Latest news with #Hwang
Indian Express
6 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Squid Game director reveals real-world figures who inspired VIPs: ‘They no longer hide behind a curtain'
The Squid Game series was inspired by some real-life experiences of director Hwang Dong Hyuk. In the show, we mostly follow the players, poor and desperate, ready to kill each other for money. And while we kept slamming some players for behaving selfishly, the show makes it clear that the real villains are not the players, but the ultra-rich watching from the top. These are the VIPs, treating the lives of people they consider beneath them as nothing more than a circus for their amusement. In a recent interview with Time magazine, director Hwang opened up about how some of the biggest tech billionaires and those in power inspired the role, and whether some of the characters have real-life resemblance. The VIP's first appeared in season 1, episode 7 and were shown as filthy rich people gulping alcohol, speaking English, wearing gold animal masks, and betting on the players' lives. They treat it like gambling on horses. In Season 1, they stayed in their luxury rooms and watched everything from behind the scenes, pampered and protected by the Front Man, played by Lee Byung Hun. Later, it was revealed that Oh Il Nam was the head of VIP's who played as player 001. He was dying, so he created the game for fun, a jab at how the rich are disconnected from human life and suffering. In season 3, however, these VIP's get down into the game themselves, take off their masks and kill people with their bare hands. Also read: Squid Game Season 3 ending explained: The truth about Gi Hun's fate, the mystery woman, and all survivors Director Hwang Dong Hyuk said this was intentional. He wanted to show how the rich no longer even bother to hide their power. 'In the past, those that really controlled the system and maintained power were hidden behind the curtain, almost like this big unseen conspiracy. However, it's no longer the case, especially in America,' Hwang told Time. 'We talk a lot about oligarchy these days, but these so-called big tech owners, they step up, telling everyone who they're backing with their money. They willingly take their masks off, almost as if to declare, 'We're the ones running everything. We're the ones in control,' he added. Director Hwang said that while the concept of the VIPs is not based on one person, while writing the final script, he started seeing some familiarity with the current scenario in the world. Like Elon Musk, for example. 'Elon Musk is everywhere these days, right?' Hwang said, adding, 'Everybody talks about him. Not only is he the head of a huge tech company that controls the world almost, but he's also a showman. After writing [Season 3], of course I thought, 'Oh, some of the VIPs do kind of resemble Elon Musk.'' The director even revealed that, although it was very unintentional and he didn't plan it that way, one of the VIPs also resembles US President Donald Trump. Also read: Squid Game 3 ending: 7 burning questions answered in Netflix thriller finale; future possibilities explored Hwang, during the interview, also revealed how his own struggle with money and the 2008 financial crisis shaped this story. He spoke about the recent political fights in South Korea, referring to the president's impeachment, and even the US Capitol attack on January 6, 2021, when some Trump supporters stormed into the building. All these events made him realise the extent people go when driven by hate and greed. He feels that people have forgotten how to disagree and now outright disregard others as evil. And with the rise of AI, algorithms, and fake news, Hwang began to ask: 'Are elections even working anymore?' In the second-last episode, players are even told to vote on who to kill next, and one option is to eliminate the baby in Gi Hun's hands. That's when one Player says, 'Let's vote on who should get eliminated, and keep it democratic, like they're not talking about murder.'
