“Squid Game” followers know that trumpet wakeup name means somebody goes to die. Not our hero, Gi-hun, however a number of of the gamers hoping to win a fortune competing in infantile, however deadly, video games. It’s directly a thriller and a critique of inequality and greed.
Netflix
Season 1 was a global blockbuster. With 330 million views, it is Netflix’s most-watched collection of all time. It gained Emmys for its lead actor, Lee Jung-jae, and creator Hwang Dong-hyuk. Both made historical past as the primary Asian winners of their classes.
We first spoke with Hwang in Korea simply as he was about to begin a world promotional tour for Season 2.
“So, you might be form of in a candy spot now?” I requested.
“I do not know what you imply by ‘candy spot,'” Hwang replied.
“Just that issues are going your approach?”
“But it isn’t straightforward. Nothing’s straightforward,” he stated. “People preserve saying to me, ‘You are the happiest particular person in Korea.’ But in my thoughts, I’m not that completely happy. I’m struggling every single day and evening.”
That’s because of a brutal workload: Hwang directed and wrote each episode. Sworn to secrecy, “Sunday Morning” was invited to a soundstage exterior Seoul the place a lot of Season 2 was shot.
CBS News
Hwang was on the high of his recreation, nevertheless it wasn’t at all times that approach. He was solely 5 when his father died. After that, he says, his household was trapped in poverty. As a struggling filmmaker, and in debt, Hwang stated he sought escape in comedian books. “I learn so much within the survival recreation style and playing style,” he stated. “And that led me to assume, what if I have been to mix childhood video games with individuals placing their lives at stake for an enormous money prize? And that was actually how the thought was conceived.”
And a blockbuster was born.
In the present, contestants pushed by desperation threat every little thing for cash, exploited by a sinister recreation grasp, the highly effective Front Man.
Asked if “Squid Game” represents how he sees capitalists and capitalism typically – a gaggle of determined individuals manipulated by a merciless and rich elite – Hwang replied, “I feel essentially what continues to drive this technique is human selfishness and greed. These days I’m turning into extra pessimistic about human nature. I virtually assume that, for homo sapiens, it is greed that permits them to create a society that they really feel most snug in.”
Many of the characters in Season 2 are new (Hwang having killed off so lots of them in Season 1), however the guards are again, and so is Gi-hun, now on a doomed mission to cease the sport.
To watch a trailer for “Squid Game: Season 2” click on on the video participant beneath:
Hwang stated that “Squid Game” Seasons 2 and three “will present individuals the underside of this world, the underside of the human being.”
So, it will get even darker? “Yeah, it is getting darker, episode by episode,” Hwang stated.
The present is so fashionable that not too long ago 50,000 individuals utilized for an opportunity to participate in a real-life (however non-deadly) Squid Game in Paris. The prize: an early take a look at the brand new season.
Hwang is amazed, particularly by his present’s wild success within the U.S., the place audiences haven’t historically gone for a subtitled TV collection: “I used to be at all times hoping to make one thing very fashionable within the States, so I used to be shocked,” he stated. “At the identical time there was, like, in my dream come true. But that stage of success [was] simply past my expectations.”
Ironically, this creator of a dystopian parable about desperation and poverty now finds himself a rich man – one of many nice winners of capitalism. Has that modified him? “Not a lot,” he stated. “Made my life higher, for positive, as a result of I haven’t got to fret about [making] cash anymore. But since then, I do not assume I used to be modified so much by extra success or extra money, as a result of it is only a quantity. It would not have any that means to me in any respect.”
What does have that means is his work. But the success and the strain of “Squid Game” have taken a toll: “It’s greater than, like, 5 years I’ve been simply engaged on this one mission, day and evening. I’m so exhausted. I’m so sick of, you understand?” he laughed. “I want a break, I want a break.”
A break from continuous work … and from his deep dive into the darkish depths of human nature.
So, what makes Hwang Dong-hyuk chortle? “My mates! I really like speaking to my mates and having a beer.”
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Story produced by Mikaela Bufano. Editor: Joseph Frandino.
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