Uhm Ki-joon Reveals Sudden Casting Change and Backlash from 'Dooly the Little Dinosaur'

Uhm Ki-joon, 49, recently shared an anecdote about being abruptly dropped from a role just a week after being cast.

On the October 8th episode of MBC's variety show 'Radio Star', themed 'The Man Living with King Suro', actors Kim Soo-ro, Uhm Ki-joon, Park Gun-hyung, and Kim Hyung-mook appeared as guests.

During the show, Uhm Ki-joon confessed that his attempt to reset his villainous image led to a reset of his bank account balance. He explained, "I kept getting villain roles and wanted to stop, so I turned down all villain offers. Then, I got a role as a local government official, which I accepted for an image change, but I was dropped after a week. The casting was reversed. After that, I decided to just work hard on whatever roles I was given."

The project he declined to shed his villain image turned out to be a huge hit. He mentioned, "It was an SBS drama, but it's hard to name it. I prepared a lot to change my image, but it felt like a waste of time. I wondered if I made a mistake."

Uhm Ki-joon also revealed that he received backlash from the 'Dooly the Little Dinosaur' team due to his role in the drama 'Penthouse'. He shared, "There was a scene where I was searching for Eugene (played by Oh Yoon-hee) while holding a weapon. The director told me to say 'Hide well', but it felt too plain, so I sang the Dooly song. Since Dooly is a children's cartoon, there were complaints about destroying children's innocence." He added, "Since it was already aired, there was nothing I could do," eliciting laughter.

By Tae Yuna, TenAsia Reporter youyou@tenasia.co.kr