Elle
16 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Elle
We're Not Getting Another Season of 'Squid Game'—But We Might Get Something Else
Now that Squid Game's third and final season is out in the world, I am personally hoping for one thing: that Hwang Dong-hyuk can get some rest. The filmmaker and series creator has not been subtle about his exhaustion after creating the first season of the Netflix sensation. Imagine how he feels now, two seasons after that. 'Yeah, I'm very tired. I haven't had a deep sleep for a long time. I want to take a rest,' he told The New York Times before the season 3 premiere. 'Then I want to do feature films. I have an idea for my next feature.' There may be someone ready to take up the mantle: David Fincher, the director of Fight Club, Gone Girl, and The Social Network. In October 2024, Deadline reported that the filmmaker was eyeing an English-language offshoot of Squid Game, although neither he nor Netflix have confirmed the news yet. Still, it seems likely, given Fincher's ongoing collaboration with the streamer, which includes films and series like House of Cards, Mindhunter, Mank, and the upcoming Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood sequel. According to Deadline, 'Insiders say the Squid Game series is likely the project Fincher commits his time to in 2025.' The final scene of the Squid Game season 3 sure seems to set up an spinoff. (Warning: Spoilers ahead!) The episode closes with a scene of the Front Man in the U.S. coming across a person in a suit playing a version of Ddakji, the 'slap game' used to recruit players, with a disheveled man in an alley. When the recruiter turns around, it's a surprise reveal: She's played by Cate Blanchett. All she does is exchange a knowing look at the Front Man, their mutual recognition hinting that the Squid Game operation extends beyond South Korea. It's also the perfect setup for a U.S.-based spinoff. It's unclear if Blanchett will be the lead of that new show or just a one-time cameo, but the former is possible, since she previously worked with Fincher on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. For now though, that's just a theory. No casting announcements have been made yet. As for the creative team, Deadline reported that Dennis Kelly, writer of Matilda the Musical and the TV series Utopia, is supposedly writing the script. Hwang has also voiced his own ideas for an offshoot. He told Entertainment Weekly, 'I actually had this faint ideation about possibly a spinoff—not a sequel, but maybe a spinoff about the three-year gap between season 1 and season 2 when Gi-hun [Lee Jung-jae] looks around for the recruiters,' he said. 'Maybe I could have a portrayal of what the recruiters or Captain Park [Oh Dal-su] or officers or masked men were doing in that period, not inside the gaming arena, but their life outside of that.' That Hwang's limited series has now ballooned into an international franchise might be a little ironic, considering the show's pointed critiques of capitalism. But he hopes that at least it gets viewers to start thinking about such issues. 'If they do none of that and only enjoy the goods and experiences, that could be a problem. But as long as it entails food for thought, I'm good with that,' he told Times. And if Squid Game comes to America, there will surely be much to discuss.
Newsweek
a day ago
- Science
- Newsweek
Golden Fiber Worn by Emperors Resurrected After 2,000 Years
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. One of the most prized materials of antiquity—the luxurious "golden fiber of the sea" that was reserved for the likes of Roman emperors—has been resurrected after 2,000 years. Often proposed as the inspiration for the "Golden Fleece" of Greek myth, sea silk is made from the "byssus" threads secreted by the pen shell Pinna nobilis, a large species of clam that is native to the Mediterranean, to anchor it to rocks on the seafloor. Sea silk was valued for being lightweight, warm and finer than regular silk, but also for its iridescent, golden color that wouldn't fade. A sample of the new sea silk. A sample of the new sea silk. POSTECH Ecological decline, overfishing and marine pollution, however, have driven P. nobilis into endangered status, with harvesting of the clam has been banned and the art of spinning byssus thread now limited to but a few individuals. Now, however, professor Dong Soo Hwang of South Korea's Pohang University of Science and Technology and colleagues have spun sea silk from the "waste" byproduct of a commercially farmed shellfish—and revealed the secret of its lasting color. In their study, Hwang and colleagues focused on another "pen shell" species, Atrina pectinata, which is cultivated off of the coast of Korea for food. Just like its endangered cousin P. nobilis, A. pectinata secretes byssus threads to anchor itself to the sea floor. The researchers determined that these threads are both chemically and physically similar to those produced by P. nobilis—and, moreover, can be processed to recreate golden sea silk. Analysis of this material has revealed what gives sea silk its distinctive golden hue and why the color is so resistant to fading over time. Rather than being the result of some form of dye, the golden sheen of sea silk is inherent, a form of "structural coloration" derived from the way light reflects off its nanostructures. The same phenomenon can also be seen at play in the iridescent surfaces or soap bubbles and on butterfly wings. Pictured: a pen shell, both closed (left) and open (right), showing the byssus from which the material for the sea silk is taken. Pictured: a pen shell, both closed (left) and open (right), showing the byssus from which the material for the sea silk is taken. POSTECH In the case of sea silk, the structural coloration come from the layering of a spherical protein called photonin—one that becomes more vivid the more orderly the protein arrangement. The result is a coloring that is highly stable. "Structurally colored textiles are inherently resistant to fading," said Hwang in a statement. "Our technology enables long-lasting color without the use of dyes or metals, opening new possibilities for sustainable fashion and advanced materials." Do you have a tip on a science story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about sea silk? Let us know via science@ Reference Choi, J., Im, J.-H., Kim, Y.-K., Shin, T. J., Flammang, P., Yi, G.-R., Pine, D. J., & Hwang, D. S. (2025). Structurally Colored Sustainable Sea Silk from Atrina pectinata. Advanced Materials.
