Lee Jung-jae Shares Behind-the-Scenes Stories from ‘Squid Game’: “I Got Hit a Lot by Gong Yoo”
On October 10th, Lee Jung-jae appeared on the “Netflix Korea” channel and shared behind-the-scenes stories from the filming of “Squid Game”.
Netflix’s original series “Squid Game” revolves around a secret contest where 456 players, all of whom are in deep financial hardship, risk their lives to play a series of deadly children’s games for the chance to win a ₩45.6 billion prize.
In the interview, Lee Jung-jae recalled the scene in which his character “Gi-hun” plays the ddakji game with Gong Yoo’s character “Ddakji Man (Recruiter)” in the subway. He explained, “This is a very important scene where he meets the Recruiter and gets pulled into another world. This is the moment in the series that makes both Gi-hun and the audience start to believe in this absurd setup and to become immersed in it. So I thought a lot about how to convey that sense of belief.”
He continued, “I played it with more force than skill. So I struggled with flipping the ddakji. It just wouldn’t flip. Gong Yoo seemed 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 being the one getting hit. There’s more pressure on the one doing the hitting. Even before we started filming, Gong Yoo was saying things like, ‘I’ll just graze you a bit.’ I said that probably wouldn’t work. I told him he had to really slap me to satisfy the director. And as expected, the director wasn’t satisfied until I was actually hit. I got hit quite a lot during that scene.“
He further explained, “The director asked me to try and express joy like how a famous soccer player would after scoring a comeback goal in a crucial game. 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 used by the public to film. So, we had to shoot according to the normal operation schedule. Gong Yoo was told to ride the train, get off at the next station, and then take the train back. Then he’d come back down, wait for the subway again, stand at the same spot, shoot the scene again, go back, take the train again, come back down, and shoot the scene again. I remember him doing that multiple times.”
Lee Jung-jae added, “There was a lot of speculation about whether the Recruiter would or would not appear in Season 2. Honestly, until I got the script, I was also wondering the same thing. Then I saw how he was portrayed in the script. I thought, ‘Wow, he’s quite the weirdo.’ So I think viewers will find him interesting this time too.”
Meanwhile, “Squid Game Season 2” will be released on Netflix on December 26th.
Source: Daum
