Beef creator Lee Sung Jin says he’s having fun with the alternatives his Emmy-winning Netflix sequence has introduced him — together with his newest mission: directing a music video for BTS celebrity RM.
Lee collaborated with RM on “Come Again to Me,” a superbly shot six-minute music video that seems like a brief movie. The track, which begins with an acoustic vibe and contains whistle sounds and guitar riffs, was launched Friday and is a departure for the BTS member. The track seems on his upcoming sophomore solo album, Proper Place, Mistaken Individual, out Might 24.
“It’s so sneakily catchy. I heard it as soon as after which all day lengthy I used to be buzzing it to myself. I’m like, ‘Man, that’s an earworm. It simply will get in there,’” Lee says of the track.
“I used to be actually shocked as a result of it [had] such a unique aesthetic and tone and a unique facet of RM that I hadn’t seen earlier than,” he provides. “RM is understood for his rapping, clearly all issues BTS and I’m an enormous BTS fan. I noticed him on the Rose Bowl so I used to be like, ‘OK, I do know he’s going a unique course’ and I knew that stepping into, however I had no thought it was this sort of course. It was so refreshing and surprising and I bought so excited on the thought of arising with a music video for a track like that.”
Lee referred to as in some inventive heavyweights to tug off the video, together with artwork director and manufacturing designer Ryu Seong-hie (Recollections of Homicide, Oldboy) and cinematographer Kim Woo-hyung (The Little Drummer Woman, Assasination). The video additionally options an all-star solid, together with Pachinko actress Kim Minha, Emmy-nominated Beef actor Joseph Lee and Kang Gilwoo from The Glory, amongst others.
“I feel everybody actually got here collectively for the concept and it actually felt like we had been assembling the Korean Avengers,” Lee says. “I’m so grateful to them for taking the time. I do know music movies are all the time a bit bit powerful and a bit little bit of a grind, and the truth that they confirmed up and gave such unimaginable performances, I’m actually grateful.”
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Lee talks about working with RM, how the performer shortly recovered after bruising his eye on set, returning to Korea since elementary college to shoot the music video and his upcoming work on the Marvel Studios movie Thunderbolts.
RM
BIGHIT MUSIC
What was going by your thoughts if you had been placing this video remedy collectively?
I used to be sort of blue skying it at first and I feel in my head I used to be nonetheless initially pondering of it extra as a music video. I feel I used to be pitching quite a lot of dance numbers or narratives that concerned dance. I feel after a pair failed makes an attempt, it shortly dawned on me that they need to actually go for it on this one. They needed to really inform a narrative and that’s the reason that they had reached out as a result of I do know RM was a fan of Beef and I feel he was actually fascinated with attempting one thing new, [and] we simply sort of placing apart the dance side, nearly even placing apart the music and tapping into what the themes of the track really are and what sort of story that we will inform that feels true and relatable, but additionally sort of mysterious and open to interpretation on the identical time. It took quite a lot of conversations the place we had been sharing tales forwards and backwards, sharing private issues, each on his finish and my finish. Then we arrived at an odd story a couple of man that’s trapped prior to now, current and future and appears to not have the ability to depart his own residence.
There’s a very good quantity of performing on this video — what was it like working with RM in that side?
You’re all the time a bit nervous if you’re working with these large world superstars. Are they going to need to rehearse? Are they going to take notes? RM was recreation for every little thing. He was there for lengthy hours. First take of the very first scene, he bent down and his head hit the digital camera and it was a large gash on his eye and instantly I believed, “Oh nice, I’m going to be deported instantly as a result of I’ve simply scratched this nationwide treasure.” To his credit score, he went to the hospital, bought stitched up, got here again and he was able to go. He was so versatile and open to course and I feel he was additionally pushing me. He would come and test the monitor and be like, “Oh, I feel we will get that one a bit bit higher.” He has an unimaginable crew behind him too.
It was actually refreshing. I believed I used to be going to be coming into one thing that was a bit bit extra of the standard Okay-pop construction, however I feel RM and Staff RM are actually all about creating a brand new chapter for Okay-pop, creating a brand new path ahead and I used to be simply honored to be a small a part of it.
RM
BIGHIT MUSIC
Did he come again and proceed filming the identical day of the accident?
