‘I lost nine teeth filming Squid Game’: BBC on set with show’s director

The inventor of the popular Asian episode Squid Game immediately refutes my claims that he lost six tooth while shooting the first season. ” It was eight or nine”, he laughs.

Hwang Dong-hyuk is speaking to me on set as he movies the second set of his futuristic Netflix movie, which sees hundreds of debt-laden contestants fight it out for a hefty income reward, by playing a series of life-or-death children’s games.

However, it was n’t always possible to get a new series. At one level, he swore against making one.

I wonder what caused him to change because of the pressure it has caused.

” Money”, he answers, without hesitation.

” Even though the first series was such a huge global success, honestly I did n’t make much”, he tells me. But I’ll need to make up for the accomplishment of the first one, too, by starting the next series.

” And I did n’t fully finish the story”, he adds.

The second line was Netflix’s most powerful show to day, thrusting South Korea and its home-grown television plays into the light. People around the world were moved by its dark remark on wealth inequality.

However, Hwang has had to start from scratch with a new put and collection of game after killing off nearly every figure. This day, market expectations are sky high.

” The anxiety I feel now is little greater”, he says.

Hwang is even more skeptical about the state of the world three times after the first line first aired.

He points to the growing global wealth divide, climate change, and present war. Problems no longer exist only between the wealthy and the poor, he claims, but they exist actively between various generations, genders, and political parties.

” New lines are being drawn. We’re in an age of us vs them. Who’s straight and who’s incorrect”?

As I toured the show’s lighthearted cast, with its peculiar brightly-coloured staircase, I picked up a few clues as to how the movie’s despair will get reflected this time around.

In this set, the preceding success, Gi-hun, re-enters the game on a mission to bring it down and save the latest square of candidates.

According to Lee Jung-jae, who plays the leading figure, he is “more eager and determined” than previously.

The surface of the hostel, where the contestants sleep at night, has been divided in two.

The logos for both sides have a large red fluorescent X symbol and a blue circle.

Then, after every game, the players must get a side, depending on whether they want to stop the contest earlier and live, or stay playing, in the knowledge all but one of them may die. The majority choice laws.

This, I am told, may lead to more divisiveness and conflicts.

It is a piece of chairman Hwang’s effort to expose the consequences of a more tribalized world. Forcing individuals to choose sides, he believes, is fuelling issue.

Some people found Squid Game wantonly harsh and difficult to watch despite the shocking storytelling of its fans.

Talking with Hwang makes it abundantly clear that the violence has been thoroughly considered. He is driven by a growing sense of unease and has a deep concern for the earth.

I kept asking myself,” Complete we people have what it takes to navigate the world off this downward way,” when creating this series. ‘. Honestly, I do n’t know”, he says.

Fans of the second line can be comforted that some of the game’s plot holes will be filled in, such as why the sport exists and what motivates the veiled Front Man running it, despite not receiving the answers to these important life questions.

” People will see more of the Front Man’s history, his narrative and his thoughts”, reveals the artist Lee Byung-hun, who plays the strange position.

” I do n’t believe this will warm up viewers, but it might help them understand his choices,” he said.

As one of South Korea’s most famous actors, Lee admits that having his face and eyes covered and his words distorted throughout the first line, was” a little bit dissatisfying”.

He has enjoyed getting displays where he can fully express himself in his own voice in this line, which he almost did not expect.

Before Netflix swooped in, Hwang unsuccessfully tried for ten years to make Squid Game and to secure big money to support his family.

He was unable to cash in on the staggering £650m it is thought to had made the program because they only paid him a small upfront sum.

This explains the romantic relationship that North Korean film and television producers have with global streaming services.

Over the past few years, Netflix has stormed the Asian industry with billions of dollars of expenditure, bringing the industry worldwide reputation and love, but leaving authors feeling short-changed.

They claim that the program is obliging them to renounce their rights when they enter contracts, and that this is infringing on their right to profit.

This is a global concern.

In the past, authors could depend on a percentage of box office profits or TV reruns, but streaming giant have n’t yet adopted this strategy.

According to creators, South Korea’s archaic copyright laws, which do not protect them, add to the problem.

This summer, performers, artists, directors and suppliers teamed up to form a social, to fight the system up.

” In Korea, being a film producer is just a task name, it’s certainly a way to make a living”, the vice-president of the Korean Film Directors Guild, Oh Ki-hwan, tells the visitors at an occasion in Seoul.

Some of his producer friends, he says, work part-time in stores and as car owners.

Park Hae-young is a writer at the celebration. When Netflix bought her present,’ My Independence Notes’, it became a worldwide reach.

” I’ve been writing my entire life. So, to find international recognition when competing with makers from across the globe, has been a pleasant experience”, she tells me.

Park claims that she is hesitant to “pour her entire” into her second series due to the current streaming model.

” Frequently, I’ll spend four or five years making a crisis in the belief that, if it’s successful, it was relatively secure my coming, that I’ll get my fair share of payment. Without that, what’s the point of working so hard”?

She and other creators are urging the South Korean government to repeal its copyright laws, making it impossible for production companies to share their profits.

The South Korean government told the BBC that the industry had the final say in resolving the issue, even though it acknowledged the need for a change. A spokesperson for Netflix told us it offers” competitive” compensation, and guarantees creators” solid compensation, regardless of the success or failure of their shows”.

Hwang, the director of Squid Game, hopes that Hwang’s candor will lead to that change.

He has undoubtedly sparked a fair pay debate, and the industry will undoubtedly benefit from watching his second season.

He claims that his teeth are once more painful when we catch up after the filming has finished.

” I have n’t seen my dentist yet, but I’ll probably have to pull out a few more very soon”.

On December 26, 2024, Netflix will release the second season of Squid Game.