Forbes
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
So, ‘Squid Game' Season 4? Don't Rule It Out
Squid Game Squid Game has ended with its somewhat odd, six-episode season that essentially operates as the other half of season 2, just with a season 3 badge. It is a pretty conclusive end to the current arc, but this is the modern streaming era. This is Netflix. This is a showrunner that is getting paid millions upon millions to make this series. So no, we can't rule out a season 4 of Squid Game. This is not just random speculation, but it comes from creator Hwang Dong-hyuk himself in a recent interview with EW. It's mainly about another season that's a prequel, which wouldn't be labeled season 4, I'm guessing, but he also speaks to that as well. Here's his pitch for that: So, that's an intermission between seasons 1 and 2, and if that did end up existing, a series without an actual Squid Game being played, it would probably just be called 'Squid Game: Gi-hun" or something like that. The advantage there would be that it would bring back some of its cast. You also might think it could do something like provide out-of-game backstories for some of season 2 and 3's players. But a sequel? Season 4? Not ruled out either: Squid Game This is not a question of whether or not Netflix would agree to this. They would in a second. Squid Game season 1 remains the most-watched show in Netflix history. Season 2 didn't get that high, but it's still in the top 5. Season 3 could go up or down, we'll see. But it will be high, and Netflix, of course, is going to want any more Squid Game projects they can get their hands on, especially if the original creator is willing to return, as he's the key to the whole idea. Regardless, if this does manifest, it will almost certainly be years until we see something new from Squid Game. It's taken us almost four years to get through three seasons (sort of two), and these ideas are still nebulous and not in production. But like Hwang, we shouldn't rule it out. Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, Bluesky and Instagram. Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
Los Angeles Times
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
In ‘Squid Game' Season 3, a critique of democracy comes to the fore: ‘It's like a jungle'
This article contains many spoilers for Season 3 of Netflix's 'Squid Game.' 'Squid Game' is a twisty, twisted thriller, with ordinary, financially stressed people playing children's games to the death for the amusement of the hidden wealthy. Beneath that surface, creator, writer and director Hwang Dong-hyuk has been embedding sociopolitical commentary amid the shock and awe of protagonist Gi-hun's (Lee Jung-jae) personal roller-coaster ride; the characters' desperation as the saga ends forces those messages to poke through the slick, candy-colored exterior. 'It was a result of elevation of the themes and stories,' said Hwang of those ideas becoming more clearly voiced. They 'became more upfront and intense just as a natural course of the story unfolding.' The global phenomenon, still Netflix's most-watched non-English show ever (its first two seasons are No. 1 and 2 on the streamer's all-time list, with nearly 600 million views to date, according to Netflix), ends on its own terms with the release of its third and final season Friday. And what an arc everyman Gi-hun will have completed. How better to represent Hwang's themes of end-stage, winners-and-losers capitalism, with its warping, destructive power, and how the ill-intentioned can exploit democracy's flaws, than to depict an ordinary person buffeted by the unseen hand of pain for profit? 'You can say this is a story of those who have become losers of the game, and also those of us who are shaken to our core because of the chaotic political landscape,' said Hwang, who with Lee, spoke via an interpreter on a video call earlier this month from New York. 'I wanted to focus in Season 3 on how in this world, where incessant greed is always fueled, it's like a jungle — the strong eating the weak, where people climb higher by stepping on other people's heads.' Gi-hun's hands become bloodied in the competition in Season 3, Hwang said. 'That's the first time he kills someone [in the games]. This person who symbolized goodness, the original sin is now on him because of what society has done to him,' he said. 'How does he pick himself up from that? That's the heart of Season 3. In a way, we're all put in this situation due to the capitalist society and chaotic political situation. Gi-hun symbolizes what all of us go through these days.' When we meet him in Season 1, Gi-hun is down and out, an inveterate gambler. Through Season 1's horrific gantlet of murderous kids' games, his exterior is scraped away with a rusty edge until all that's left is a flawed but good man. Gi-hun is someone who sees what he believes with clarity, while becoming the suddenly rich champion of the games. But after he reaches that peak, Season 2 plunges him back down the roller coaster as he becomes obsessed with vengeance against the elite voyeurs who fund the game and the Front Man (Lee Byung-hun), who oversees it. Righteous anger carries Gi-hun to the brink of his goal of destroying the games, only to see it all brutally dashed. Season 3 finds him a broken man, near catatonic with guilt. Without him to guide the less bloodthirsty players, the games will enter a fearsome phase of all-out mayhem, from which unexpectedly emerges a chance at redemption for the battered protagonist. 