The SBS drama "The Time We Were Not In Love," aka "The Time I loved You, 7,000 Days," has had its share of problems. Fortunately, the acting has been so top notch that viewers have not complained.
The first problems began before the drama even aired. When the drama first released a teaser video, the drama's producers were accused of plagiarizing a similar animated feature. That teaser was withdrawn and a new version was released.
Then rumors started to fly that the director Jo Soo Won and one of the writers were not very fond of each other. The director reportedly considered dropping out but didn't. Instead, the production crew was changed not just once but twice. The first time the crew was changed before the first episode aired. The second time happened around the fifth episode. The adjustments that this second change required resulted in a time crunch that further heightened on-set tensions.
According to an article in the Korean media outlet Naver TV, the second change in the production crew happened because SBS was not happy with the direction the drama was heading in. The article quoted an anonymous drama affiliate as saying that the atmosphere between actors and staff members was currently great but that there was not enough time to prepare for episodes.
"We're currently shooting the drama like it's live," said the anonymous source. "We actually feel apologetic towards great actors like Lee Jin Wook and Ha Ji Won."
As both Lee Jin Wook and Ha Ji Won are professionals, their performance has shown no ill effect of the behind-the-scenes tension.
Did any of the tension have to do with plot changes?
"The Time We Were Not In Love" was based on a Taiwanese drama titled "In Time With You," although the plot is considerably altered. The original character that Lee Jin Wook's Choi Won is based on dated more actively. He and the character that Ha Ji Won's Oh Ha Na is based on made a bet to see who would get married before they turn 35. If that is happening in the k-drama version, it has not happened yet. But ion the original version they had to approve of each other's candidates for marriage. And they always find fault with them.
In the k-drama version, Choi Won has written off the idea of dating Oh Ha Na, so he does not discourage her from finding a boyfriend and only dislikes the ones who hurt her. Oh Ha Na's original character in the Taiwanese version is bad-tempered and stubborn. Oh Ha Na may be easier to like. And once Choi Won realizes he should and can like her, everything else will be easier too.
Hopefully the tension on the set will be resolved and the filming can proceed without more problems.
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