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Director Steven Spielberg draws mixed reactions to comments about ‘Squid Game’
The director recently spoke about ‘Squid Game’ on a PGA Awards panel.
Recently, ‘West Side Story’ director Steven Spielberg spoke on a PGA Awards panel, where he praised last year’s hit series, ‘Squid Game’, sharing that the show’s success made it easier for projects to cast unknown actors and still attain massive success. The director shared, “A long time ago, it was domestic stars that brought the audience into movies,” continuing, “today, it’s interesting, unknown people [who] can star in entire miniseries, can be in movies.”
Steven Spielberg shared, “‘Squid Game’ comes along and changes the math entirely for all of us,” thanking Netflix’s co-CEO and Chief Content Officer, Ted Sarandos, in the same breath. The director also shared about the series reaching massive heights without any American stars, and hoped that this would open the doors for filmmakers to be freer with their casting choices in the future.
However, the director’s choice of words drew mixed reactions, with some netizens believing Steven Spielberg’s comments to be condescending and belittling. As ‘Squid Game’ star Lee Jung Jae is a veteran actor and a prominent figure, with a successful career spanning decades, and fellow star Jung Ho Yeon was already an established model, the director’s remarks drew comments like “Unknown? They’re stars in Korea. Not everything is about American actors.”
Unknown? They're stars in Korea. Not everything is about American actors
Meanwhile, some netizens believed the director’s words to have been misinterpreted, being of the opinion that Steven Spielberg meant actors who are unknown to western audiences.
Upon its release, ‘Squid Game’ became Netflix’s most-watched series, with over 1.2 billion viewing hours clocked in its first month. Following this, Netflix exponentially increased its investment in original content from South Korea.
