Netflix’s Squid Game has quickly become popular around the world thanks to its compelling story, gorgeous design, and unforgettable characters. A lot of work went into crafting the iconic outfits, writing the memorable lines, and building the elaborate sets on the show.
Netflix Korea’s interview with director Hwang Dong-hyuk, art director Chae Kyung-sun, and actors Lee Jung-jae and Park Hae Soo reveals a ton of behind-the-scenes information about the series. The discussion, posted on YouTube, is an interesting glimpse into how the team collaborated and came up with creative ideas to make every episode in Squid Game more exciting than the last.
Sang-woo’s Character Is Loosely Based On Director Hwang’s Past
Park Hae Soo plays the role of one of the smartest characters in Squid Game, Cho Sang-woo. He says he took a lot of inspiration from Hwang and made it a point to ask about his experiences in SNU or Seoul National University. Both the director and the character went to the prestigious university, but their similarities don’t end here.
The director reveals that “back in the days,” his grandma “used to work at the Ssangmun-dong Market,” just like Sang-woo’s mom in the show. Hwang adds that his “past is mixed with Sang-woo’s,” which likely helped make the character more realistic.
Director Hwang Came Up With The Show Over A Decade Ago
Although Hwang doesn’t mention it in the YouTube video, he highlights a fascinating fact about the show in his interview with the Wall Street Journal. The director first started writing the series over a decade ago, back in 2008, which happened to be a time when his own family was in a lot of debt.
He drew from his own experiences with his family’s financial burden and his love for comic books while writing his story. His script for Squid Game kept getting rejected by local studios who found it too violent, that is until Netflix picked it up because they thought “the class struggles outlined” in Hwang’s work “spoke to reality.”
Gi-Hun Bumping Into Sae-Byeok Was An Improvised Moment
Sae-byeok is first introduced as a random passerby who Gi-hun happens to bump into as he evades his angry debt collectors. As she falls, she drops her iced coffee, which Gi-hun scrambles to pick up and hand back to her in a comedic way. The director reveals that this is actually an improvised scene, with “many detailed expressions all ad-libbed into one shot.”
The actor who plays Gi-hun, Lee Jung-jae, actually didn’t realize that he was ad-libbing, explaining that it became a natural part of the likable character they had built in Squid Game. He points out that Sae-byeok (played by Jung Ho-yeon) is hiding her face and chuckling in that scene – if fans look a bit closer, they’ll see her shoulders shaking from laughter.
The Outfits Gave Actors Allergies
Squid Game’s iconic costumes were not easy for the cast to film in, with Hwang recounting how the actors “really struggled” during the scenes in the dormitories. He describes the material of the teal tracksuits as being similar to “old gym clothes,” which caused the set to become “really dusty.”
Some actors had difficulty breathing because of the outfits, while others’ “faces even turned red because of allergies.” It seems like they pushed through with the dusty costumes anyway, despite how bothersome the material was for a few actors.
The Show Was Meant To Be A Movie
It’s hard to imagine the popular show crammed into less than two hours as a movie, but that’s exactly the dilemma Hwang faced when he was first writing the script. He felt constrained by the idea of it being a film, complaining how “2 hours wasn’t enough to even cover all the games.”
Thankfully, it was adapted as a series, which allowed Hwang and his team “to add more stories to the plot,” as well as new characters. One of the characters he added who wasn’t in the original script was Jun-ho (played by Wi Ha-joon).
The Coffins Are Meant To Symbolize The Creator’s Final Gift To The Players
There are a ton of heartbreaking deaths in Squid Game, with each player’s demise almost always ending up with the appearance of a black coffin with a pink ribbon. According to the show’s art director, Chae Kyung-sun, she imagined what the mind of the competition’s creator could come up with and applied it to the coffin.
Since the creator thinks “as if he’s a god” with power and mercy, he bestows a final “gift” to the players. It’s as if he’s saying that their “bodies being disposed in the incinerator is a show” of his mercy. The pink ribbon definitely adds an element of creepiness to the show and has become an unforgettable image in the fandom. Hwang suggested this specific color because he wanted it to be a combination of the guards' striking hot pink uniforms and The Front Man's all-black ensemble, resulting in pastel pink ribbons.
The Guards Were Originally Supposed To Wear Boy Scout Uniforms
The guards’ striking hot pink jumpsuits were initially supposed to be Boy Scout uniforms. Hwang and Chae decided to change them because the initial “Boy Scout-like” outfits “showed the men’s figures too well,” which defeated the purpose of making “them look like ants in an ant colony.”
Hwang decided that the best way to “cover their entire body” and achieve the image he wanted was through the jumpsuits, as it was “the best option to keep them anonymous.” It was important to be able to utilize the hood to hide their head, too.
A Machine Was Tugging On The Other End Of The Rope In Tug-Of-War
Fans who were impressed by how realistic the characters’ struggles were during the Tug of War round may be surprised to find out that it’s because the game felt real to the actors. Hwang reveals that “a machine was pulling from the other side” during the scene, which made it extremely difficult for the actors to fight back.
He recalls how Lee and the other players tugging on the rope “were all worn out,” even recounting a conversation that the two of them had after that exhausting shoot. Lee, who has starred in several action films like The Last Witness and Typhoon, told the director that “out of all the action films he’s shot, this is the most difficult scene he’s ever done.” Hwang even jokes about Lee almost getting knocked out during filming.
They Hired A Dalgona Expert
A fan favorite round in Squid Game is the second level where players have to lick shapes out of dalgona candies. This wasn’t an easy game to film, as the art director for the show recalls how it was “the most tricky prop to work with.”
They had to bring in a “dalgona expert” who could keep making the candies “like a robot,” churning out hundreds of them during the shoot. There was a “prop team” that not only helped him make the candies but also assisted in stamping each one. On top of all that, each actor had their own “prop manager” who would replace their candy once it started melting or if they needed a new one for a different angle.