Top Intriguing facts about the squid game

Updated on July 25, 2022 13:36 PM by Laura Mendes

The popular new South Korean television show "Squid Game" explores the issue of "how far would people go to fix their financial crisis?" In order to do this, a group of unfortunate individuals is given a chance to participate in a series of deadly games. They must utilize their wits, maintain their composure, and, if necessary, betray other competitors to live.Alliances and rivals are built along the road, but only one can win and collect $38 million to end their financial problems. Regardless of how often you've watched the show, there are some interesting facts about "Squid Game" that you might not be aware of.

Studios rejected the 'Squid Game'

Producer Hwang Dong-hyuk collaborated with an international entertainment company like Netflix for the first time on the television series "Squid Game." The script had actually been in Dong-hands hyuk's since 2008. He was a family man at the time who, like the other participants on the show, was deeply in debt and broke.He finished the script in 2009, adding his own experiences to it. However, he struggled to get investors for his proposal, and numerous studios turned him down because they thought it would be excessively violent. Eventually, Netflix learned about the endeavor and bought it.

Stress caused the director to lose six teeth

It took six months to complete just the first two episodes, and there were some severe repercussions. Because of his poor financial situation, director Dong-hyuk reportedly lost six of his teeth while composing the script. "I still don't have two molars on my left side. I need implants but haven't had time to obtain them, "He clarified. But given the show's popularity, he should have more than enough money to get a brand-new set of teeth if he chooses.

It Almost Was a Film

In the beginning, Dong-hyuk intended "Squid Game" to be a movie, but he felt it would be practically difficult to fit all of his concepts and games into two hours. In order to ensure that none of his original concepts were left on the cutting room floor, it was transformed into a series to allow him and his writing team to create new characters and develop the plot. Finally, it paid off because the story was told in nine episodes, each lasting between 32 and 63 minutes.

It's an actual phone number

The players are invited to participate in the "Squid Game" by a mysterious stranger who sends them a business card in the first episode. The business card includes the organization's logo and a legitimate phone number.The phone number owner couldn't just change it because they needed it for work-related needs, which led to an issue as thousands of genuine individuals called the number seeking to play the game. As a result, Netflix found a fix by removing the phone number that appears in several important moments.

You may see the giant doll with the laser eyes in Real Life

Fans of the show can see the enormous doll with laser eyes from the first episode in person. She appears in the video game "Red Light, Green Light." She can be found near the entrance to Macha Land, a museum dedicated to horse-drawn carriages in Jincheon County, some three hours north of Seoul. The doll was only borrowed to film the scene; it wasn't created for the show. The doll was delivered back to the museum after the shooting was over (no pun intended).

The Walls foretell the Games

The candidates got to reside in a military-style dorm room throughout the series. Most viewers could have missed a number of doodles and sketches on the walls because they resemble illustrations from a children's book. However, they're really hinting at the dangerous games the competitors will have to play. The candidates might have been able to make plans in advance to improve their chances of surviving each challenge if they had known this beforehand.

The second season is in the works

Despite the show's enormous global success, Dong-hyuk had previously claimed that he had no plans to produce a second season because he already had a number of other projects in the works. He would not, however, completely rule out the idea of a second season at some point, and if it occurred, he hoped to assemble a group of directors and writers to assist him.He declared: "Squid Game 2 doesn't yet have any solid intentions from my end. Even just imagining it makes me tired. But if I were to attempt it, I most definitely wouldn't go it alone. I might use a writer's room and want several directors with plenty of expertise." But he announced that there would be a second season at a red carpet event. Therefore, there has been a lot of pressure, desire, and affection for a second season. Consequently, I almost feel like you give us no other options," he remarked.

In Acting, Jung Ho-Yeon made her debut

Although Jung Ho-Yeon works as a model professionally in South Korea, she made her acting debut in the part of the pickpocket Sae-byeok. However, she and her character are very dissimilar. Ho-yeon flew from New York to South Korea to apply for "Squid Game" while Sae-byeok fled North Korea. Director Dong-hyuk immediately recognized her for the part after watching her audition tape.

On Korea's Next Top Model, Jung Ho-yeon

The modeling career of Jung Ho-yeon began in 2010. She even spent two years walking the runway at the Seoul Fashion Week. Then, in 2013, she participated in the fourth season of "Korea's Next Top Model." She came in second place, which is unfortunate.Additionally, she began modeling exclusively for Louis Vuitton in 2016 and joined the brand's global ambassador program in 2021. She feels like a winner despite not having won Top Model because she also starred in one of the most popular Netflix series to date and received praise for her work on a global scale.

