Conversations At Home With The Cast Of 'Squid Games'
A Q&A segment named “Conversations at Home” is sponsored by the SAG-AFTRA Foundation. For this episode, the discussion is moderated by Variety’s Jenelle Riley and includes the actors Lee Jung-jae, Jung HoYeon, and Park Hae-soo from SQUID GAME. Translated by Haley Jung, the three actors are questioned on their experiences on the show, the process, and their personal opinions.
“It was, truly, a huge honor…It is not on a personal level, so much, as a group, it is truly just a joyful occasion.”
The first question asked was regarding the actor's reaction to receiving news on their four SAG-AFTRA nominations. All express pride and appreciation, and state that it was a group effort. Park specifically thanked the production and stunt teams. HoYeon expressed her sense of surrealism since this was her first professional acting job. The new experience put a lot of fear of failure, excitement, and pressure, but HoYeon claims it was worth it, and she embraced her path.
“This was, actually, my first ever audition…I heard the director wanted to meet face-to-face for the second round of auditions.”
Jenelle then asks HoYeon how she got cast in SQUID GAME. HoYeon states that it was her first-ever audition, and it was through a self-tape interview in the first round of auditions in New York City. Once director Hwang Dong-Hyuk expressed interest in meeting, HoYeon canceled all her plans in New York and flew to Seoul to meet for the second round of auditions for SQUID GAME. She was given the role two weeks after arriving.
“I was completely intrigued by the story, especially how the juxtaposition of the shock factor of these games and the human nature was portrayed through them.”
When asked about their initial reaction to the story, Park was the one to answer. For Park, the exploration of human nature, and the dynamics between it and the games attracted him to the story. It was the same for Lee, plus, the synergy and stories behind the characters are also factors that appealed to him as an actor.
“He was a very flexible director.”
After Lee finished speaking, Jenelle asked about their experiences working with Director Hwang. She further inquired on Hwang’s methodology being either hands-on or giving room for the set. HoYeon was the first to answer. For her, she relied on the director. Hwang was flexible in his approach ranging from leaving no commentary to having open discussions. Park claimed that Hwang “is someone who respected the space for actors to do what they wanted to do freely, but in critical moments, he was also very willing to give you very specific details.” Park believed that all the characters lived through Director Hwang and stated that Hwang would be player 0 or 457. Director Hwang was playing the game through the characters. For Lee’s answer, he reminisced about a talk he had with Director Hwang after shooting the first scene. Lee believed Hwang was a conception artist that knew what to look for. Lee claimed that when actors interact with Hwang's concept, the director gives space. For Lee, Hwang’s concepts were simple and concise.
“There was definitely a shift in mood towards the later part of the episodes.”
When asked about the atmosphere on set, HoYeon stated that it was different every day. The reduction of actors on set as the story progressed caused the atmosphere to be calmer, and the actors focused on more serious lines. Referencing how some fans are unable to separate the actor from the actor, Jenelle asked Park if people were angry at him due to his antagonistic character. However, Park denied this ever happened to him, not knowing why, and credits his approachable personality.
“But to see how much the American or Western audiences were surprised…we made the right choice in having Gi-hun make that decision.”
Jenelle then questioned Lee on his character’s, Gi-hun, decision to go back to the “game” and asked if any have expressed their opinion on the matter with him. Lee felt like Western fans believed the character’s decision was a twist. He found it interesting to see varied responses amongst American and other Western audiences. Lee stated that the character’s decision was debated amongst the crew, but after seeing the surprised reactions from viewers, Lee believed that the correct decision was made.
“It had to do with how realistic the alleyways set was created. To talk about the details, it was a one hundred percent recreation of the alleyways that you see in Korea as a child.”
The last question of the interview was for the actors to state their favorite game in SQUID GAME and why. For Park, the most challenging game was the marbles game. The realistic recreation of Korean alleyways was both encouraging and difficult to draw out scripted emotions due to childhood memories. While it did provide a challenge, Park also found it interesting to overcome.
For Lee, it was the Red-Light, Green-Light game. For him, each game was challenging from an acting perspective, but in retrospect, that specific game was more so than the others. Lee believed this was because he felt he had difficulty determining what level of tension he needed to display for his character. Significant preparation was put into the first game because it was the scene that needed to convince the audience to continue watching. This meticulous preparation made the scene last four days in the recording.
For HoYeon, it was also the Red-Light, Green-Light game. This was because that scene would be the debut of her character. HoYeon found it challenging to properly display her character’s reaction because she was under pressure, believing this specific scene would set the tone and development for her character.