"Squid Game" Star Heo Sung Tae Talks About Which Scene Was Scariest To Film, Reuniting With Lee Jung Jae In New Movie, And More

Oct 31, 2021

Heo Sung Tae dished on his hit series “Squid Game” and more on the latest episode of “My Little Old Boy”!

During the October 31 broadcast of the popular SBS variety show, the “Squid Game” star made a guest appearance as a special MC. After seeing him in person, the celebrity moms cracked up the actor by observing that he looked “less scary” than they had expected based on his performance as the villainous Deok Su in “Squid Game.”

Host Shin Dong Yup asked if he could feel the massive change in his popularity since the release of “Squid Game,” and Heo Sung Tae responded, “Nothing has changed in my everyday life, since I only go back and forth between my home and the filming set. The biggest change is that my Instagram follower count has risen an unbelievable amount.” The show went on to reveal that he had gone from 10,000 followers to over 2.2 million in just one month.

When asked if he would consider joining a real-life “Squid Game” in a hypothetical situation where he had tons of debt and nothing left to live for, Heo Sung Tae replied, “I don’t think I’d be able to. I’d rather just spend the rest of my life paying off the debt. I think I’d be too scared to face death.”

After starring alongside Lee Jung Jae in “Squid Game,” Heo Sung Tae is reuniting with his co-star as actor-director for the upcoming film “Hunt,” which will mark Lee Jung Jae’s directorial debut. When asked if it felt different working with Lee Jung Jae this time around, Heo Sung Tae shared that they joked around more now that they had gotten closer.

“[During ‘Squid Game’], we mainly just talked so that we could act more comfortably,” he explained. “But now, we even greet each other differently. When I arrive on set, director Lee Jung Jae [jokingly bows] and says, ‘Oh, our global star has arrived!'”

Referencing the way his character addressed Lee Jung Jae’s in “Squid Game,” Heo Sung Tae went on, “Then I’ll [bow back] and say, ‘Ssangmun-dong, why are you being like this?’ We joke around like that. I think we’re getting even closer [as we work on ‘Hunt’].”

Heo Sung Tae also went on to reveal which scene in “Squid Game” was the hardest for him to film.

“I have a really severe fear of heights,” shared the actor. “It’s to the extent where I even have to stay in the middle when I walk on an overpass. So the [glass bridge scene] was really hard for me.”

“[The character of] Deok Su shouldn’t be scared,” he continued, “so I needed to pretend like I wasn’t terrified. But on the inside, I was trembling. Before the cameras started rolling, I’d [hold onto something and quiver in fear]. I’d only act when the cameras were rolling, and then as soon as they yelled ‘Cut,’ I’d go back to [holding onto something and shaking].”

When asked if they had really been that high up for filming, Heo Sung Tae revealed, “One take was filmed really high up, though there were safety measures in place. The rest of the takes were filmed about [3 meters (approximately 10 feet)] above the ground. But even that was scary. That was the scariest scene for me.”