“Squid Game” revolves around a mysterious survival game in which 456 players, all of whom are struggling financially, risk their lives for a chance to win a prize of 45.6 billion won (about 33 million USD).
In a conversation with Netflix Korea, Lee Jung Jae recalled the scene where his character Seong Gi Hun plays ddakji (paper punching) with Gong Yoo's character Ddakji Man (Recruiter) in the subway.
“This is a very important scene where Gi Hun meets the Recruiter and is pulled into another world. This is the moment in the film where both Gi Hun and the audience start to believe in this absurd arrangement and become immersed in it. So I thought a lot about how to convey that sense of trust.
I played it with strength rather than skill. So I struggled with flipping the ddakji. It couldn't flip. Gong Yoo seems to be really good at playing ddakji.”
Talking about the scene where Gong Yoo slaps him, Lee Jung Jae said: “In acting, it’s actually easier to be the one being hit. The one who hits will feel more pressure. Even before we started filming, Gong Yoo said, ‘I’ll just graze you a little bit.’”
I said that probably wouldn't work. I said he had to really slap me to please the director. And as expected, the director wasn't satisfied until I actually got hit. I got hit quite a bit in that scene.
The director asked me to try to express joy like a famous football player would do after scoring a comeback goal in an important match. So I tried to express that. But I didn't know the director would use slow motion in that scene. Anyway, he did, which really amplified the joy.”
Regarding the scene where Gong Yoo disappears on the subway, Lee Jung Jae shared, “Of course, we couldn’t stop a train that is used by the public to film. So we had to film according to the normal operating schedule.
Gong Yoo was asked to take the train, get off at the next station, then take the train back. Then he would turn around, wait for the subway again, stand in the same spot, reshoot the scene, come back, take the train again, come back, and reshoot the scene. I remember him doing this many times.
There was a lot of speculation about whether the Recruiter would appear in season 2. To be honest, until I got the script, I was wondering the same thing. Then I saw how he was described in the script. I thought, “Oh, he’s quite quirky,” and maybe the audience will find him interesting again.”
Accordingly, “Squid Game 2” will be released on December 26. Part 2 continues the story of Seong Gi Hun (Lee Jung Jae) - who gave up going to America to pursue his own goals related to the deadly game he won in part 1.
