Netflix reportedly spent a significant amount of money editing out a small but costly detail from the second season of Beef, after a request from stars Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan. The Hollywood actors, who lead the new episodes of the hit streaming show, made an on-set decision that had substantial financial repercussions for the production.
Behind the Scenes of Beef Season 2
Isaac and Mulligan play a couple whose marriage begins to unravel after their lives intersect with a newly engaged pair, portrayed by Cailee Spaney and Charles Melton. Throughout the eight-episode season, there are numerous scenes filled with rage and passion. It has now been revealed that, for certain moments, the actors listened to music through earwigs while performing their character beats to enhance their performances.
However, when it came to the editing process, these earphones had to be digitally removed from the footage. According to creator Lee Sung Jin, this removal “cost a fortune to paint out.” Speaking on a podcast that broke down the first episode, Sung Jin remarked, “You two were always playing songs as you performed.”
The Origin of the Idea
Isaac revealed that he initially used an earwig for a scene in which he played a Moog synthesizer. Enjoying the experience immensely, he thought he might try listening to songs that matched the mood of the scene he was performing. After sharing his plan with Mulligan, she requested one as well.
They both wore earwigs for a particular scene in which their characters passionately kiss. “That was amazing because it timed out unbelievably well to the moment,” Mulligan said. “The beat would drop on the [kiss]. We were so delighted every time, we were like, ‘It did it again!’” Isaac added, “Yeah, the rhythm was lining up. We had to do that because you couldn't have the music playing to cover up the audio, so we liked [wearing the earwigs] so much. We were like, ‘Why don't we keep doing that in other scenes?’ And so we started doing that and it was great.”
Music Choices and Challenges
During another scene involving blackmail, the pair listened to “really chaotic” music by Thom Yorke and Mark Pritchard, which Isaac said “added to the tension.” However, not every musical choice worked well. One song suggested by Mulligan—Meat Loaf’s 1993 epic “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)”—didn’t fit the rhythm. “We did so many takes on the blackmail scene that eventually I was like, ‘Let’s do Meat Loaf!’ Halfway through, we were like, ‘No, that doesn’t work.’”
Beef season two is available to stream on Netflix now.
