Hwang Dong-hyuk, writer and director of Squid Game revealed that the series was originally written as a feature-length film. The series premiered on September 17 on Netflix and since then it has garnered immense success. The show has become one of the popular series on the streaming platform.
Squid Game is a South Korean survival drama. The series follows 456 contestants who compete in the deadly children’s game to overcome their financial debt.
Squid Game’s Popularity Effects
The series has achieved critical acclaim and international attention, despite its brutality and bloodiness. And with Halloween coming up, the show has increased the sales of Vans by 7,800% as most fans want to recreate the iconic Squid Game costume.
The thrills, storylines, character arcs, and capitalist allegories have engaged the audience. And they just can’t get enough of it! Now, that most viewers have watched the show, they are interested in knowing the background story.
What Hwang Dong-hyuk had to say?
Hwang Dong-hyuk shared that the show was in development for over a decade. During this time, he experienced rejection and financial crisis. And now he is sharing more background information to the fans.
In a recent interview with THR, Hwang Dong-hyuk said, “So back in 2008, I had a script that I had written, which I was running around with trying to get investment, but it didn’t work out and it wasn’t made into a movie. So that actually put me into a really difficult financial situation — I was broke. So I spent a lot of time killing time in comic book cafes, reading. And I read a lot of comic books revolving around surviving death games — manga like Liar Game, Kaiji and Battle Royale.
And well, I read some stories about these indebted people entering into these life-and-death games, and that became really immersive for me because I was struggling financially myself. I was even thinking that I would love to join a game like that, if it existed, to make a bunch of cash and get out of this terrible situation. And then that got me thinking, “Well, I’m a director. Why don’t I just make a movie with this kind of storyline?” So that’s how it all got started. I decided that I wanted to create a Korean survival game piece in my own way. That’s how Squid Game was initially conceived in 2008, and then I wrote a script for a feature-length film version throughout 2009.”
Squid Game Feature Film: Would have worked?
Originally conceived as a film, would the movie had worked? Chances are the movie would have had less detail and character depth. Also, the show’s brutality and bloodiness would have been too much to fit in the movie. And the viewers wouldn’t have been able to watch it in one go.
But Hwang Dong-hyuk was able to utilize the chance to expand the story in detail in the series format. He was able to give more meaning to the story and bring more depth to the show. Although he lost almost six teeth during script development, the work has finally paid off.
Source: ScreenRant
