Lee Jung-jae’s Star Turn In ‘Squid Game’ Has Opened Doors In Hollywood — Deadline Disruptors

Jazz Tangcay Artisans EditorNetflix’s “Squid Game” featured sets such as the M.C. Escher- like staircase and a tug-of-war area, as characters on a remote island compete in deadly versions of childhood games.Production designer Chae Kyoung-sun built killer sets on a large scale for the 456 contestants as they battle it out to be the last man standing, all for a cash prize.Its most iconic set is right at the beginning, as the contestants play Red Light, Green Light.“I wanted to fill the set for the first game with fantasy and fairy- tale-like images,” Chae says.

Lee Collinson is ready for stardom, something the British singer demonstrated when he took to the stage of “America’s Got Talent” in the May 31 season premiere.

Joe Weinstock, Co-President of Brent Montgomery’s Wheelhouse Entertainment label Spoke Studios, has exited to launch a JV with The Masked Singer UK and Netflix’s Hard Cell super-indie Argonon.

Jay Park, Lee Hi and Jessi are among the South Korean musicians to be confirmed for MIK Festival 2022, which will take place in London later this year.MIK Festival 2022 recently announced its line-up for the second day of the festival, which it has dubbed its “hip-hop day” on July 31. Set to take place at Southwark Park, the festival’s second date will feature Korean-American singer-rappers Jay Park and Jessi, along with singer-songwriters Lee Hi and GRAY.Also new to the line-up are hip-hop trio Epik High, and rappers pH-1, Loco and Dok2.

Clayton Davis We shouldn’t only celebrate AAPI representation in May, as the artistic contributions of our global talents have produced some of the best television and film productions in the last decade. However, as we come to the close of the annual celebration, it’s worth noting the multiple acting contenders that are in the running for Primetime Emmy nominations.Netflix’s “Squid Game” rocked the streaming world, becoming the most-watched series in the platform’s history.

After being told that his story was too grotesque and unrealistic, Hwang Dong-hyuk set aside his script for Squid Game for 10 years. When Netflix came looking for overseas content, Hwang took his shot and gave it a drama that quickly became the most-watched series in the streaming service’s history.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeThose “specific people” showed up at the Variety offices in costume as the mysterious guards (aka “pink soldiers”) from “Squid Game,” complete with iconic circle/triangle/square masks. They came bearing an invitation to Netflix’s FYSee Emmy events space at Raleigh Studios, along with a box of donuts.The brutal South Korean drama about class, power, wealth and kiddie games clearly remains an awards priority for the streamer — particularly after this year’s SAG Awards garnered wins including male actor (Lee Jung-Jae) and female actor (Jung Ho-yeon).

When the Cannes Film Festival lineup was announced on April 14, Twitter positively exploded with excitement over the news that Lee Ji-eun would make her Riviera debut with Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Broker in Competition. The Korean actress, singer and songwriter—popularly known as IU—has a legion of fans, including 26 million followers on Instagram, and has been described as a national treasure at home. She may now be well poised for crossover success with her first commercial film.

Warning: This story contains spoilers for season 1 of Squid Game.

CANNES, France -- Lee Jung-jae, the award-winning star of Netflix's “Squid Game,” spent years developing the 1980s-set Korean spy thriller “Hunt” before electing to direct himself. He did it a little reluctantly, without big plans to continue filmmaking. But Lee did have a vision for what it could be — and where it could premiere.“Before deciding to direct, I thought I just wanted to make a very fun film,” Lee says.

pic.twitter.com/3F4uIUX2dFGray’s tone at the press conference turned a bit more serious as he discussed the state of cinema and Hollywood and its reliance on turning everything into a franchise. “The whole point should be to inspire creativity. Instead, what we say is, ‘That’s good franchise.’ We used to think of franchises as McDonald’s and Burger King.

Although a star for nearly 30 years in South Korean films, Lee Jung-Jae recently rocketed to international fame on a whole other level as the star of the television phenomenon, The Squid Game. All of that spotlight will add to interest in Hunt, which he not only stars, produces, co-wrote (with Jo Seung-Hee), but makes his feature film directorial debut, one that just had its World Premiere in the Midnight section of the Cannes Film Festival.

EXCLUSIVE: Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk is in early stage development on a satire about the creation of Netflix’s Squid Game, which became a global hit overnight, provisionally titled The Best Show on the Planet. 

First, there was Parasite, shaking up the global film sector and snatching Oscar glory. Then, there was Squid Game.

Audrey Diwan’s planned English language directing debut, the erotic tale Emmanuelle starring Lea Seydoux, has buyers buzzing as much as any Cannes Market package being shopped this week on the Croisette. But her last film Happening (which didn’t make the cut as France’s choice for Best Foreign Language Film, though many felt it would have won) might have the most lasting impact. The film is just released in the U.S. smack in the middle of revelations that the Supreme Court plans to overturn Roe V Wade.

While Netflix is canceling a bunch of projects to curb overspending, there are some originals that keep chugging along thanks to their massive popularity. One of those shows is “Squid Game” which became the most talked-about genre series of 2021 and helped cement that foreign-made originals can compete with western genre stories like “Stranger Things.” The massive hit that hails from South Korea is indeed getting a second season but don’t expect them to rush it.

Lee Jung-jae, who made history with his work on “Squid Game,” is now making his directorial debut with the spy movie “Hunt,” which is premiering at Cannes.Although he’s the first Asian to win the Critics Choice and Screen Actors Guild Awards for lead actor drama in Netflix’s dystopian drama, and likely will continue that history as the first to be nominated for an Emmy for a non-English speaking role, he hopes it won’t always be like this.“I hope later on we don’t need to put any boundaries like Asian men and non-Asian men,” he tells Variety. “I hope this boundary just doesn’t need to exist going forward.”While making “Hunt,” Lee described how he used persuasion versus control while working with actors. “Instead of control, I’d say we had a lot of conversations with the actors.

“Squid Game” director Hwang Dong-hyuk says there might have been a different ending to season 1 had the characters just learned to work together.