Top 10 Interesting Facts About Netflix’s Squid Game

It must sound so weird right now but yes Squid Game was not everyone’s cup of tea for several years. Hwang began working on his script in 2008 and finished the first draft of it in 2009. For over a decade, local studios rejected the script by creator Hwang Dong-hyuk terming it too violent. He told Radio Times that at the time the story felt “unfamiliar and violent” and he worried people would find it too abstract to be commercialized and find a wider audience. He also struggled with funding and casting until Netflix picked it up about a decade later, planning to name the series – Round Six. He told The Korea Times, “But after about 12 years, the world has changed into a place where such peculiar, violent survival stories are actually welcomed.”

Squid Game’s creator Hwang Dong-hyuk originally envisioned the show as a film when he started work on it in 2008. This comes as no surprise, given the creator’s repertoire of successful films such as Silenced, The Fortress and Miss Granny, which is widely considered one of the most successful Korean films of all time. However, once it took the shape of a series, several characters such as police detective Jun-ho and other details were added. In fact, Ji-yeong, the woman who sacrificed herself for Sae-byeok, was originally created as a male character. Hwang said he changed Ji-yeong’s gender because “a bond between women would make more sense.”

The giant, laser-eyed doll in the first episode “Red Light, Green Light” is not just something created with help of effects. But in fact if you wish to see this creepy doll that spells doom on all that she looks at, you will have to visit Jincheon County, a rural area about three hours north of Seoul. According to a report in Koreaboo, the giant doll stands at the entrance of a horse carriage museum called Macha Land. The doll was reportedly borrowed for filming “Squid Game” and then returned.

The makers left plenty of Easter eggs for viewers to guess what was in store for the players next. The Easter egg was spotted by a TikTok user before it went viral. The user noted that the dorm walls where the players wake up features drawings on them. If you look closely, you will see that these drawings serve as clues to understand what games are awaiting the hostages.

Instead of relying on camera effects, the cast actually played all the games on real large-scale sets. All of the show’s stars had fun running through the sets. The story had 456 people participating in the game. Interestingly, the number of people involved is real. Not only did Hwang Dong-hyuk build real sets but also cast exactly 456 people during the filming.

Hwang told The Sunday Times that he wanted to highlight the reality for Korean families as much as possible during the series — so, during the last episode, he uses a real-life news report. A news anchor says in the episode, “In this country household debt is on the rise, topping the global average. It’s the biggest increase in the world besides China due to lifted government restrictions on financial loans.”  Hwang said that this news report was from a couple of years ago and, due to the coronavirus, debt is now “ballooning.”

North Korean pickpocketer Kang Sae-byeok was Jung’s first acting role. She had previously been a model and had starred in the fourth season of “Korea’s Next Top Model” and had been on the cover of Vogue magazine. Since her appearance on the series, the model gained millions of followers and is now the most-followed Korean actress. “Squid Game” creator Hwang said during a “Still Watching Netflix” breakdown video that Jung’s audition tape “felt like a gift sent from God.” “Ho-Yeon looked exactly like the Sae-byeok I had been looking for,” he said.

Lee Jung-Jae, who plays the role of the protagonist “provided suggestions” on how to make Gi-hun the caring character viewers ended up seeing. In particular, Hwang said Lee suggested the scene in the first episode where Gi-hun feeds a stray cat with some mackerel he had just gotten. Hwang also explained that Lee improvised Gi-hun’s first interaction with Jung’s character, Sae-byeok, on episode one. He said Lee made her break character and laugh on camera when he kept failing to put the straw in her drink cup after knocking it and her over. That clip and a shot of Jung laughing were kept in the final cut.

Hwang said Gi-hun’s technique of licking the dalgona, or honeycomb candy, to remove the shape was a technique he used as a kid. “It’s how I won the grand prizes, which was not good news for the dalgona guy. It’s a legendary method,” he explained. Hwang said that he also tried out the technique himself the night before filming the scene to check if it still worked. Chae also added that the crew had to bring in a professional candy maker to make the dalgona whilst they were filming because if they bought it in bulk then it may have been too thick to lick through.

You might have heard actors fracturing bones or even having major accidents during the shoots, but you must have rarely heard director losing teeth while filming. We know it sounds bizarre, but yes it is absolutely correct. Now before you think the director was injured trying out one of the show’s bizarre games, we have to break it to you that Hwang Dong-hyuk lost six of his teeth due to the stress of shooting the series. Speaking to CNN, Hwang Dong-hyuk said, “On my left side, I still don’t have two molars. I need to get implants but haven’t had the time.” Well, when you are shooting the number one drama of the Netflix, you gotta deal with a lot of stress and pressure.

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