WINTER SONATA

[prettywu]

BYJ, Choi Jiwoo, giving rise to a sand wind of popularity in Middle East
[Nocut News] 8/11/04 14:34:30

(Information report by broadcasing-entertainment team at Nocut News)⊙ "Fall Fables" "WLS" Korean Current hot wind will blow also in the Middle Eastern region.

◈…Entire content of data for reporting from Promotional Service for the Governmental Affairs: The project of the broadcasting Korean dramas in the Middle Eastern region as pushed forward by the Promotional Service for the Goernmental Affairs at the time of dispatching additional troops to Iraq has finally bore fruit.

Egyptian National broadcasting station ERTU(Egyptian Radio & TV Union), the largest broadcasting company in the Middle Eastern region, wil air the 18 episodes of KBS popular drama "Fall Fables" starting at the golden time of 9:10 PM on every day (except for Fridays) for 1 hour for 3 weeks beginning on August 14 on its CH2.

"WLS" is also scheduled to be aired all 20 episodes one a day as the follow up work after the 'Fall Fables" is finished airing.

As the ERTU is the largest broadcasting station in the Middle Eastern region and its viewing region reaches to the entire area of the Middle East including Iraq as well as Egypt of course, upcoming broadcasing of the drama seems to spread the friendly image on Korea to the Middle East region and furthermore it could become a good momentum for our country's broadcasting programs to advance to the Middle Eastern region.

The ERTU has been airing the drama highlights offered by the Promotional Service for the Goernmental Affairs in cooperation with the KBS on many occasions in order to catch the attention of the people there to the Korean dramas which wiil be aired for the first time in the Middle Eastern region.

The major newspapers including two largest influential newspapers in Egypt, Al-ahram & Al-Akhbar, has been introducing in large-scale on the main stories of those 2 dramas amd the photos of the main actors.

Promotional Service for the Goernmental Affairs has offered ERTU drama tape subtitled in Arabic separately produced following ERTU's decision to air them.

Although the ERTU originally scheduled to air this drama from early July, it had put it off due to the circumstance of the station itself.

Tnx to Joanna QUilt

[prettywu]

TRIVIA 1: JUN SANG is supposed to die due to illness.
DETAILS: The director wanted it so to make amends to SANG HYUK and make YU JIN to leave for Paris alone. But due to viewers’ protests online, he decided to let JUN SANG survive but is blind.

TRIVIA 2: All things worn and used by BYJ and CJW became hot items:
DETAILS:Hairstyle, ways to tie the scarves, Polaris necklace, car, BYJ’s sweaters, Gucci ring worn by BYJ on his pinky finger, BYJ’s Frank Muller watch, Samsung phones and BYJ’s green half-rimmed glasses.

TRIVIA 3:BYJ fainted on few occasions due to fatigue and lack of sleep.
DEATILS:However, he insisted on continuing even though he caught colds. He was so tired that he really slept in the hospital scenes. The supposedly weak CJW was well and didn’t even catch a cold! CJW even shared her blanket with BYJ (which she brought during shootings so that she'll not get cold) when he got sick.

TRIVIA 4:BYJ did not want to be the young Jun Sang.
DETAILS:He tried to lose 4kg and stopped exercising. He was so afraid that a muscular physique would make him look weird in uniform. After filming a scene, he would look nervously to watch the effect. He was impressed that the director managed to help him look so young.

TRIVIA 5:BYJ even broke his tradition of not reading the script beforehand as not to restrict himself in his acting.
DETAILS:He hates to place-read lines and wanted to act naturally.

TRIVIA 6:BYJ and CJW cared so much for each other.
DETAILS:She took care of his makeup while he was always there to cheer for her even though he wasn’t involved in the scenes. When she couldn’t get the right emotions, the director would ask where he was and asked others to bring him there. After filming the final scene, BYJ even offered his shoulder to let her sleep on. Many joked that they really looked like lovers even though she addressed him as “big brother” fondly.

TRIVIA 7: The last scene where BYJ was supposed to cry nearly drove him crazy because he couldn’t cry at all.
DETAILS: CJW had to accompany him to cry and he was very apologetic.

TRIVIA 8:There was supposed to be 2 more episodes of Winter Sonata.
DETAILS: But BYJ and CJW are too popular that if their job assignments were delayed, their managing company will lose out 4 billion won. Now BYJ’s price is coming to 13 billion so his company will not let him go. His fans who visit the filming spots when he was there got to enjoy the coffee that he bought for them.

TRIVIA 9:Many firsts for BYJ and CJW.
DETAILS: It’s the first time for BYJ to blow dry and dye his hair while it’s also the first for CJW to cut her hair short. BYJ likes white and his favorite car is the white Ford.

TRIVIA 10: BYJ and CJW were chosen as the best screen couple in many online contests.
DETAILS:When both were interviewed in a program, CJW said that if BYJ would be her first love, she'll not forget him for sure. He was so shy that his face turned red. It was rumored that they were a pair when they turned up in a lover’s attire at the celebration party after the filming ended.

TRIVIA 11: In KBS’ TV awards, BYJ won Best Actor and Most Popular Artist award while CJW won Best Actress.
DETAILS: In the said awards, the female host found a chance to make fun of him as he seldom appears in entertainment programs. She exclaimed how handsome he was and wanted to fulfill her wish – she asked him to look into her eyes and say he loves her. As the show was live and no cuts, BYJ was taken aback and was suddenly shy. He looked elsewhere and stammered in his speech. He smiled and said that he couldn’t look at her directly. When the host insisted, he finally finished saying it. It was so amusing to see that BYJ was so reserved and shy after acting so many times as a prince charming in many series.

credit goes to purplebutterfly of jiwoofriends.com

additional interesting facts on winter sonata:

--- About 300,000 copies of the OST were sold in Korea within a month. A pop group ‘Black hole’ accused the songwriter of copying their starting for ‘From the start to now’. Wonder how the case was closed. Many rumoured that Ryu must be ugly to hide behind the scene. but when he appeared to promote the album in Hong Kong and Taiwan, they are amazed to find that he is actually nice looking. However, he had no wish to be an actor as he found it to mushy to read love lines.

--- Yong Ha is Ji Woo’s fan and he was so overjoyed when he had many intimate scenes with her. He always hummed on the set. Yong Jun and Ji Woo enjoyed listening and persuaded him to cut albums. Judging from his popularity, he could be as successful as Kim Sang Hyuk.

--- Many complained to the director that the act in letting Jun Sang regain his memory through the second accident was too deliberate. He confessed that he had no more ideas left but he couldn’t let Jun Sang cure his amnesia in hospital so he had to do it again.

--- The wooden house scene when both are stranded in the resort wasn’t shot smoothly. Ji Woo couldn’t push open the door and took a long time to do it. And to make the blind Jun Sang discover her, she was supposed to push the table harder but she had no strength. No one could hear any noise at all.

--- Many like the cheerful Yu Jin in the serial which shows a different side of Ji Woo. But she had a lot of NGs filming the dancing scene in the recording studio. And thanks to this role, her usual habit of reading lines unclearly was corrected.