Cailee Spaeny and Charles Melton open up about their ‘weird prep’ for ‘Beef’

Cailee Spaeny looks at Charles Melton, her co-star on the Netflix limited series “Beef,” asking for help. “Wait a minute … how long were we attached?” Melton smiles and reaches for her hand. “We’ve been attached our whole lives.”

Have they? Given how they tease and finish each other’s sentences, it sure feels that way. Spaeny and Melton were cast as Ashley and Austin, a Gen-Z couple working at a Montecito country club, dreaming and scheming toward upward mobility, a good 18 months before filming began in early 2025. To cement their bond, Spaeny, who hails from Missouri, and Melton, an Army brat who considers Kansas home, decided to return to their Midwestern roots, round up their families and go to a Kansas City Chiefs football game just before Christmas.

At one point, Spaeny looked over to see her brother-in-law having a heart-to-heart with Melton’s dad. They were crying. After the game, they all went out for barbecue. Melton surprised his dad with a gift — a truck.

“That was very sweet and emotional,” Spaeny says of the day. “There’s a lot of filling in the blanks when your families are from the same part of the country. They’re down-to-earth, churchgoing families. It felt easy. We’re cut from the same cloth.”

When the Palisades and Eaton fires delayed the start of filming, Spaeny and Melton decamped to Solvang, rented an Airbnb with some friends and continued what Spaeny calls their “weird prep” for playing the series’ besotted couple. They cooked dinners together, played games and even watched “Riverdale,” the CW series that catapulted Melton to fame a decade ago.

“We also watched ‘Wicked’ too many times,” Spaeny, 27, says.

“You were singing a lot,” Melton, 35, tells her.

“I don’t think I sang once,” Spaeny counters.

“Oh she did,” Melton says. “She’s a singer. Sing for us.”

“Guys, what are we doing?” Spaeny says, burying her head in her hands.

Whatever it is, we’re not stopping. We have, as Melton notes much to Spaeny’s chagrin, “caught a vibe.”

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You two represent different generations …

Melton: What? Excuse me?

Charles, you’re a millennial. Cailee is Gen-Z.

Spaeny: Oh my God. You’re so Gen-Z coded.

Melton: I’m a zillennial.

Spaeny: Did you feel like there was an age gap between us?

Melton: I feel like we’re the same age. You know I’m an old soul. My exterior is just goofy. Cailee is wise beyond her years.

What’s the biggest difference between the two generations?

Melton: I think the generations are more alike than different. As a millennial and zillennial, I’ve done my share of weird self-diagnosing.

Spaeny: TikTok therapy for sure. Holding onto words that make us feel more seen through the internet. The comment “I just read the headline. I need to start reading the articles.” It’s sad but it’s true. And I think everyone does it.

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1. Charles Melton. 2. Cailee Spaeny. (Erik Carter / For The Times)

Do you relate to your characters’ Gen-Z resentment that previous generations screwed them over? “Everyone grabbed the bag before we could.”

Spaeny: There was a time when having a house by your 30s was guaranteed. Now, you’re having to choose whether you want to have children or stay afloat in your career. We’re all riddled with this feeling of the life we feel we deserve …

Melton: And what will make us happy. Ashley gets the promotion. But the social climb is never enough. It’s “if you do this thing, you’ll get the this thing.”

Spaeny: It’s the constant chase.

You’ve both defied the odds and enjoyed successful careers as actors. Can you be content and sit with that?

Spaeny: We try. But it also feels like it’s set up in a way where you can’t sit. You have to look for the next thing because if you wait, people will get bored with you. You’ll book a job and hopefully it pays well and then you might not work again for two years. It’s easy to be in a place of desperation. Actors are also naturally people-pleasers. So, unfortunately, I think it was too easy for us to relate to our characters.

Melton: Maybe part of your question, which led to your beautiful answer, is: Where’s acceptance? I’m a father now. Sometimes, I’m super tired, but the best thing is I get to read to my kid. Looking at life through a place of abundance … but that can be a tough thing to do.