The stairs on the show were inspired by Escher's Relativity

The series' vibrant and slightly disorienting staircases were influenced by a lithograph picture by Dutch artist M.C. Escher named Relativity. The poster features seven stairs that are puzzle-like in their arrangement and depicts a universe where the rules of gravity are vastly different from those in the real world. This closely resembles the intricate, maze-like staircases from the series in terms of complexity. They served to heighten the set's ominous atmosphere.

There were no CGI actors in the first game

The 456 players who appeared in the first game were 456 actors. The director chose to use actual performers and settings as much as possible so that the audience would experience a genuine performance. In contrast, other performances would have merely used CGI to give the appearance of multiple characters. He even took extra care to make sure that each episode's difficult moments were as genuine as possible.

The musical director chose calming music

While portraying a sequence of dark and deadly games with songs like Johan Strauss II's "The Blue Danube" and Frank Sinatra's "Fly Me to the Moon," the show's music director and composer Jung Jae-il intended to create an unsettling sense of comfort for viewers.But the last movement of Haydn's Trumpet Concerto in E flat major awakens the participants 30 minutes into the pilot program. Throughout the performance, this composition takes on a bit of a theme.

The name Oh Il-Nam was a big hint

Warning: This sentence contains a spoiler. If you haven't completed viewing the show, don't read this. Okay. You've been made aware. Oh, Il-Nam, the charming older man who participated in the show and was the game designer.

The name of the character, which is somewhat intriguing given that he was designated 001, literally translates to "number one man" in Korean. The mechanical doll in the game "Red Light, Green Light" didn't pick him up when she scanned the other competitors in the audience, which is another thing viewers might have missed.

Based on the Director's Prior Work, Sang-Woo

One of the show's brightest participants, Cho Sang-woo, was portrayed by actor Park Hae-soo. Since both the director Dong-hyuk and the character Sang-woo attended Seoul National University, Hae-soo took a lot of influence from his own experiences while studying for the part. It's also interesting to note that Dong-grandma, hyuk's like Sang-mother woo's in the series, worked at the Ssangmun-dong Market.

The tug-of-war scene involved the use of a machine

Contestants on two opposite ends of the tug-of-war rope battled to pull the rope firmly enough to push the opposing team over the edge and to their eventual deaths. However, fans might not be aware that a machine was actually pulling on the other end, making it challenging for the actors to pull. In fact, the actor who played Seong Gi-hun, Lee Junga-Jae, claimed that it was one of the physically taxing moments they had ever shot and that he was almost knocked out during it.

The coffins represent the contestants' ultimate gift

The number of contestants who pass away while competing on the show is staggering; sooner or later, the players find themselves in a gift box-shaped, black casket with a pink ribbon. This concept was intended to represent how the game's developer, who viewed himself as God, was burning their remains in the incinerator as kindness or gift to them. But the pink ribbon and casket raised the series' level of cringe-worthiness. In the drama, Sae-byeok was a bystander who fell after running into Gi-hun. She also lost her iced coffee as she was falling, which Gi-hun quickly picked up and returned to her, creating an embarrassing but ultimately humorous situation. It turns out that this scenario was improvised, and if you look closely, you can see Sae-byeok laughing and trying to cover her face while she laughs, which causes her shoulder to tremble.

The Masked Guards Might Have Passed for Boy Scouts

According to director Dong-hyuk, the disguised security officers were initially intended to resemble Boy Scouts. Unfortunately, the men's bodies were too prominently displayed in the initial attire. He ordered the outfits to be changed to bright pink jumpsuits because he imagined the men appearing more like a group of ants in an ant colony. Additionally, he made them all wear masks to conceal their identities, which increased the ominousness and creepiness of their presence in contrast to the initial Boy Scout image he had in mind.

The Dust was Made Dirtier by the Green Uniforms

The competitors wore green outfits throughout the entire season. The material used in the uniforms was recycled from old gym garments, which caused a problem. With almost 400 performers present, everything on the set grew pretty dusty. In fact, some of the crew members experienced allergic responses and experienced face redness. Some people had trouble breathing. While everyone struggled to breathe, the director acknowledged that the uniforms' fabric was of low quality.

The uniforms represented compliance

While the contestants dress in green gym attire, the soldiers on the show wear hot pink jumpsuits. Director Dong-hyuk wanted the candidates to wear green gym attire since he remembered wearing a similar uniform in his South Korean high school gym class. But he decided on hot pink because he thought it would highlight the difference between the athletes and the soldiers for viewers.

A Colony of Ants Provided Inspiration for the Soldiers' Masks

The ant colony served as inspiration for the uniform design of the soldiers, according to director Dong-hyuk. He assigned the masks various names to achieve this. For instance, some had a circle, which stood in for the group's worker drones, while others had a triangle, which stood in for the troops. The square, though, stood in for the group's management.The show's managers, employees, and soldiers are all given particular jobs to complete and are not allowed to stray from them. They will meet the same end as the competitors who fail a challenge if they do.