Creating Excessive Content Takes Its Toll on Creators

Published: November 14, 2024

Creating Excessive Content Takes Its Toll on Creators

By Movieguide® Contributor

The creator of SQUID GAME revealed the negative toll that filming the first season took on him, an experience shared by many actors who work on shows and movies with excessive content.

The stress of creating SQUID GAME cost creator and lead actor Hwang Dong-Hyuk eight or nine teeth, according to a new interview with the BBC. Despite the toll on his body, Dong-Hyuk took on a second season, something that could cause even more harm to his well-being.

“The stress I feel now is much greater,” he told the BBC, adding that the only reason he is creating a second season is for money. “Even though the first series was such a huge global success, honestly I didn’t make much. So doing the second series will help compensate me for the success of the first one too.”

Dong-Hyuk’s experience of working on a show with excessive content is quite common. Several actors from GAME OF THRONES (GOT), for example, have shared the mental distress they experienced as a result of being on the show.

Actor Kit Harrington, who played Jon Snow on GOT, had to check himself into rehab following the conclusion of the show to recover from the experience.

“I went through some mental health difficulties after THRONES, and during the end of THRONES, to be honest,” Harington told Cagle on SiriusXM’s The Jess Cagle Show. “I think it was directly due to the nature of the show and what I had been doing for years.”

Meanwhile, Sophia Turner, who joined GOT when she was 14 years old, took action so she wouldn’t be traumatized. Even still, she believes her time on the show changed her.

“I’m sure I’ll exhibit some symptoms of trauma down the road. At that age, I don’t think I could comprehend a lot of the scene matter. And the first few years, I had my mom with me because she was chaperoning me, so she would be very helpful and give me snacks,” Turner said.

“And it’s just something that growing up on a show like GAME OF THRONES, the subject matter was so heavy that I just developed a coping mechanism of just having the most fun in between takes, so I wouldn’t get traumatized,” she added.

Despite the toll this type of content takes on actors, audiences don’t want excessive content. The box office, for example, has been dominated in recent years by uplifting, family-friendly content that actors enjoy creating.