Spaeny: It’s not just the entertainment industry. I go back home and I’m with my sister, who is an amazing mother and soccer mom. And you can feel that itch inside of people back home too. Have I done enough for my children? Do I need to go to more soccer tournaments? Am I going to church enough?

Melton: It’s everywhere. And under the umbrella of class and healthcare and how expensive everything is, it’s tough. The bill we had just to have a baby was so ridiculous.

Spaeny: Oh yeah. My favorite line in “Beef” was, “Do you know the 16-piece meal at KFC is $52.99 now?” That sums it up.

(Erik Carter / For The Times)

I looked that up. It’s true, though you can get the 16-piece chicken-only meal for about $37.

Melton: But you can’t just eat the chicken. You have to have the sides and biscuits, right?

How about Austin’s line: “All we need is each other … and the beach.”

Melton: That’s what I love about Austin, this optimism but considered to be naivete. Really, at the end of the day, I’ll look at my partner and I’ll look at my daughter and be like, “This is absolutely all I need.”

Spaeny: [Sighs] I would love to get to that point.

Melton: But then to put food on the table, you’re required to do things that take you away from the things that you say are all you need.

Spaeny: The great thing about this show is that it’s zeroing in on everyday impossibilities of life, the things that should be so simple, but drive us all up the wall.

You both talk about Midwest sensibility. Do your roots help ground you?

Spaeny: I just got back from home last night, and I always feel a layer gets peeled off when I’m there. With work, I’m always on edge and trying to hold onto this thing that could be taken away from me any day. When I go back home, I feel like it can really be that simple. But it doesn’t last. That’s the problem. The itch comes back.

There’s nothing wrong with a little ambition.

Spaeny: I’m finding ambition more and more unattractive these days. Maybe that’s me just getting older and wanting more outside of the job.

Melton: We’ve talked about this. If we’re always going from one thing to the next, how can I bring the humanity and soul of my life into my work? If I had my way, I’d take three to six months off between jobs just to live and put my feet on the grass. Cailee and I connect in many ways. I love your determination and drive and passion for the work. Some people want to act like they don’t care, but I think it’s cool to care.

Timothée Chalamet does too, but he got flack for saying that out loud, that he “wanted to be one of the greats.”

Melton: I thought that was f— awesome. You want to be great? We all do.

Spaeny: It’s what every actor is thinking except they’re feigning …

Melton: We love Chalamet over here.

Spaeny: Maybe he didn’t say all the right things, but that speech, that’s why we’re in the building.

Melton: It’s very much the athlete’s mentality. Like Deion Sanders is one of the greatest of all time. “You look good, you feel good, you play good.”

It’s OK for an athlete to say that, but if an actor does, the world gives them grief.

Melton: That kind of sincerity is the default in Kansas and Missouri. You know, growing up as an athlete, I was pretty good. I ran the 100-meter dash in 10.9 seconds. Make sure you write that in. [Laughs] You have to have a vision. And the artists that speak on that vision, that’s awesome. Visualization is essential. I wouldn’t be here talking with one of my best friends and one of the greatest actresses ever …

Spaeny: What are you doing?!?

Melton: I’d rather give you flowers all day than talk about what I think. All that to say is that I wouldn’t be doing this if I did not have vision when I was in Kansas to leave with $500 in my pocket, 60 cans of chicken noodle soup and 60 cans of tuna. You have to dream.

Spaeny: A dollar and a dream!

I’ve got to ask. Sixty cans of chicken noodle soup on a road trip? Do you just pop the top and down it cold?

Spaeny: Great question.

Melton: I’d just take off the top and lay it in the sun for two or three hours and it’s good to go.

Spaeny: Please stop.

Melton: OK. I’d just dip my finger in it and because I’m so hot, it just boils.

Spaeny: You see what I’m saying? He’s such a dad.

(Erik Carter / For The Times)