Yeah. He got here again the identical day. I feel the shoot was over three days and we shot in Paju, which is about an hour and a half exterior of Seoul, sort of nearer to the North Korean border. I had by no means shot something in Korea earlier than, so I used to be actually nervous. Somebody that I had gotten to know over the course of Beef, Park Chan-wook, who’s to me one of many best administrators to ever do it and he was so variety and so beneficiant. I used to be telling him that I used to be going to do that music video and he launched me to his longtime manufacturing designer, who additionally does a few of director Bong Joon-ho’s stuff, the nice Ryu Seong-hie. [Her credits include] Recollections of Homicide, The Handmaiden, The Host, simply all my favourite movies. And director Park additionally launched me to one among his DPs that he works with typically, Kim Woo-hyung, we name him Woosh. He did a The Little Drummer Woman with Florence Pugh. He did one among director Park’s earlier movies; did this nice Korean movie referred to as Assassination.
These are two simply folks on the prime of their craft in Korea and for them to need to do that small little music video, I feel spoke to how a lot RM means to everyone [and] how a lot the concept excited everybody. On set they actually saved the day; the lighting and the manufacturing design on this one is fairly unimaginable.
What was it like taking pictures in Korea?
I went to elementary college there and I hadn’t been again since and I used to be nervous, however after a couple of week of prep, it simply felt like quite a lot of — there’s a click on that occurs the place instantly my Korean bought actually good and instantly I clicked into the surroundings and it felt like house. It felt like I had been away from house for some time and it simply felt so comfy. The crew was superb. They had been simply working so laborious on this factor and I’m not going to lie, the meals in between takes — in America, we bought some good artful over right here, however the Korean artful simply hits on one other degree as a result of I couldn’t wait to go on break and get a few of that [Korean food]. I used to be similar to, “Dang, bought to convey this over to America.” Simply each side of it felt actually comfy. I’m actually excited to shoot one thing once more in Korea. I’m keen to return.
Lee Sung Jin
Elyse Jankowski/WireImage
You sang in an a cappella group and also you play a pair devices, so that you clearly have a connection to music. Is music one thing that you just ever pursued career-wise or nonetheless need to?
I believed popping out of school that was going to be the factor that I do — music. I used to be in an a cappella group in faculty and I used to be in bands. I used to be concertmaster of my orchestra rising up in highschool and it was my ardour and I attempted it. I used to be in a band and shortly realized that there are different folks which can be a lot, a lot better at this than me. I used to be like, “All proper, possibly I feel I’ll simply keep a fan” however music’s so essential to me. With the way in which I write, I all the time write with music in thoughts. I take a look at storytelling in the identical approach as chord progressions and … I see story construction equally as the way you map out chords, so I’m all the time attempting to determine what chord we’re taking part in in a narrative.
It was actually neat to be part of a music video, which I’ve by no means carried out earlier than and mixing these two loves and naturally the storytelling, I feel on this one, you may sort of really feel the rises and falls of it together with the track itself and the rises and falls throughout the music. I don’t know if I’ll do one other music video as a result of it’s going to be laborious to prime this one, but when somebody like RM got here calling once more, I’m positive I may persuade myself to faucet again into this and attempt to mix either side once more.
How has life modified because the success of Beef?
It’s been a wild trip. One of many greatest modifications I feel is getting to satisfy folks like RM. I keep in mind I used to be sitting at house on Instagram and I instantly bought a DM from San [Yawn], who’s in [the South Korean music collective] Balming Tiger, who’s the inventive director of this album and of this music video. I’m an enormous Balming Tiger fan as nicely. When RM did the collaboration with them on “Horny Nukim,” that music video blew my thoughts. I bought the DM from him and I believed he was reaching out to do one thing with Balming Tiger and I used to be like, “Oh, candy, I like Balming Tiger.” Then he was like, “Oh no, that is for RM” after which my thoughts was blown and I used to be watching that DM for some time. Yeah, issues like that the place folks you respect and admire a lot watch the present and need to work collectively, it’s a dream come true. I undoubtedly don’t take it without any consideration and I’m excited to see who else I get to collaborate with going ahead.
You wrote on the upcoming Marvel Studios movie Thunderbolts. What was that like?
I used to be working off an current script from Eric Pearson and I did my move on it and the director, Jake Schreier, is one among my greatest pals and so we have now a shorthand and it was actually enjoyable working with him on that. Finally some issues took me away from that mission and we had been in a position to move off the writing to Joanna Calo, who additionally wrote on Beef. She co-showruns and co-directs The Bear. She’s additionally one among my oldest and dearest pals and in order that was a extremely pure handoff and I do know they’re taking pictures it proper now and I’m very excited to see what Jake and Joanna did to get it to the end line as a result of that solid is outstanding and I hope the viewers will sort of really feel among the Venn diagram between Beef and Thunderbolts when it comes to among the themes that we needed to discover by the movie.