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Man, K-actor Lee Ji Hoon seemed to have finally gotten his first big break. After the last few years in steady second male lead territory, with River Where the Moon Rises he really shined in his role sometimes even eclipsing the performance of either of the two male leads. He got his first male lead role thereafter in MBN drama Sponsor opposite Han Chae Young and all seemed fine until a few months ago when a production member claimed that Lee Ji Hoon brought a gangster-seeming friend to the set with implied threats. Lee Ji Hoon’s side said it was all a misunderstanding and apologized. But last month eagled eyed netizens noticed that the official MBN drama page for Sponsor suddenly showed second male lead Koo Sa Jung‘s face next to Han Chae Young where previously it was Lee Ji Hoon there. It appeared that Lee Ji Hoon was being demoted quietly as the male lead, not sure if the script had been tweaked to make it happen or simply being done on the promo level. That coupled with the news that Lee Ji Hoon will not attend the Sponsor press conference definitely makes this behind-the-scenes brouhaha seem more likely.
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Wasn’t this the same drama where the writer claimed something against him (I don’t remember what) and later she apologised publicly and said it was a misunderstanding…
Yes, she said he complained about his screentime and got her fired but the production released text messages between the writer and PD and PD and LJH that showed it was the higher ups that were requesting changes to the script and screentime and the writer was eventually fired because she didn’t make them. From the texts, it seemed like LJH wasn’t being written as the lead from the start, so I’m not surprised by the demotion after the brouhaha. I went back and read the production statement and LJH was supposed to be the lead but had less than 10 scenes for the first five episodes. LJH is bearing the brunt of what sounds like a very troubled production.
Thanks, I couldn’t find that article but now I remember. It really is unfair and they’re wasting a great talent.
Odd, the article is about Lee Ji Hoon. How come the thumbnail pic is from Pachinko?
This drama production is so weird. He casted as 1st lead, and seems like his character will die in the middle of the drama. It’s his first drama as a lead, no?