"Squid Game" might seem like an overnight success story, but for writer-director and
creator Hwang Dong-hyuk, it took more than a decade of time and some fundamental formatting
shifts before he would finally see his vision realized in the now-global phenomenon of a
show.
In fact, if "Squid Game'' had been made when Hwang first came up with the concept, it would've
been a movie instead of the nine-episode series that has captivated so many.
It may be hard for fans of the dystopian series to imagine all of that "Squid Game" action
condensed into one feature-length film, but Hwang has since lifted the veil on how exactly
he managed to turn his initial film idea into a worldwide sensation of a series.
Let's take a deeper look at how "Squid Game" went from a movie to a television show.
"Preparations for the first game are complete.
You can begin now."
When Hwang first came up with the idea for a "Squid Game" movie, it was back in 2008
amid a global economic crisis.
Hwang told The Hollywood Reporter that after he was unsuccessful in selling one of his
already-completed film scripts, he experienced some financial hardships.
At the same time, he was also digging into death game manga series like "Liar Game" and
"Battle Royale."
Hwang explained:
"I read some stories about these indebted people entering into these life-and-death
games, and that became really immersive for me because I was struggling financially myself.
[...] And then that got me thinking, 'Well, I'm a director.
Why don't I just make a movie with this kind of storyline?'"
By the following year, Hwang completed his first script for a film version of "Squid
Game."
He also revealed that several of the characters were named after his real-life friends, while
characters like Seong Gi-hun and Cho Sang-woo featured portions of his own personality.
That was just the start of his creative journey on the story, however.
After Hwang's initial script for "Squid Game" was complete, he was met with some icy reception
by Korean studios, which passed on the picture as being too unrealistic and gruesome.
"He's gone. Oh, no."
So Hwang put the story aside and went on to work on several other movies, including "Silenced,"
"Miss Granny," and "The Fortress."
However, the ongoing hardships of the world continued to affect Hwang's creative process
over the years that followed, and the concept of such a brutal game became far less abstract.
As Hwang explained to IndieWire:
"The concept itself was not realistic at the time 10 years ago.
It was too bizarre and people thought it wouldn’t be a money-making film."
Hwang's decision to dust off his script for "Squid Game" was due in part to the changing
world around him.
He told a South Korean newspaper,
"It's a sad story, but 10 years later, the world has become a world where such a ridiculous
survival story fits well.
When I make it now, people say, 'It's fun.
It's realistic.'"
After receiving the green light to create the show, Hwang finally set to work transforming
his original film script into the "Squid Game" series we all know and love so well.
Returning to work on the story did require Hwang to set aside some hurt feelings about
how long it took, though.
As he told THR,
"When I opened up the files again to rework it, and read through all of the scripts and
the emails that I exchanged with all of the people around me back then, I actually had
a moment where I broke down and cried.
[...] A lot of hardship is ingrained in this show — but then it became a blockbuster
worldwide success.
So there have been a lot of different layers of feelings.
Of course, I’m exhilarated about the success."
In addition to detailing his difficult journey to bring "Squid Game" to life, Hwang has also
talked about some of the differences audiences would've seen in "Squid Game" film instead
of the series.
For one thing, although the number of players being 456 is now a signature element of the
series, he originally pictured the game as featuring 1,000 people competing for 10 billion
won.
However, due to inflation over the decade to follow, he decided to raise the stakes
a bit for the show.
The series format also gave Hwang an opportunity to expand the characters' individual development,
which has also become a major part of why "Squid Game" is such a compelling show.
As he told IndieWire:
"When it was originally written as a film script, I had to concentrate on just the games
because it was just two hours.
But now that it's a nine-episode long series, I could focus on the relationships between
people [and] the stories that each of the people had."
Although the journey to make "Squid Game" wasn't an easy or expedient one for Hwang,
the massive success of the show proves that he was right to stick with the story and see
it through to the screen.
Thanks for watching.
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