The best feedback Hwang Dong-hyuk received when he first pitched “Squid Game” in 2009 was someone asking him how he could possibly have come up with something so absurd. “That was the most positive response I got,” he told a packed house Sunday at the Xiqu Centre, Hong Kong, where he opened the Asian Film Awards‘ day of masterclasses.
Hwang traced the origins of the series to a period of acute personal hardship. His first feature had failed commercially, a second project had fallen apart before production, and he was selling household furniture to cover living expenses. He spent much of his time in manga cafes, reading survival game
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