Another star injured on the job

10 July 31, 2008July 31, 2008

by javabeans

Lee Jia, lead actress for MBC’s upcoming classical-music-themed drama Beethoven Virus, collapsed while filming for the drama and was rushed to the emergency room on August 1.

This came after spending the last two days filming in cold water during the hot summer. While shooting at a film studio in Kyunggi-do early Friday morning, Lee Jia complained of breathing difficulty and was taken to a nearby hospital, where she was given a diagnosis suspecting meningitis (!!) and extreme hypothermia.

If the cause turns out to be meningitis, her representatives said, this presents grave problems with filming, so they are waiting to see how her condition progresses as she returns home for some rest.

Filming had begun on the 14th for the drama scheduled to premiere in September. Promo posters (using underwater imagery) were shot on the 30th, and scenes for the drama were filmed on the 31st for an underwater fantasy sequence.

For now, the drama is shooting around their absent leading lady, continuing with male leads Kim Myung-min and Jang Geun-seok instead, but progress is sure to be hampered without her.

Bejeebus, MBC! Take some care for your stars, will ya? They ARE making you all that money, yunno. (Or trying to, at least; it’s not always their fault if the dramas flop.)

Via Sports Chosun

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1 ar

July 31, 2008 at 10:18 PM

Meningitis is pretty serious!! there are cases of death and losing limbs because of it! and i can't imagine what being in cold water will have to do with classical music. I agree- some of these dramas should be taking better care of their stars. A few hours of care and rest can save you days of being on hiatus because an actor or actress becomes too ill because of the stress. and even with makeup- most of the time-you can tell when an actor/actress is haggard from lack of sleep. and with HD tv and stuff- it's even more noticeable. and i know some of these dramas are on a tight schedule- but why not start filming earlier and stop wasting too big of a portion of the budget on high-cost a-list and b-list actors- so they can take more sedate pace.

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2 belleza

July 31, 2008 at 10:53 PM

So uhhhh about spending like half of your entire production budget on the salary of 3 actors. Maybe they should rethink that . . .

Terrible, terrible. How badly exhausted must your actors be to contract meningitis?!? I hope they caught it in time, and Ji Ah doesn't suffer lasting damage from this. Believe me -- cello lessons isn't worth brain damage!!

"scenes for the drama were filmed on the 31st for an underwater fantasy sequence."

Horrible working conditions (for the love of God people, how does the PD and staff not notice "extreme hypothermia"?!?!?!?!?) , underwater fantasy sequences (to probably classical music) sounds pretty frigging cool. Lee Jae-Gyu would do something like that.

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3

August 1, 2008 at 12:18 AM

try exposing the jacket to sunlight to get the kimchi stain out!

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4 favoree

August 1, 2008 at 12:24 AM

Oh , I hope it's just a meningitis-like virus, which can be easily caught in swimming pools and on the beaches. And the young girls immune system is so weak, esp if she is dieting constantly... Even if it is just a virus- it is long to recover- about 3-4 weeks.

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5 vis

August 1, 2008 at 3:16 AM

Yikes! I hope it's not meningitis >____< I hope she gets well soon! And that she wont' have to drop out of Beethoven Virus T_____T

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6 belleza

August 1, 2008 at 4:18 AM

If it's "just" viral meningitis, then she'll be okay with a few weeks rest. If they have to replace her, that may kill the production. They'll need to either find another lead actress who can kinda play, or they'll have to shoot it with a double. Which would look awful for a full length show based around a string musician.

Can't even imagine how messy the contract situation would be. A huge chunk of budget went into her salary as well as the other two. Are they going to default the pay even though it's probably the staff's fault that they put their own star in a life-threatening situation? (Hello!! When a human being is a shade of blue, they're not doing so hot.)

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7 saryKIM

August 1, 2008 at 8:08 PM

My gosh, meningitis??! That IS serious... I hope it's not the case and that she recovers soon. Seriously, the Korean biz should pay more attention to their stars; there is so much news about rushing actors and singers to the hospital.

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8 jiahfan

August 2, 2008 at 4:41 AM

omg!! ji ah will not be drop out!!
hope shes okay..

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9 blink

August 3, 2008 at 8:56 AM

sorry to hear she's sick, but who is to blame for that? she got herself into it. and anyway, i can't f*cking stand lee jiah, so this is just one more reason to add to it. the fact that she's a weakling who can't even tell someone when she's had enough. coward.

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10 blackitty

November 27, 2010 at 10:21 PM

I don't mind her being sick if that makes du ru mi disapear of the drama

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Beethoven Virus