the guy who doesn’t always get the girl, the guy who keeps pushing forward. But he also brings vulnerability and humor. The tone of the show is so tricky. One thing Sonny talked about very early on was that there was going to be more emotional weight this season. Because we’re following two couples, audiences really need to go on that journey. Oscar has that ability to balance heightened comedy with grounded emotional truth.
AF: How important was it that Oscar and Carey had worked together before and already had that history?
Bacharach: That’s gold. To have that kind of history already, especially for our more established couple, is huge. The way Sonny works, he wants to write to people’s voices, but there’s also a lot of exploration during the writing process. These characters go to some dark places, and having two actors who trust each other enough to explore those darker sides in an authentic way is invaluable. When actors already know each other and trust each other, it helps tremendously.
AF: I think I heard Sonny mention that at one point Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway were names he had considered. As those conversations evolved into Carey and Oscar, what were the qualities that absolutely needed to remain in place for those roles?
Bacharach: There are similarities among those actors in terms of presence and the familiarity audiences already have with them. That familiarity helps storytelling. Once those earlier ideas weren’t moving forward, the question became who made sense together as a couple. The age dynamic was important. The distinction between the two couples was important. Beyond that, I don’t want to get too deep into why one actor over another because that’s always such a complicated process.
AF: Charles Melton was another actor Sonny had identified very early. When a creator has someone in mind that strongly, do you still push to explore alternatives before contracts are signed?
Bacharach: For Charles, that was pretty much a done deal. Honestly, it’s nice when some roles are already cast because it helps you build the rest of the ensemble. You know what you’re working with. Acting styles matter too. Charles, Cailee, Carey, and Oscar all bring a grounded honesty to their work. Once you know that’s your foundation, you know you need actors who can hold the screen alongside those kinds of performers. Sonny was also a wonderful collaborator. We developed a trust where we could challenge each other and throw out crazy ideas without judgment. Sometimes he’d say, “This person is really good, but I’m not sure they’re satisfying everything I need.” I love that. You want collaborators who refuse to settle.
AF: With Oscar and Carey, you’re talking about household names. Charles and Cailee are incredibly respected actors, but they’re not necessarily household names to every audience member. How intentional was it that the younger couple felt a little less familiar?
Bacharach: I can’t fully speak to Sonny’s thinking because those were actors he had identified before I came on. But I do think it was a great choice. With Oscar and Carey, audiences bring a familiarity with them that allows you to jump right into that relationship. With Ashley and Austin, who are more idealistic and innocent at the start of the season, there’s something wonderful about not having actors who are quite as ubiquitous.
As an older viewer, you can project yourself into those characters. You can remember that stage of life. Maybe because they aren’t as instantly recognizable, it’s easier to travel back to that period of romance and possibility. I hadn’t really thought about it until you asked, but I think there’s something to that.
AF: The four leads spend a lot of time together in different combinations throughout the season. Did you do chemistry reads at all?
Bacharach: No. By that point, we felt confident in the kind of actors we had. Carey and Oscar already had a history together. More importantly, all four actors share a similar commitment to honesty and authenticity in their work. There was a reasonable belief that everything would mesh well.
AF: One thing I appreciate about Sonny’s work, especially as an Asian American viewer, is that he doesn’t approach these themes in an overly on-the-nose way. They’re present throughout the story, but they emerge naturally through the characters. Starting with Eunice and Woosh, what were some of the qualities you were looking for when casting those roles?
Bacharach: With Eunice, it was this idea of a young woman who was worldly. Once we landed on Seoyeon Jang, it allowed Sonny to explore this idea even further because she’s British. Suddenly you had someone who had studied here, grown up there, and traveled around. That became an interesting contrast to Austin, who is only beginning to experience some of those things. There was also something important about finding someone where you weren’t exactly sure where her affinities were or where her allegiances lay. She needed to be able to keep things very close to the vest. She had to be bright, capable, and someone Chairwoman Park would trust to represent her. But there was also a mystery to Eunice that was really fun to try to find in actors.
AF: Woosh is a fascinating character because we don’t often see Asian male characters portrayed this way in American television. How did you find Matthew Kim?
Bacharach: We read and read and read. What fascinated me about Matthew was that just because someone has a wonderful stage presence doesn’t always mean it translates to screen acting. Sometimes performers have huge personalities on stage, but when you hand them dialogue, that energy disappears. Matthew was different.
There was something incredibly sweet about him. On the surface, Woosh seems like a flirt, maybe even a bit of a player. But underneath that is a deeper desire to become something more. He feels like he’s not living up to his potential. That’s really one of the major themes of Season 2: people searching for more. People who seem like one thing on the outside but reveal contradiction, desire, and conflict once you dig deeper.
We had to be careful not to make him sleazy. He needed enough charm that people would engage with him, but he couldn’t feel threatening. That balance was really important.
AF: A lot of shows would have treated Chairwoman Park and her husband as relatively minor roles. Instead, you ended up with two legendary actors. How did that come about?
Bacharach: I can’t fully speak to all of it because those relationships came from Sonny. But when you’re telling a story that partially grew out of his experiences in Korea, you take the swing. Youn Yuh-jung came through connections from Steven Yeun and their work together on the first season. Song Kang-ho was someone Sonny had met during a trip to Korea. When actors of that caliber become possibilities, you absolutely take the shot. It’s a dream.
AF: When it was all said and done, were there any performances that surprised you, even knowing how talented these actors are?
Bacharach: Obviously, the four leads were always going to be phenomenal. But I loved the humor that both Cailee and Charles found in their performances. I was also really proud of the work Bill Fichtner and Michaela Watkins did. They had to walk a very delicate line and avoid turning their characters into stereotypes or clichés. They kept those characters grounded and human, and I thought they did wonderful work.
AF: I’ve asked a lot of people this question. How important was flexibility when casting Eunice? The hamstring stretch scene is probably the most memorable moment of the season for me.
Bacharach: I asked Sonny about that afterward. That was all Seoyeon. The minute she got the job, she started working on her flexibility. There’s no cut there. That’s all real and happening in the moment. That’s the kind of commitment you hope for from an actor.
AF: It was a pleasure talking with you. Congratulations on a great season.
Bacharach: Thank you so much.