that was fast... i would like to hear what her fans will say now.. :)

I think it is irresponsible. But that is just my opinion.

I've been more on the supporting side for LDH but now that other cast members are drawn in; its a different story. She should really stick it through til the end. No matter what, this piece of news will definitely affect her future career.

oh, this is sad...
I feel bad for East of Eden...
yeah, I wonder how her fans would react now...

anyway, have a BLESSED CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!
especially to you, dear javabeans! ^^

I agree with Jnie--I was leaning towards LDH b/c I'm sure it was a difficult decision she had to make. But seeing how it is affecting her (now) former colleagues, I feel less sympathetic.

Totally irresponsible and being such a loser quitting halfway.

LDH you have my support! Don't let anyone use or walk all over you!

^ 'use' her? or is it because of her pride?

whatever it is, she back off halfway of the drama alone is very unethical. now that it effects other people, she is very selfish. i believe she aware about this more than us as it is her career and yet, she still make the decision. i think now it is clear and undeniable she is unprofessional, irresponsible and selfish.

this decision will effect here in the feature.. There is not many EP left and her character just started to appear... She should have talked with MBC about letting here character to appear more in the drama and be more involved in the plot ...
And then again we don't know any detail about what going on behind the scene...

Don't they usually film a couple Ep ahead..

they didnt appear much, they are only supporting cast.. but whatever it is, when her decision effects others and maybe also their paycheck, isnt it a selfish decision? she should at least discussed it with everyone that might be involved. i believe she aware about this.

i'm sure she and her management talked with MBC about the her character's lack of presence and when she would start having a meatier role.

i still feel bad for her. she signed on thinking she was the lead. yeah, she could have stayed for 10 more episodes, but i bet something happened between her management and MBC. i'm sure they had disagreements which ultimately led to her dropping out...kinda reminds me of on air. ha. but of course, this is only my opinion.

Who is the big boss!! - Lee Dae Hae
MBC make it redundant for the Min family so don’t blame Lee dae hae .
Blame MBC for producing a drama with many flaws.

Look how young ran hide behind her dad at ki soon’s wedding and also
sleeping while she got the news that Mike is in danger and going to be killed.!!

IYou are holding the main plot , is that what you can deliver? . You have to go with your quick instinct and witty enough in a situation, if you think you want to excel. A good actress should not be told by the director how to act. This drama could not be salvage, sorry to say.

"You are holding the main plot , is that what you can deliver? "
when u said that, u are criticizing LYH's way of acting but 'sleeping while she got news mike in danger' n 'hide behind her dad' > thats in the script. LYH is an actress who play according to her script as GYR.

LDH quitting off which forces the other to leave early is selfish. and it is LDH not MHR, it wasnt in the script. so the fault goes to LDH attitude.

and we are talking about the min family leaving the cast, not about LYH's acting. be more rational. she didnt have anything to do with LDH's leaving.

In this drama Lee Dae Hae is not the lead actress
so it will not disrupt the main plot.

Instead of saying she doesn't understand her character and doesn't want to look like a fool, or leading people to believe it's related to health problems, she should just be straight with it and tell everyone she feels that her role is demeaning because as a famous actress whose landed tons of CFs and is very popular, she deserves more than 3 minutes an episode.

Now, I don't actually know how popular LDH is, I'm just saying that's how she probably feels. If she were honest I'd probably have a little bit more respect for her, because I hate it when people who are divas try to act like they're not. Although I have enjoyed LDH's roles in the past, I'm not clouded by a huge amount of inner fan worship towards her, so I can un-biasedly call this a "diva move"...this is her way of telling MBC to shove it for not realizing how big of a star she is and that she deserves more screentime. (Which she could have just publicly made aware...but finished the drama)

And IMO, it doesn't matter if these other characters aren't related to the plot or that the audience doesn't see them much or don't find them memorable....these characters are played by actors, and when you're an actor (and you're not the lead star or a household name) ANY time on screen is valuable...whether or not it's earth shattering for the TV show as a whole, it makes a difference to these actors. They're not saying to themselves "Oh well, I'll just film a couple CFs with my spare time"...it means they've been removed from the show and they're no longer needed on set....they're not working anymore. And I don't know what kind of jobs you've all had in the past, but when you cause people to get fired, it doesn't matter if those people didn't do much for the business as a whole....those are still people that are now out of a job because of you. It sucks. The end. LDH's fans will still continue to love her, but I don't know how other producers, writers and actors will feel about working with her in the future.

