'Squid Game' team reveals why they cut 'a lot' of VIPs scenes from final season
The Korean show's editor Nam Na-young tells Entertainment Weekly that she actually cut "a lot" of scenes from the final season featuring the rich, cruel VIPs who bet on the players' lives during the games.
"Actually, there were more scenes with the VIPs," Nam says. "As I was editing, I did cut them a lot because when we're in the VIP room, the tension kind of releases. The contestants' emotions and reactions of the games were what I prioritized when editing."
That's not the only secret revealed in EW's "It Takes a Village" video above, featuring Nam along with star Lee Jung-jae, creator-director Hwang Dong-hyuk, production designer Chae Kyoung-sun, cinematographer Kim Ji-yong, and composer Jung Jae-il. The creative team behind Squid Game breaks down the making of the intense Jump Rope game in season 3, which the star reveals was the most difficult of the entire series.
When it came to building the set, the creator says that the entire team has to think like the show's "mastermind" behind the games who wanted to return to childhood at the end of his life — similar to Citizen Kane's Rosebud.
The production designer interpreted that as wanting to go home, which is why she invoked the feeling of a train station that many people in Korea take to go home on holidays. Meanwhile, the giant robots who swing the rope, Chul-soo and Young-hee, were modeled after well-known characters in Korean elementary school textbooks.
"We designed Young-hee and Chul-soo's outfits to look like children dressed their best for their journey home," Chae says. "With their shoes being pretty and clean. And with Young-hee, we needed to pay attention to the space in between her legs, because actors had to pass through them — the visual design was important. One of the last things we did is put stockings on her, and as we were making those updates, we designed flowers on them."
While the fall from the platform is fatal for the players in the game, it was a lot safer in real life for the actors — although some were still terrified.
"The actual set was about five feet off the ground," Hwang reveals. "Even that that height, the actors felt the fear of heights."
Every department, from production design to stunts to visual effects, had to work closely together to make sure no one got hurt while filming this scene.
"I wasn't rigged up on a wire for this," Lee says. "If you fell, it would hurt."
At least the actors weren't at risk of getting hit by a real metal pole.
"The jump rope is actually CGI," Lee reveals. "There were beeps for when the rope would be going around, then a long beep would signal that it is at our feet. But that wasn't so easy, keeping to the beat."Watch the video above now to see the full interview, including how music was used to add tension to the scene, how they "leveled up" the VIP lounge set, and more.
The final season of Squid Game is now streaming on Netflix.
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
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