She received critical acclaim for her performance in her Netflix comedy Beef.
And in an unearthed interview, star Ali Wong has revealed that she convinced Netflix bosses to “spend all the money” so she could kiss Keanu Reeves in her 2019 film Always Be My Maybe.
The actress, who both wrote and starred in the romantic comedy, admitted she was responsible for the surprise hug when The Matrix star made a cameo in the movie.
During an appearance on The Ellen Show in 2019, Ali said, “I kiss a lot of men. It’s like, who wrote this movie, right?
‘I kiss a lot of sexy men. I kiss Daniel Dae Kim. I kiss Keanu Reeves. I actually had Netflix spend all this money on a movie so I could kiss Daniel Dae Kim and Keanu Reeves.”
Funny: Ali Wong has revealed that she convinced Netflix bosses to ‘spend all the money’ so she could kiss Keanu Reeves in her 2019 movie Always Be My Maybe
Ali also shared her joy in getting Keanu in the film, saying it was easy to build chemistry with him because she had been married to husband Justin Hakuta for “10 years.”
She added, “I’ve been with the same guy for 10 years. I would have chemistry with a turtle right now.”
Ali and Justin, who have two daughters, separated in 2022 after 10 years together.
Always Be My Maybe centered on celebrity chef Sasha Tran (played by Ali) and her former childhood friend Marcus Kim (played by Randall Pak), who reconnect as adults after a teenage affair ends their friendship.
Beef currently has an impressive 100 percent fresh rating from the most prestigious critics polled by Rotten tomatoes.
In the show, Steven Yeun plays a contractor, while Wong sells plants, and both become inextricably entwined after nearly crashing their cars into each other and becoming obsessed with making each other’s lives a living nightmare.
During a conversation with the Wall Street Journal for a profile of Yeun, Wong admitted she was anxious to work with him after amassing a string of critically acclaimed roles over the past few years, along with an Oscar nomination.
“I was intimidated by Steven, because he’s such an incredible actor,” she said.
Sensational! The actress, who both wrote and starred in the romantic comedy, admitted she was responsible for the surprise hug when The Matrix star made a cameo in the movie.
Drama: Always Be My Maybe focuses on celebrity chef Sasha Tran and her former childhood friend Marcus Kim (played by Randall Pak), who reconnect as adults after a teenage affair
Praised: It comes after Ali’s new comedy series Beef, in which she stars with Steven Yeun, received an impressive 100 percent fresh rating from critics polled by Rotten Tomatoes
After admitting how tense she was about sharing scenes with him, she recalled his response: “He just shrugged, looked me straight in the eye and said, ‘I don’t know anything you don’t know.’ That really set the tone for everything.”
While chatting with NPR On Beef, Yeun shared that he and Wong met before the show, but they didn’t really know each other before they were cast, leading to a happy surprise when they finally teamed up.
“I think when I came to this show I couldn’t fully see what was happening or what was possible until we started reading together,” he said. “And I was like, ooh, this is going to be fun.”
He praised her “nurturing” personality for creating a safe off-camera context for them to dig into darker emotions on set.
“Ali also has a very warm personality and just a warm presence that is very inviting, that is very nurturing and caring,” he gushed. “And if you can feel safe and connected with each other off camera, you can really snuggle up to each other in front of the camera.”
Yeun also noted that the series was able to highlight the class divide between the two characters by focusing on a mostly Asian-American cast.
“We kind of flattened that whole landscape by pretending it’s all Asian people. So now we can just see who these people are,” he explained. ‘Then everyone can join. Then it is an open door and an invitation for everyone to sit down respectfully at the table and also eat from our table, and to connect as human beings.’
All 10 episodes of Beef are currently available to stream on Netflix.