Amidst reports on why actor Lee Jong Suk isn’t cast by Netflix for original K-Dramas, a staff member’s story about his “poor” personality has resurfaced.
In 2018, Lee Jong Suk and actress Kim Ji Won were reported to star in the new Netflix series called See You Again.
Reports came out that Lee Jong Suk had said he wasn’t showing up to the reading the evening before, but his company hit back at claims, saying no contract had been signed. While Netflix said, “things just did not work out,” the show was canceled. It led to speculations that Lee Jong Suk “Might have difficulty appearing on Netflix for the time being.”
It has been six years since the news, and reports have pointed out that Lee Jong Suk has yet to star in an original Netflix show like many K-Drama stars have done and achieved huge success in.
One source has said that OTT platform shows are not guaranteed to succeed, and like other platforms, Netflix has been underperforming, trying to back up why it would be normal to be cautious when choosing a project, especially with the actor’s success and popularity. Another source explained, “Lee Jong Suk tends to deliberate a lot before signing the final contract,” adding that “From the perspective of producers and broadcasters, it is inevitable that they will be anxious.”
Amid the news and discussion about Lee Jong Suk not having Netflix shows, with many thinking it was due to the cancellation, a new anecdote from staff of the canceled show became a hot topic online.
In the detailed post, the staff explained what happened when Jong Suk’s decision meant they “lost their job overnight.” The OP explained that the decision wasn’t the first time they had heard negative stories about the actor’s work ethic and decision-making when taking roles, adding that he had allegedly demanded huge amounts of money for the role in See You Again.
“I was a staff for the Netflix show See You Again. It’s so unfair how I lost my job overnight, so I’d like to rant here for a bit. The script reading for See You Again was yesterday, Saturday, at Sangam Dong, at 3 PM. But this morning, I got a call letting me know that the show has been canceled. I had no idea what that meant… Like, I’ve been on at least four K-Dramas as crew, and this was the first time a show was canceled on the day of the script reading. I was so confused that I started calling around… and wow, I was so baffled.
Apparently, Lee Jong Suk backed out of the script reading the day before, and it got canceled. I’d already heard some negative things about Lee Jong Suk within the industry. I heard he sat on making a decision on Come and Hug Me as well as The Witch: Part 1 – The Subversion for a really long time, making it hard for everyone involved. He demanded an unfathomable amount of money for See You Again, too (an amount that shocked me, for sure, but I won’t reveal it because it’s not for certain, and I don’t want to get into trouble). When I heard about the money, I was like, ‘Oh, wow. He’s going to be rich after this.’ But then he backed out of it the night before the first script reading… The show was scheduled to shoot starting on Monday. The scripts had all been printed… Note that everyone on the cast lineup shows up to the first script reading. Not just the leads.
So everyone made time for the Saturday reading, and then they were notified not to come on the morning of… How does this make sense? I’m sure he will say nothing was signed, so he’s not responsible. But it’s not like Netflix or the production companies are stupid. They wouldn’t have spent all that money preparing for the script reading had they not been somewhat sure that he would do it. If he didn’t want to take on the show, he should’ve said so long ago… To say so on the night before the reading? Really? I mean, I heard that celebrities don’t give a f*ck about other people once they’re famous enough. I guess he thinks he’s popular enough to totally disregard the other senior cast members who made time and memorized the script for the reading.
Where are his manners? I’ve lost work overnight. I went out to drink with some other people who were supposed to work on the show with me. We couldn’t understand how Lee Jong Suk could single-handedly ruin it for everyone else who was on standby to make the show happen… This is so unfair.”
— Alleged staff member
While the post is old, it has become a hot topic due to the rise in Netflix shows and the fact that top actor Lee Jong Suk hasn’t been cast in an original K-Drama from the platform.
Source: Instiz
