“My dream was to become a film director,” said Hwang Dong-Hyuk, writer/director of Netflix’s unlikely megahit Squid Game. “It’s a long story, but at first I wanted to write books or become a poet. I knew I wasn’t good enough for that, but in 1992, my mom bought a video camera so I could use it. I think that was the most fun thing I’ve done in my life, so I knew I wanted to become a film director.”
Hwang Dong-Hyuk is also known for his work on The Fortress and Silenced. The Fortress takes place in 1636, when King Into hides in the mountains to avoid being part of the Qing Dynasty. In Silenced, a hearing-impaired deaf student is sexually assaulted by members of the faculty.
Squid Game, the 9-episode series which has received 14 Emmy nominations, is much different from Hwang’s earlier work. The story follows hundreds of cash-strapped players who accept a string invitation to compete in children’s games. Inside, a tempting prize awaits, but so do deadly stakes in this survival series.
“In 2008, I was trying to write a project and the project failed,” said Hwang. “I couldn’t get an investment, so – tired and broke — I went to Comic Book stores or Comic Book Cafes as we call them in Korea, and I read a lot of comic books about survival games and gambling.”
Researching Squid Game
This research led to the origin of Squid Game. “I was so helplessly broke, I thought if I could earn this prize [45.6 billion won] I myself would have joined those games,” he joked. “So I thought about making my own survival game and that’s how I started writing Squid Game.”
Hwang Dong-hyuk
Within these comics, he found interesting themes around human nature and social commentary, which are prevalent in the series. “I think these survival games talk about human nature and basic instincts. It can be for money or something else, but when people are really down on their luck and pushed into a corner, there are some human nature and basic instincts that comes out of them.”
Hwang felt it was natural for people to act this way, especially when they where between a rock and a hard place, economically. “There can be elements of fantasy, [but they also contain] elements of social commentary. Society pushes people to gamble because there is nothing else they can do.”
That’s certainly the case in the series for the lead Song Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) who has nothing left when he’s approached by a stranger to play an unusual game. But, the choice to play the game is what makes Hwang’s story so much different than other stories like Battle Royale or The Hunger Games.
The Character’s Choice
One of the most unique elements of the 9-part series is that the players have the chance to leave, but voluntarily and deliberately return to finish the deadly Squid Game. They see what life was like before and still choose to return.
“That’s the exact point where I wanted to differentiate my work,” he said of the characters making the free choice to play. “When you see existing survival games, people are dragged into it, so if they don’t win, they cannot survive. That’s where I started, but while I was writing, I realized those participants can’t focus on the game because they’re always looking for a chance to escape.”
This is the difference between giving the characters a choice and making them play the game against their will. “I think that had its limitations, so I wanted to symbolically portray the world we live in, this world where we cannot escape until we’re dead… so we might think it’s our will to be here, but we are kind of captured in this capitalistic society and we can’t escape from it.”
“It looks like the participants have the freedom to get out of the game, which is why I put the voting process in the game, but still, this whole world is kind of like a squid game itself. Even if you try to escape, you don’t have that option. I wanted to add that to my show.”
Plot vs Symbolism
In a story packed with theme and symbolism, Hwang spent a great deal of time writing the show and nurturing the story and characters. “When you’re in film school, you learn about plot and symbolism. There’s a process, but when you’re actually writing a story, I don’t think about those. I don’t think about a function to follow.”
“I just start writing. So it’s hard to put into words the logic and process of writing because I don’t take these into consideration. I just start writing and there’s a natural flow that comes to me. I don’t know what I did first because I don’t make calibrations in the beginning.”
Main cast of Squid Game. Photo courtesy of Netflix
As for the visuals, Hwang said some are in great detail while others are more vague on the page. “Because I write and direct, I always visualize in my mind when I’m writing the script. It’s different for different scenes. In some, I go into minute detail how I want to visualize. For others, I make it very simple and then I know I’m going to take it in my own hands anyway, so I always have the idea that I’m going to be the one overseeing all of this and I’m not going to totally give this to another person to decide.”
As the writer/director, Hwang also has moments where the story changes based on a particular day or how the story has developed during the filmmaking process. “That’s the biggest pro of writing and directing — you have the ability to fix things as you go.”
“I wrote the script, but sometimes I’m [unsatisfied and find] there’s another story direction that’s more plausible or right. Then I just fix the script on set. I fix the script almost every day. I fix it on set, then when I’m done shooting, I look at the next day’s script. This can be very challenging for the cast but I fix my script on a daily basis.”
Outlining Squid Game
In pre-production, he uses an array of notecards and outlining systems to plot out the story. “In the beginning, I use a big white board to create the outline for each episode, to get the big picture of how it’s going to go. I try to brainstorm names, genders, and ages of the different characters. I also try to think about when they’re going to come in and what kinds of games they’re going to participate in.”
Moving back and forth between character and plot, Hwang’s able to shape the full arc of the season. “Then, when I go into a more detailed version of the script, I use Post-Its, scene by scene, or plot by plot. Then I can see how it’s going to go. I also color code the Post-Its. One sequence is one color. Another sequence is another color, so I can see the flow by sequence.”
For those moments when Hwang felt writer’s block, he joked that he used to combat this with alcohol, but that wasn’t good for his long-term health. “I got writer’s block a few times during season 1. Before, I would drink when I felt stuck. I didn’t want to use my logical brain — I wanted to wake up my creative brain.”
Hwang continued, “I stopped doing that and what I try to do now is blab on about what I want to write with people. When I talk to people, people can give me ideas or I can get epiphanies while talking with other people about what I’m going to write. So that’s what I did for season 1 — just talk to my friends and people around me.”
This interview has been condensed. Listen to the full audio version here.