Its not about screentime its about the fact that LDH was supposed to play the "lead" role and not a supporting role. Thats why there are two seperate awards at the oscars (lead and support). MBC scammed the public and should be ashamed of themselves for marketing LDH's fame. LDH has always played lead.

regardless of MBC's actions in not utilizing LDH to her fullest extent, which they should have, LDH's actions affect the rest of her cast. maybe letting go of the other characters is a form of retaliation by MBC and they're trying to make LDH out to be a bad guy by cutting them but still, how she handled this situation was bad form and will have consequences.
i wish her luck.

@coolsmurf

"come to think of it, those casts related to Hye Rin hasn’t appeared as much either in recent memory. their presence will probably not be felt shld they exit."

True, however they will no longer be on the payroll. I am sure they are not making anything close to what SSH is making per episode but they are probably making more than most of us. If you do the math… between the 4 who are departing (at least for now) it probably tallies to a hefty lump sum. LDH should fire her Management Company for giving her such ill advices because they should have foreseen this domino effect from the start.
Come to think of it, LDH should just fire herself and stop acting, PERIOD

now this just makes it worse, but i'm quite sure they all saw this coming ever since LDH said she was leaving. doesn't make it any better, though. it seems like LDH & all the other actors associated with her character got shafted, but at the same time, you make do with what you've got.

& to snow white's comment: "A good actress should not be told by the director how to act."
i don't think this is necessarily true. sometimes a good director makes a whole lot of difference in how an actor portrays a role & there are times when an actor doesn't go with the director, making the whole show/movie suck. in the case of LDH, i don't think it's necessarily the director's fault since he/she has no control over how much screen time an actor might get - i think that's more the prerogative of the writers & MBC, at least that's my guess given my limited knowledge of how korean entertainment works.

MBC big boss also receive paycheques too!
,
So why blame Lee Dae Hae?

I don't think anyone blame her but as an actress she must be consider about others. The situation of product drama currently also not very good. Others supporting actors must very hard finding their job... Why she being responsibility a bit?

I don't think anyone blame her but as an actress she must be consider about others. The situation of product drama currently also not very good. Others supporting actors must very hard finding their job... Why she cannot being responsibility a bit?

"A good actress should not be told by the director how to act."

Whoa, this is completetly ass-backwards thinking and any actress who seriously believes this is going to get labeled difficult and diva so quick your head would spin. Technically, a director's job IS to tell an actor how to act. If an actor suddenly thinks she's too good for the show and knows better than the director, writer, and production, she's arrogant and wrong. She's also a nightmare to work with, and people don't like hiring those kinds of actors.

"MBC big boss also receive paycheques too!"

This is irrelevant. EOE is not their only job. Lee Da Hae walked out on the job she signed up to do. MBC "big bosses" aren't quitting the drama in the middle of its broadcasting.

Several points:

1. The Min family had very little screen time so it's not like the storyline is greatly affected.

2. Even if LDH's role is written off (goes abroad, gets in an accident, dies, going undercover as a reporter...etc.) it does not mean that her family no longer exists and they can still mingle with the remaining cast members. I really doubt that the writers are so simpleminded that they could not salvage the family's role in the drama even with LDH leaving.

3. MBC has been calling for budget cuts and actors willingly lowered their rates for the production. Perhaps money is still tight and the dismissal of these actors are financially motivated but MBC is using LDH backing out as an excuse.

Again, there is no reason for the other cast members to walk off because even without LDH's character, they still interacted with Mr. Guk, Rebecca, and some other characters. Writers are supposed to be creative but it's been obvious that they have not been trying very hard when it comes to the storyline and character development of those in the Min family.

@anne

"LDH has always played lead."

That is not even close to being true. Every actor/actress takes on secondary roles at the beginning of their careers. If you remember LDH was in Sweet 18 playing the character Moon Ga Young. Which was a secondary character not the lead which was played by Han Ji Hye.

@andrais

Everyone struggles in the beginning but recently( after green rose) she has been only playing lead roles e.g robber, my girl( very very successful), hello miss etc.

- the story will not be greatly effected, but they still receives paycheck per episodes.

