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16. The flower bud of language!
This work that has been receiving so much attention day after day now only had to be filmed, and before filming the drama, the cast had to be selected first before filming could begin. Fortunately, Writer Kim and PD Song had been working together on making dramas for a long time, so selecting the female lead and other domestic cast members was not difficult. However, the male lead had to be a foreigner, and considering the story of the script, the first thing to do was to select someone from a Southeast Asian country that was showing great interest in Korean, and then someone from a country that had a language but no written language, and finally, there was one more criterion that Writer Kim, who wrote the work, suggested. In order to influence people and make them feel like they could do that, a new actor had to be better than an existing actor to create that kind of atmosphere, and they had to be able to adapt to Korean and Korean culture. There was a limitation that we had to find someone who met all four conditions.
Fortunately, the first and second conditions were conditions that could be found if we looked into them, but the problem was that the third and fourth conditions were difficult. Because the existing actors in question have already been verified through various works, there would be no difficulty in selecting them, but the problem was how to find a new actor among the people from the countries that met the two conditions, and finding an actor who could speak Korean was not an easy task. So we concluded that the safest and best way would be to first select the target countries that met the two conditions and ask for cooperation and consultation with the directors of those countries. However, the problem was that we did not know how long it would take to find the male protagonist by going through such procedures. So we came to the conclusion that it would be faster to search domestically rather than overseas. In that case, we gathered opinions that it would be easier to find someone among the students currently studying abroad in Korea, so we decided to contact the Korean language schools and Korean language departments of each university and inquire at each university. Meanwhile, I had high expectations for the drama production and was curious about how the drama production was going, so I called writer Kim for the first time in a long time and asked how he had been doing and if there had been any progress in filming the drama. Then, unexpectedly, Writer Kim’s answer flowed out completely unexpectedly. According to Writer Kim, all the other actors have been selected, but since there is no suitable male actor, not only is time being delayed, but there is no possibility of being selected soon, so things are at a standstill. So I asked him what criteria he is looking for and why he is having such a hard time finding someone, and he suggested the four conditions mentioned above. After hearing that, it seemed like it would not be easy even for me. Then, I suddenly thought of Sam. Then I slapped my knee. Yes, he is a little older, but Sam is so young, so he is so outgoing, and since he has been on stage for various events at church since he was young, he seemed like he would do well. He also speaks Korean well, and since he studied abroad in Korea, he knows a lot about Korea, so he seemed like the most suitable person in many ways. Furthermore, if the drama goes well and he becomes famous overnight, I thought he could be a great help in returning to his home country and re-entering politics and leading the way. So, in a way, I thought this could be a good opportunity. So I asked Writer Kim if he wanted to meet me once because he had a good candidate. He said that since there was no other option right now, he had to meet anyone who seemed like a possibility, and asked me to meet him quickly. So I immediately gave him some information about him and suggested that I go and look at his qualifications. Writer Kim thought it would be good after hearing my opinion, so I secretly visited the graduate school where he was studying and observed him from afar. When I did, I found out that the teacher had just finished writing his doctoral thesis and was just waiting for the final review results. So I secretly met the professor in charge and told him why I had come, and asked him questions about various aspects to get to know him better. Fortunately, while I was looking at him, he seemed like a good image to Writer Kim, and I found out from the professor in charge that he would be a good addition to the drama in many ways. Then he finally asked to meet the teacher, told him everything that had happened so far, and asked him to participate as the male lead in this drama. The teacher said that at first, he strongly rejected it, saying that it was ridiculous. So he said that he gave him the script, telling him to watch the work and think about it. According to writer Kim, the teacher was so surprised and opposed it because he thought that if a person who was studying and a political science PhD who was planning to go into politics appeared in a drama, it would be seen as light, and as a result, it would be a disadvantage for him to go into politics in the future, so he couldn't do it. So I told writer Kim that I would talk to the teacher once, and after hanging up, I called him right away. Then I asked if anything special had happened recently, and the teacher said that he was shocked and that a writer had made an outrageous offer to him to be the male lead in a drama. So I told the teacher. As Sam thought, it could be a huge negative factor for the identity he wanted to pursue, but on the contrary, it could be a positive factor, and considering the current situation, it could be the latter. After listening for a while, the teacher asked if he really thought that way. In my opinion, there are people who think negatively about such an image, but I said that it could be more helpful if viewed positively. Then the teacher finally said that he would pray and think about it. Then he called his wife, Nana. Nana said that both have advantages and disadvantages, but as I said, in the current concept, it could be more advantageous for young people. Then the teacher, who was thinking about all these aspects, thought about what Nana and I had said and decided to appear. Then he called writer Kim and told her that he would appear. Writer Kim heard that story and said that he was so grateful, and he called me right away and said that he was very happy that the teacher had decided to appear. When I heard that, I also sighed in relief.
And when the drama production announcement was finally made and the cast was revealed, the media focused on it from that point on. First of all, the male lead was not a current actor but a rookie actor, and furthermore, he was a graduate student studying abroad in Korea and was about to get a PhD in political science, and he was not young but of a certain age, so there were various reactions from people and the media, such as some opposing the choice of the actor and others saying that it was a bad choice, and others approving that the drama was promising, so the camera flashes were focused on it even before filming began. After that, the filming was carried out in utmost secrecy, and all the cast and staff were ordered to keep quiet about the drama's story or filming content. That was a strategy to maximize the media and people's attention even more.
From July 2019 to the end of February 2020, after 8 months of drama filming, the three major broadcasting companies announced that the drama would be aired on March 1st. As a climax, a press conference was held on February 28th with the cast. This was to promote the drama once again through the cast. First of all, the drama had to be a hit in Korea before it could be a hit overseas, so they wanted to promote it as much as possible. And as part of that, even at the press conference, while they promoted it on a grand scale, no one talked about the actual drama itself in detail, and only talked about episodes that happened while filming it. This only increased people's curiosity about the drama, and no script or filming content was revealed, making people who were interested and expecting even more curious about what the content would be like and how the story would progress.
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