-Our next guest is a talented actor
you know from shows such as "The Walking Dead"
and films such as "Okja" and "Burning."
He serves as executive producer and star
of the Golden Globe award-winning film "Minari,"
which is available everywhere now.
Let's take a look.
[ Conversing in Korean ]
-Whoo!
-Whoo! -Whoo!
-[ Speaking Korean ] Whoo!
-Whooooooooooo!
-Please welcome to the show Steven Yeun.
How are you, Steven? -Hey, good.
Nice -- Thanks for having me.
-Hey, congratulations so much on the win.
I assume it was both thrilling and a little disappointing
not to all be able to celebrate together.
But what was it like last night when you saw the victory?
-Um, you know, it was really great to see Isaac
give that really beautiful speech.
And, um, yeah, it's been a bittersweet
entire press tour of this thing.
But also, uh, yeah.
I probably haven't figured out what I feel about
pandemic yet at this point. [ Laughs ]
-I found, you know, watching this film,
I think it would've been
an emotional experience during any time,
but because it is so strongly about family
in a time where it's hard for us to see family,
I found this to be even more of an emotional experience
to watch it during the pandemic.
-Thanks. Yeah. I mean, I think
the feelings that went in to making the film were,
you know, it felt like connection.
It felt like us being able to see each other a little clearer,
and hopefully, that's the thing that's happening.
-You have two young children yourself.
And I'm just wondering if your kids are aware
of what you do for a living. Have they ever seen you on TV?
I mean, "The Walking Dead" isn't the most kid-friendly show.
-No, they have not seen that. My kids are young.
They're now gonna be 4 and 2.
And so, um, they don't know what I do,
but they occasionally see me
pop up on a screen here and there.
So, they're just kind of confused about it.
I think they just think I'm just --
I don't even know. hey probably just think
I'm floating around in the Internet all the time
or something like that, and then I just pop up.
It's weird for them, I'm sure.
-This film, you're so great in it.
All the adults are great in it.
But it would not have worked
if these two child actors weren't so exceptional.
Like, how lucky did you feel when you first found them?
Because you must have known, as also an executive producer
on the film, that it was sort of --
I don't know -- live or die on these performances.
-Yeah, those kids are really wonderful.
They're just so pure, and they keep you honest.
But I think, you know, when we found them,
they were just so locked in to the characters.
And when we were filming, they were so honest that,
you know, you can't mess up or else they'll call you out.
They were kind of policing us all throughout the shoot.
So, they're aggressive, those guys.
-You also had not just a Korean cast
but you had almost entirely a Korean crew.
What was that experience like? Because obviously,
working in the States, that's probably pretty unique.
-Well, you know, it wasn't all Korean.
It was the heads of departments were Korean,
which were really cool to see, making sure that
the authenticity and the shared experience was there.
But what was really wonderful about it was,
our crew was pretty mixed.
There were a lot of locals from Oklahoma, where we shot,
and I think the thing that really resonated with me
at the end was, there was this collective sense of ownership,
that it wasn't just, like, this Korean film.
It was really just this, like, beautiful film about family
and togetherness, regardless of where you come from.
And so that was really nice.
-I know -- I'm wondering, your parents, obviously,
because of this difficult year,
haven't been able to see your kids much.
How have your parents been in this sort of Zoom existence
that a lot of grandparents are going through?
-[ Chuckles ] I don't know if your parents
do this, but like -- are they, like --
they're like cracked out for pictures.
-Yeah. -Like -- they're like,
"Gimme -- Gimme the pictures."
Like, they'll text us, like, every couple days, like,
"Hey, like, we haven't gotten pictures in a while.
Can you just, like -- Can you just lend us some?"
It feels very off sometimes.
But I regularly get, "We live just to see these photos."
So we try to photo dump them every couple days.
-Yeah, we've done this thing where we have
sort of a shared photo album.
And so my parents have that on their phone and yet,
I'll say, "Did you see the new pictures?"
and they'll say, "No." And I'll say,
"Well, you gotta look, or else we're gonna take you off
the shared album." [ Laughter ]
-That's -- I don't think the shared thing would work with us.
It would require too much navigation,
so we just... Photo dumps.
-That's way smarter. I heard a story
that your mother, and I guess maybe
it was a high school production, you were in a school play,
and her feedback was that you were not very good.
Is that true? -Oh.
I mean, that's like -- I think that's most of them.
[ Laughter ]
No, it was a college production. And then I remember I was like,
"Mom, what did you think? I just finished."
And it was like -- it was a liberating moment for me,
because I was up on stage kind of for the first time.
And I was like, "What did you think?"
She's like, "Okay." [ Laughter ]
And, like, I've just been trying to find my mom's approval
my whole professional career.
So, um, I'll get there some day.
-Now, what did she think of this film?
She must have liked this.
-No, she loved it. I think for her, you know --
All Korean moms, and maybe all mothers,
are the backbone and the unseen, you know, powerful strength.
And so, for her, um, me playing my dad,
or only being able to play my dad,
I'm sure she was like,
"I wish I had a daughter that could play me."
[ Laughter ] "It would be more liberating."
-That's very fair. I didn't even think about that.
Well, the actress who played the mother was also exceptional.
-Incredible. Yes. -Very happy with that.
Hey, thanks so much for being here.
Congrats on the win last night. Just a delight.
-Thanks very much. Appreciate it.
-"Minari" is available everywhere now.