What's Up's shoots in full swing » Dramabeans Korean drama recaps

9 August 2, 2010August 2, 2010

What’s Up’s shoots in full swing

by javabeans

It’s been a long while since we heard news of What’s Up, the campus drama centering around a university musical department that produced a lot of buzz because of its A-list scriptwriter, Song Ji-nah (Story of a Man, Sandglass). So it’s good to hear some news about it now, even if it’s just to say that filming is “proceeding smoothly.”

A refresher: Part of the reason for the heightened interest in this drama is because writer Song’s last campus series, KAIST, served as a launching pad for the careers of many actors who then went on to greater fame (Chae Rim, Lee Eun-joo, Kim Min-jung, Lee Na-young, Ji Sung). Therefore, there’s anticipation to see whether the same will happen here, either with the main cast of up-and-comers (Daesung, Im Joo-hwan, Im Joo-eun) or its supporting cast of fresh faces. The drama held open auditions to cast the rest of the students in the department, and drew more than 10,000 hopefuls, of whom 10 were cast. (Pictured below.)

Song has been highly involved in the production process from the start, and announced the casting of each main actor herself via the internet (using a Korean Twitter-like service), which is also how she announced the open auditions. More recently, she posted about the drama’s first shoots on July 11, having gotten the word from the drama’s directors that all was going well. (As Song noted, both What’s Up directors are women, Jang Mi-ja and Song Ji-won.)

The drama has not yet gotten a slot on a broadcast schedule, and is currently in negotiations with the three broadcast networks. Although the producers were expecting to get an airdate toward the end of the year, they say that at the latest the drama should air early next year.

Here are the newbies, cast through the open auditions:

Via OSEN

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Tags: What's Up

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1 hpn88

August 2, 2010 at 5:37 PM

I don't know if my Im Joo Hwan radar went off or what but I just felt the need to check.
Also I got the What's Up header and proceeded to freak out surprising my study buddies!

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2 danna

August 2, 2010 at 5:51 PM

Aaaah...finally...I've been waiting for news on this for a while now....good to know that it didnt get shelved or anything.....also im glad this will be airing at the very end of this year or next year as i have just too much to watch

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3 shirubang

August 2, 2010 at 6:09 PM

im joo hwan radar... lol, yesss~ i can't wait to watch this! :D

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4 mellowyel

August 2, 2010 at 6:16 PM

I'm currently watching You're Beautiful (OMG SO GOOD) and it made me think of this drama - i wonder if it'll be as big of a musical hit as YB. I hope it's not like Glee though - as much as I acknowledge the talent behind and in it, I just can't get into it. too many secrets about babies and pregnancies... but i'm looking forward to seeing what this drama has to offer regardless

also, YAY WOMEN DIRECTORS! just saw a list of films for the Toronto Film Festival and only one was directed by a woman. Considering what I've heard about women + employment in Korea, this makes my inner feminist and film fan happy :)

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5 nana

August 3, 2010 at 6:41 AM

are the two guys on the right side twins? kind of looks like it. i hope this is a good as story of a man, though i know its a different genre.

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Hipployta

December 14, 2011 at 12:37 PM

Kwon Twins from YG

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6 Stylish~

August 3, 2010 at 1:34 PM

i lo ve the fact that they casted new actors.. can't wait to see how it will turn to be..

love the writer
love daesung
and
loved im joo hwan in tamra, the island < though i still didn't complete bcz the HQ subs stopped :(.. i think i'll give up and watch it online

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7 A lot of hope

August 4, 2010 at 8:25 AM

I'm not too sure what I should be expecting for this series. I have a lot of hope since it's a Song Jin-ah drama, but her most recent drama wasn't exactly a hit. :/

Though I do like over 4 of the main cast, so even if it's not a hit I'm sure I'll still personally love it. But I'm not sure since there's so little promos / anticipation about it, though it seems the actors have been working really hard, so lets pray :)