Interview: Building the Ensemble of ‘Beef’ Season Two with Casting Director Jeanie Bacharach

Casting director Jeanie Bacharach has spent her career drawn to character-driven work, from her early roots in theater to an impressive recent run of television credits, including Black Mirror, Dying for Sex, and Presumed Innocent. For Beef Season Two, she faced the particular challenge of assembling a brand new ensemble for an anthology series that had already set a high bar with its first season. The result is a multi-generational cast spanning three couples, balancing sharp comedy with genuine emotional weight. Awards Radar spoke with Bacharach about finding actors who can walk that tonal line, the chemistry read that made Charles feel like he had to up his game, and the breakout discovery that came while on a worldwide tour.

Read our full conversation with casting director Jeanie Bacharach below.

This is an anthology series, so Season Two is a whole new ensemble. What were some of the early conversations you were having with the show’s creator about the casting direction?

Jeanie Bacharach: In my initial meeting with Sonny [Lee Sung Jin] just to talk about coming on to the show, we talked a lot about actors and the things that we respond to in performances. For him, the emotional weight of this season was going to be really important. Finding that line of still keeping the comedy and the slightly stylized black comedy element, but doing so while dealing with three, actually even four couples, meant that emotional weight had to be there. So in talking with him initially, the question was: how do you find that? How do you see that in performances? Then there was the challenge of building an ensemble and believing that these people fit together in this world, while also making each of them distinct.

You have had an amazing run of casting credits recently. Are there through lines you see across these different types of projects, or do you come into each one with a fresh perspective?

Jeanie Bacharach: Both, I would say. What I am drawn to are character-driven pieces, as opposed to world-building or sci-fi or fantasy. Just how human beings behave and react in both everyday circumstances and heightened ones. Shared humanity. I came up doing theater. I grew up going to theater, and when I first started casting it was for theater. Watching actors work and bring characters to life in that environment, where you don’t get to do it over again if it didn’t go the way you want, gives you a real appreciation for authenticity and groundedness. The ability to draw an audience in without all the bells and whistles that film and TV can sometimes provide. Just how an actor themselves can be charismatic and raw and vulnerable and open. I am fascinated by that. Getting to do that with characters and stories told through television and film has felt like a natural next step. Character-driven pieces, getting to tell stories that shed light on the world we are living in, that can be both entertaining and thought provoking and moving. And getting to help create characters that reflect our world as our world changes. That is what I am drawn to.

You mentioned that this show is built around three couples in very different generations. Was there a first domino you wanted to get right and then build around, or was it more of a simultaneous process?

Jeanie Bacharach: Cailee [Spaeny] and Charles [Melton] were already involved when I came on, and conversations were already starting to happen around Oscar [Isaac]. So then it became about Lindsay and Josh, and if indeed it was going to be Oscar, who makes sense as Lindsay. Some of it was already in place when I arrived. Then both YJ [Youn Yuh-jung] and Song Kang-ho were dreams that became real realities for Sonny. There is no other conversation to have about those two other than: holy cow, two of the greatest Korean actors want to do your show. Their desire to work together was also a huge element in all of this. We were the beneficiaries.

That seems like an appropriate reaction when those two are interested in your project. What was the audition process like for finding that balance of comedy and heightened drama? It is a really specific tone compared to a lot of other series right now.

Jeanie Bacharach: You go through a lot of people, because there are really wonderful actors who can do one or the other, but being able to walk that line is tough. It is a lot of reading and adjusting and trying to help people find it. The emotional truth is the most important thing, and often the comedy comes out of playing that emotional truth. The more you play the reality of a moment, the more absurd it can become. The more you dig your heels in about the reality of that moment, the more absurd it gets. So it was about helping people start with the emotional truth and letting the comedy come out of that, rather than going for the joke.

Was there a chemistry angle to it as well, not only finding the right pairings but also how they played off each other?

Jeanie Bacharach: The only chemistry reads we did were with Charles and Seoyeon [Jang], with Austin and Eunice. We already knew that Oscar and Carey [Mulligan] were going to be magical together, and neither of them are reading for roles at this point. But we were able to do a Zoom chemistry read with them. We read her with a couple of actresses, and it was really fun to see Charles respond specifically to Seoyeon and how she made him feel a little bit uncomfortable in a good way. You never quite know coming into those readings what you are going to get from the other actor, and it was wonderful to see him feel like he had to up his game a little bit.

Outside of that core six, were there any casting discoveries you were particularly excited about?

Jeanie Bacharach: Matthew [Matthew Kim (BM)], who played Whoosh. That was really fun. It was a process of reading, giving some direction, having him tape again. He was in the middle of getting to go on a worldwide tour, so when we did our final callback with him, he was in a hotel room somewhere. Sonny worked with him, and it was a really fun discovery. He did a great job, and was flying back and forth in the middle of filming his very first acting job.

That is a lot to handle!

Jeanie Bacharach: And he’s acting against Carey Mulligan and YJ. That is a master acting class. But there was such an openness to him, and a wonderful puppy dog quality that really served both him and the character well.

How often do you get to feed direction and help a character grow throughout the audition process?

Jeanie Bacharach: It really depends on the project. I have had roles where an actor has read five, six, seven, ten times. Often when you are deep into the process, the character starts to morph a little from how the writer may have initially seen the role. Once they start hearing it and seeing people, things start to sharpen or change, or an actor brings something in that the writer had not thought about before and they think, that could be interesting. Sometimes the script changes have not been made yet, but the character has shifted, so the lines do not always reflect where the character has gone. You end up having to guide an actor toward something that is not on the page, helping them to see the character differently than what is being presented to them. And just helping the actor feel confident. With each audition, you are finding more and trusting more. Especially for someone new, that confidence is everything.

Closing out on a fun one: were you at all involved in casting Burberry the dog?

Jeanie Bacharach: No, I wish! That would have been really fun. That is definitely an arena I have not ventured into yet. I think I may need to get into animal casting in order to complete my resume.