Kwak Yeon-soo is a digital editor at The Korea Times creating, editing and curating digital content for the newspaper’s website, mobile app and social media. She previously covered a diverse array of cultural, political and business topics.
Actor denies allegations of wrongful behavior on set
Actor Lee Ji-hoon / Courtesy of G-Tree Creative
By Kwak Yeon-soo
Bumpy road ahead for IHQ's new drama, 'Sponsor,' as lead actor, some staff mired in dispute
By Kwak Yeon-soo
IHQ's upcoming series, “Sponsor,” has been mired in a controversy over allegations of wrongful behavior by actor Lee Ji-hoon during production just weeks before the drama's premiere on Nov. 29.
Lee, who is about to play his first lead role in the drama, has been at odds with some staff over a recent reshuffle.
The actor has denied the allegations that he influenced the production house to replace several staff, including the screenwriter, with new ones.
In a statement uploaded on his Instagram account, he denied allegations that he had committed “gapjil,” claiming he's not influential enough to replace the staff. “Gapjil” is a Korean word referring to the abuse of power by people in authority against those they outrank.
In response to the rumors, Lee wrote, “I am shocked and my heart is broken. I don't have enough guts to exercise any sort of power to remove or appoint anyone.”
The allegations surrounding the actor were made on Nov. 3 after one of the series' staff claimed that Lee always showed up late and brought his friend to the set, who later got into a fight with a floor director.
Lee explained that he had been late because there had been some miscommunication, and his friend had visited the set to give him a present for his birthday. He apologized on behalf of the friend for causing trouble. However, he denied that there was any physical fight involved and said that he had tried to get his friend to reconcile with the floor director.
“I know I've done some things wrong and I accept the blame for it, but I only want to be blamed for the things I actually did wrong,” he added.
His statement, however, has not silenced the accusers.
Screenwriter Park Gye-hyung claimed that he and a few other staff members had been fired after Lee complained about his screen time.
The poster for the IHQ drama, “Sponsor” / Courtesy of Victory Contents
The production company, Victory Contents, however, denied the allegations and defended Lee.
On Monday, Victory Contents disclosed text messages that were exchanged between the head of production and the writer to support their claim.
“It was in May when the production team first requested that Park adjust the script. At that time, Lee hadn't even seen the script yet,” it said.
The company went on to say that the producer, director and writer met in July to discuss changing the script. The adjustments still hadn't been made by then.
The company also disclosed Lee's text messages with director Kwak Ki-won about his character's weak presence in the first half of the series and his concerns about the plot.
“Last time when we met, you (as the director) told me that Sun-woo (Lee's character) would be more visible from the fifth episode and that Seung-hoon (the second lead) would die in the sixth or seventh episode. I have faith that you will bring Sun-woo to life as the lead character. I fear that the story might become a makjang (a Korean term for a soap opera-style K-drama with extreme and absurd elements in its plot). But I trust you well,” Lee wrote.
Park, the program's screenwriter, left the project in August because he had ignored the company's request to adjust the script. Meanwhile, director Kwak left the project in September due to a disagreement regarding the color correction of the series.
“When I got the script, it was different from the synopsis. I had five scenes in episode 5 and six scenes in episode 6. Thinking that each episode has about 50 scenes and that the drama consisted of 12 episodes, I was a bit anxious, and so I contacted the director. ,” Lee wrote on Instagram, Monday.
“Three weeks before the filming began, they suggested that I play Seung-hoon instead of Sun-woo. I was too flabbergasted to speak. Is this me power-tripping against them? They were the ones who fooled me,” he added.
“Lee has no connection to the production staff being replaced. Park and the producer had been discussing the script changes since the very beginning, and that is considered normal for discussing changes to the script. Park left due to the issues with the color correction issue which had nothing to do with the actor.”