News Analysis India

Tag: Umberto Eco

  • ‘Squid Game’ director Hwang Dong-hyuk sets ‘Killing Old People Club’ as his next film

    By PTI

    LOS ANGELES: Director Hwang Dong-hyuk, who shot to global fame with hit Korean language series “Squid Game”, says he is working on a feature film project “Killing Old People Club”.

    The new movie, whose working title is “KO Club”, is inspired by a novel penned by Umberto Eco, the late Italian author and philosopher.

    Hwang was speaking during a session at MipTV Cannes trade fair along with his producer Jun-Young Jang at February Films, reported Variety.

    The director, also known for Korean films like “Silenced” and “Miss Granny”, teased the forthcoming film will be “more violent” than “Squid Game”.

    The survival drama “Squid Game”, which was released in September 2021 on Netflix, revolves around hundreds of cash-strapped contestants who accept an invitation to compete in a series of Korean children’s games for a tempting prize, but the stakes are deadly.

    Also created by Hwang, the show saw a group of masked staff in pink jumpsuits arrive and explain tasks to the players in green tracksuits who would be given 45.6 billion won (USD 38.3 million) in prize money if they can win six games over six days.

    The director has now shared that he has already penned a 25-page treatment about the project which is bound to be “another controversial” project, he added. “It will be more violent than ‘Squid Game’,” teased Hwang, adding that he might have to hide from old people after the film comes out.

    The director further said he will now return to native South Korea to write the second season of “Squid Game” and hopes to have the show stream by the end of 2024.

    According to Netflix, the runaway success of the first season made the show the streamer’s “biggest series launch” with 111 million views since its debut last September.

    “Squid Game” has also received numerous accolades, including the Golden Globe Award for best supporting actor — series, miniseries or television film for O Yeong-su and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award for outstanding performance by a male actor in a drama series and outstanding performance by a female actor in a drama series for Lee Jung-jae and HoYeon Jung, respectively, with all three making history as the first Korean actors to win in those categories.

    At the SAG Awards, the show also bagged the trophy in the outstanding performance by a stunt ensemble in a television series category.

  • ‘Squid Game’ director working on film ‘more violent’ than global hit series

    By IANS

    LOS ANGELES: ‘Squid Game’ director Hwang Dong-hyuk has announced that he’s developing ‘Killing Old People Club’, a new film inspired by a novel penned by Umberto Eco, the revered Italian intellectual and essayist, reports ‘Variety’.Speaking during a session at MipTV along with his producer Jun Young Jang at February Films, Dong-hyuk revealed he had already penned a 25-page treatment note about the project, which will surely be “another controversial film”, as he put it.”It will be more violent than ‘Squid Game’,” teased Dong-hyuk, adding that he might have to hide from old people after the film comes out. The project has the working title ‘K.O. Club’, according to ‘Variety’.The critically acclaimed creator said he will now return home to South Korea to write the second season of ‘Squid Game’ and hopes to have the show stream on Netflix by the end of 2024.Dong-hyuk said the biggest praise he got about his superhit Netflix show came from Steven Spielberg, who told him he wanted to “steal (his) brain”.Dong-hyuk said he had met Spielberg during the AFI Awards Luncheon last month. “Steven Spielberg told me, ‘I watched your whole show in three days and now I want to steal your brain!,” the Korean director recounted, according to ‘Variety’.”It was like the biggest compliment I ever got in my life because he’s my film hero. I grew up watching his movies.”