1 of Quentin Tarantino’s Favorite Movies Helped Inspire ‘Squid Game’
Squid Game became a pop culture phenomenon, boasting high numbers for Netflix and earning numerous accolades. But the series’ creator had a similar taste to filmmaker Quentin Tarantino, as he took inspiration from one of their favorite films.
Hwang Dong-hyuk and Quentin Tarantino both admired this classic movie
Hwang was inspired to make Squid Game due to his own real-life financial situation. Much like the series’ desperate contestants, the filmmaker knew all too well what it was like trying to make ends meet on little funds. In an interview with The Guardian, he discussed how he and his family managed to stay afloat during hard times.
“I was very financially straitened because my mother retired from the company she was working for. There was a film I was working on but we failed to get finance. So I couldn’t work for about a year,” Hwang said. “We had to take out loans – my mother, myself, and my grandmother.”
Hwang took refuge from his difficult situation in comic books, where he stumbled onto stories that reflected his own life. The material he absorbed forced him to ask questions about himself that would later form the basis of Squid Game.
“I read Battle Royal and Liar Game and other survival game comics. I related to the people in them, who were desperate for money and success. That was a low point in my life. If there was a survival game like these in reality, I wondered, would I join it to make money for my family? I realized that, since I was a film-maker, I could put my own touch to these kinds of stories so I started on the script,” Hwang said.
Battle Royale became a familiar name in the film industry. The novel would be adapted into a popular Japanese film that drew a lot of attention, including from Tarantino. So much so that Tarantino once labeled it one of his favorite movies.
“If there was any movie that has been made since I’ve been making movies that I wish I had made, it’s that one,” Tarantino said according to Quentin Tarantino Universe.
A rough love scene in ‘Squid Game’ was inspired by a reality TV show
Hwang asserted that Squid Game’s focus came down to a simple idea.
“We are fighting for our lives in very unequal circumstances,” he said.
Given that Squid Game pits distressed people in life-or-death situations, the show doesn’t seem to have the type of environment for romance to thrive in. But Hwang argued that the show does demonstrate romance, especially in two characters in particular.
“It’s a different kind of love in a bizarre, strange, desperate situation. The woman relies on the strongest man in the group. She has to find something to rely on. She believes it’s love – otherwise it’s too sad, you know, to sell sex to the guy just to survive. So she believes her emotion is love, but not romantic love like in Bridgerton,” he said.
Hwang claimed he’d gotten the idea of the scene after watching a reality show where contestants were trapped on a deserted island.
“It was about people’s psychology in extreme situations. They are sexually attracted to people they believe are stronger and the best at hunting, when they wouldn’t have been before,” he said.
Hwang intended to explore what people were willing to do for the sake of survival in the context of love.
“[I wanted] to show that, regardless of gender, women and men tend to perform desperate actions in extreme situations,” he said.
Hwang Dong-hyuk joked that he’d only do a season 2 of ‘Squid Game’ to become rich
Despite the success of Squid Game, Hwang felt he received a very small portion of the series’ monetary rewards.
“I’m not that rich,” he said. “But I do have enough. I have enough to put food on the table. And it’s not like Netflix is paying me a bonus. Netflix paid me according to the original contract.”
But the candid creator confided one of his main motivations for doing another Squid Game was wealth.
“It’s possible that I have to do season two to become as rich as Squid Game’s winner,” Hwang said.
But he also didn’t want to be just the Squid Game guy, and hoped to focus on other projects.
“There’s a film I really want to make. I’m thinking about which to do first. I’m going to talk to Netflix,” he added.