'All of those changes within Gi-hun are depicted in such minute detail' in Hwang's writing, said Lee, 'so nuanced and with so many layers. You'll see Gi-hun have a change of heart. Sometimes his beliefs will be shaken. But despite all of that, he will continue to struggle to find hope and his will. 'All I can say is, I'm a very lucky man. You don't come by characters like Gi-hun every day. It's been a true honor,' he adds. Lee's public appearances in support of 'Squid Game' have provided an almost comic contrast with Gi-hun. He's movie-star handsome, elegant, always sharply dressed. On the show, especially as Gi-hun deteriorates in Season 3, he's wrecked. 'Jung-jae went on this extremely harsh diet for over a year so he could really portray, externally, the pain and the brokenness, to really express how famished and barren he is, both mentally and physically,' Hwang said. Gi-hun isn't the only person the games destroy. Another hallmark of the show is its deft development of characters into fan favorites, coupled with its 'Game of Thrones'-like willingness to unceremoniously kill them. Viewers will be sharpening their pitchforks when trans commando Hyun-ju (Park Sung-hoon), a.k.a. Player 120, dies ignominiously in Season 3. Hwang is already braced for the backlash. 'It's not me who did it! It was 333,' he exclaimed, blaming the murderer. Hwang said when he watched the first assembly edit of that death, 'I wrote and directed and everything, I knew it's coming, but it was still painful. It was like, 'Oh, come on, come on.' ' 'For some characters, I would see them go and I'd feel really sad … I would think, 'Director Hwang is such a cruel man,'' Lee said. When Hwang asks what death in particular made him feel that way, Lee doesn't hesitate to cite another beloved character, pregnant contestant Jun-hee (Jo Yu-ri), calling that Season 3 death 'heartbreaking.' Lee's sensitive, evolving turn as Gi-hun — deeply human amid the madness, paranoia and murder set in bright green and pink surroundings — has made the character the ideal litmus test for Hwang's critique of an economic system designed to produce titanic winners and losers who face annihilation. He's a living symbol of Hwang's themes. 'I feel like Director Hwang is truly an artist,' Lee said. 'I mean something akin to a concept artist. Because when he creates his visuals, not only are they extremely pleasing to the eye; he focuses on the meaning behind them. He [stacks] images on top of one another, almost as if building a Lego castle. Each little block has meaning: each dialogue, each editing flow and [each use of] the musical score.' As Season 3 reaches a boil, some of Hwang's symbolism becomes less subtle. In one game, contestants clutch keys suspiciously resembling crucifixes as one player leads others with fervor, for better or worse. One character's moment of triumph occurs before a painted rainbow (rainbow flags are also associated with the LGBTQ+ community in Korea). And Hwang's nuanced critique of democracy comes to the fore. Unlike Season 1, in which contestants had one chance to vote to end the games, in Seasons 2 and 3, votes are taken after each contest; as more players die, the pot swells larger and larger. With only a score or so of participants left, a vote to quit means all would leave alive, and with substantial cash. Voting to continue means, explicitly, they will kill to become obscenely wealthy. 'In the past, at the time of elections, despite our differences, we all came together; there was more tolerance through the process of conflict,' Hwang said. 'I don't think that is anymore the case. Rather, elections [have only driven] societies into greater divides. I wanted to explore those themes in Seasons 2 and 3; that's why I included the voting in each round.' Hwang loudly calls out the flaw of democracy that allows the barest of majorities to subject all to nightmarish policies — even more nightmarish for those who voted against them. The ruthless winners keep reminding the others in Season 3 it was a 'free and democratic vote.' 'That is not to say that I have a different answer,' he said. 'I wanted to raise the question because I believe it is time for us to try to find the answer. In Season 1, I looked at the flaws of the economic system that creates so many losers due to this unlimited competition. In Season 2, I depicted the failure of the political system. 'Coming into Season 3, because the economic system has failed us, politics have failed us, it seems like we have no hope,' Hwang added. 'What hope do we have as a human race when we can no longer control our own greed? I wanted to explore that. And in particular, I wanted to [pose] that question to myself.' And what has he found? Does he still believe in humanity? 'Well, I don't have the answer,' Hwang said. 'But I have to admit, honestly, I think I've become more cynical, working on 'Squid Game.''
