Without a doubt, “Minari” is one of the best films of the past year. The Lee Isaac Chung film has been earning rave reviews for weeks and has been picking up a steady stream of awards recently (including some Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards over the past week and a half). And it would appear that Oscars are in the future, especially for lead actor, Steven Yeun. Speaking to GQ, Yeun talked about his work on “Minari” and even his history on the little series called “The Walking Dead,” and how the departure from that show has influenced the roles he’s taken since.
Even though “Minari” did take home the award for Best Foreign Language Film at last week’s Golden Globes, the controversy surrounding the decision by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association to make the American-directed, American-produced film a “foreign” picture is still an issue. But according to Yeun, he’s not shocked that the HFPA might have miscategorized “Minari.”
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“I wasn’t surprised,” Yeun said. “I have no desire to try to massage both sides in this situation, but it really just comes down to the idea that rules and institutions can never capture real life. And it can never really understand that what builds a place like America and what makes it great is all the people that are contributing to it.”
He added, “If this is the thing that helps to expand these institutions and rules? Cool. That’s why we make this stuff.”
Of course, well before his time on “Minari” and other recent films like “Sorry to Bother You,” “Okja,” and “Burning,” Yeun was probably best known for his role as Glenn on “The Walking Dead.” However, his character was eventually killed off, much to the dismay of fans. Even though the fans were upset, it doesn’t appear that Yeun was all that heartbroken, even suggesting that he might have been able to save his character if he really wanted to.
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“If I would have campaigned for it, maybe?” the actor said. “Like, it’s kayfabe, you know what I mean? I’m like [Professional Wrestlers] ‘Hacksaw’ Jim Duggan or Ricky ‘the Dragon’ Steamboat or something. Wrestling is for the people: There’s ‘good’ and ‘bad.’ But I felt I had expanded beyond that and I was internally frustrated. I felt like I was servicing a concept of goodness, as opposed to engaging with Glenn’s humanity.”
“I remember season three, when Glenn thinks that the governor assaulted Maggie, and I remember I campaigned hard. I was like, ‘Yo! Give me a storyline where I go to kill this guy,’” said Yeun. Sadly, for the actor, that scene never happened. This led to a feeling that he wasn’t going to be able to do “The Walking Dead’ forever.
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He added, “To be quite honest, as an Asian person, sometimes accessing your own humanity when you’re outside in the world is not that easy. Because you’re usually kind of just shrunken down into your label. To not have that in my real life and to not have that in my show life was frustrating. And so I think it just started this journey of just, like…dude, I can’t. I’ve got to feel full. I’ve got to feel real.”
If you’re a fan of his work on “The Walking Dead,” hearing Yeun talk about his time might be sad and a bit frustrating. However, for those that have truly loved his work post-‘TWD,’ this new direction in his career has included some of the best films of the past several years. And if that’s the course he continues on, Yeun will continue to rise up the ranks and become one of the best working today.
“Minari” is available on VOD now.
