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"On Air" Looks Into Making of Dramas

By Kwon Mee-yoo
Staff Reporter

Some 20 dramas are aired every week. There are daily dramas, morning dramas, weekend dramas… and Wednesday-Thursday dramas. In this "kingdom" of drama, "On Air", portrays how Korean soaps are made.

"On Air" is directed by Sin Woo-cheol and written by Kim Eun-sook, the creators of hit dramas "Lovers in Paris" (2004), "Lovers in Prague" (2005) and "Lovers" (2006). They teamed up again to give an exclusive behind-the-scenes view of Korean dramas.

"This is a drama about the people who create these dramas. Nowadays, Korean dramas are not only aired in Korea but in other countries as well. I wanted to write a drama about the processes and behind-the-scenes stories with a dramatic and exaggerative touch", said Kim at a press conference last week at SBS.

Kim Ha-neul plays an arrogant topnotch actress named O Seung-a. Recently starring in the movie "Lovers of 6 Years", Kim said "it was not easy to play an `actress' character, but I found Seung-a very attractive. For example, I myself cannot appeal to the broadcasting station by refusing a Drama Award, but Seung-a can. I can empathize".

In addition to the haughty actress, Kim plays a 25-year-old woman whose mental age is only seven in the drama-within-a-drama "Ticket to the Moon".

Lee Beom-soo plays Jang Gi-jun, O's agent. Famous for starring in movies like "The Forbidden Quest" (2006) and "Short Time" (2005), Lee's first appearance in the TV drama "Surgeon Bong Dal-hee" as a bawling doctor last year was a big hit.
"By playing this agent character, I now have an objective and better view of my managers", said Lee.

Song Yoon-ah portrays a mean TV scriptwriter with a Midas touch, Seo Yeong-eun. She appeared in the movie "Lost in Love" (2006) with Sol Kyung-gu.

Song said "Seo is the other side of writer Kim. I haven't thought about the difficulties of writers before, but now, I feel it like my own".

Meanwhile, Park Yong-ha plays drama producer/director Lee Gyeong-min, who works with all of the characters above. Park is a hallyu star who starred in the hit drama "Winter Sonata" (2002). He has been active as a singer in Japan and this is his first appearance in a Korean drama in five years.

"I try to override my fragile image from previous characters", said Park. He also said that he might release an album as a singer in Korea as well.

The drama is also known for many cameo appearances. The list of cameos includes queen of Cannes Jeon Do-yeon, K-pop diva Lee Hyo-ri, Kang Hae-jung of the movie "Herb" (2007), Uhm Ji-won of "Scout" (2007), Kim Min-jun, who starred in Sin and Kim's 2005 drama "Lovers in Prague", and K-pop group FT Island.

These actresses mostly appear as top stars like themselves. Song, who managed to bring most of these actresses to the TV screen, said "It was not easy to ask them to guest star because it might misrepresent them despite the satirical nature of the drama".

The drama will start airing to high expectations at 9:55 p.m., Wednesday, March 5 ― on SBS.

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