Why do Squid Game VIPs play so weirdly? #shorts
304Squid Game is far from being a comedy. Yet, since its debut in 2021, one element in particular has amused fans: the VIPs' bizarre acting, which has become a viral joke on social media. These totally unhealthy characters have even been compared to Elon Musk by the series' creator, Hwang Dong-hyuk.
While Season 3 is currently a hit on Netflix since its release on June 27, 2025, the debate surrounding the dialogue of these evil antagonists has resurfaced. This gave Bryan Bucco, one of the actors behind the masks, the opportunity to step in to set the record straight and finally offer us some answers on the subject.
On June 30, 2025, Bryan Bucco, who is behind the eagle mask, responded to a parody video—it criticized the disastrous acting of the VIPs in the Korean drama. He then revealed that in the original version, the English-speaking actors were actually dubbed... into English.
So, it's not his voice that we hear in the sequences featuring these capitalist voyeurs, as he explained in the commentary. However, he believes that the Korean version shouldn't have additional dubbing: "If there is, it's probably because certain specific lines of dialogue were re-recorded for greater clarity."
The problem is that the dubbing clearly lacks finesse and is rather ridiculous, as if the actors couldn't perform well. The dialogue, however, isn't particularly convincing either. For Bryan Bucco, some voices seem "more altered than others," but overall, "it sounds like they used the voices of voice actors to try to sound like us. I don't even want to disparage my voice actor because I think he did what he could." I'm sure it wasn't easy for him to recite those lines either."
The actor admitted that he and the other VIP actors spent a lot of time mulling over the script: "Every night, we sat together reading the lines, wondering if they really needed to be said."
He also acknowledges that the narrative around the VIPs could have been even more in-depth or better written, regretting that these characters were generally "useless." Despite everything, he remains quite satisfied to have been able to participate in Squid Game, on his own level.
He describes it as a "great experience": "Everyone was very nice, from the cast to the crew. Our scenes were always the last to be performed. This meant that no other main actors were there, except for the front man. We only shot for three days, but it was a nice break from studying and working."