- for supporting casts especially, even 1 minute on screentime are valuable for them.

whatever it is, how she handle with her problem is unprofessional, especially when it gives negative effects on other people, we may add selfish and irresponsible.

someone said that those four characters could continue interacting with the other characters after lee da hae leaves, but i just don't really see that happening. maybe her father and maybe her step mother, but i don't see how they can continue anything substantial with her ex-fiance? and her half sister. even if they were made to continue interacting, it would just be filler stuff [that east of eden DOES NOT need more of] since all of the substantial stuff with those four characters really just has to do with hyerin and her family issues and her role in the hansehilbo.

anyways, i still think that lee da hae is being unprofessional and that this further illustrates that, but at the same time, i wonder if MBC is doing this to make lee da hae look even worse than she already does since she's leaving east of eden. it really makes me wonder what the eff is happening behind the scenes. you're right though, javabeans: regardless of who's really at fault or whatever, lee da hae's image is definitely going to take some kind of beating.

@anna if u're talking about the lead roles, u're agreeing she left for her pride. which means > she's prideful & she thinks she's all that.

OMG....I really shouldn't come to this discussion because some of these comments and this article just pisses me off. My opinion is don't blame her for leaving ...People are forgetting where the tumor really started from. If she doesn't get a surgery to cut this tumor, it will only grow to be cancerous to herself. I'm so happy she is leaving and stopped watching EOE. Also like everyone is saying "How can her health be affected by this if she is in it 3 mins??" well then duffuses why the heck should she stay or matter if she and her supporting roles are only in there for that many minutes.....It won't affect anyone's pay or their part since they had very little in the first place. DUH!!! If the writer and production team really wants the supporting roles to be in there, then they can, and there is a creative way to write them in .....her leaving has nothing to do with whether these supporting actors are going to go (I sense some people wanting to shift the blame to LDH because she has the guts to say WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON WITH MY ROLE...) Everyone who watched this drama has been confused about the roles and still are, CRITIZISMS OF THIS DRAMA STARTED WAY BACK WHEN AND IT NEVER CAME FROM HER MOUTH.....it's not her fault in the first place and sure is not her fault now.

It's only 10 more episodes???? and did you forget she has been patient for 34 episodes to find out what her role is and YET WHAT IS HER ROLE??? AGAIN THE TUMOR IS THE WRITER, SHE/HE TRIED TO DEVELOP WAY TOO MANY CHARACTERS AND GOT LOST IN THEIR OWN MESS....IT WILL TAKE MORE THAN 10 EPISODES TO UNDO IT ALL...If anything LDH is helping the writer by leaving so one less stress for the writer to figure her character out. (SINCE THAT NEVER HAPPENED!!!!)

FIGHTING LDH.....YOU ARE THE BEST, GO GET YOUR NEXT PROJECT!!!! WE ARE ANXIOUSLY WAITING FOR IT!!!

I hope something like this didn't come as a surprise to her. She probably already thought about this when making the decision to leave. Although, I hope she talked to these actors about her decision beforehand, so they don't feel shortchanged after her announcement of her departure.

Although I have always respected Lee Da Hae's acting and saw her as someone very capable in what she does, I still do not "favour" her, if you will. To put it in other words, I like her work, I'm just not anything close to being a fan.

So, of course, I'd like to think that I'm unbiased in the way I feel about her departure from East of Eden, but who knows.

In that case, I'll start by saying I was never a fan of the DC-YR pairing because I started off watching Episode 1 with the mindset that LDH's character would eventually play a much larger role than LYH's. I did not begin feeling annoyed of the DC-YR pairing though because YR's part was necessary in building DC's character, after which then I assumed he would interact more with HR. So I didn't mind. But then things started getting weird for me when they kept revisiting the whole DC-YR pairing as if it wasn't grilled into our heads already.

Reuniting. Separating. Reuniting. Separating. Reuniting. Finally separating.
Oh, wait. Still trying to reunite. *frustrated*

It was just getting tiring for those who weren't hardcore DC-YR shippers (whether HR shipper or not). I just felt like something (god knows what) behind the scenes was dragging this whole thing out, and stunting the progress of the storyline. It was getting ridiculous.

I just wanted to add that I am in no way trying to bash or put the blame on LYH. I just feel she usually ends up playing the character that annoys the heck out of me. (One Fine Day, anyone?) It's fine the first few episodes, but then it just gets irritating. But I do respect her work as a newbie because I find her capable of acting well. Even though her character in OFD annoyed me after a couple episodes, I still liked her as an actor after watching it.

So. On this issue, I side with LDH, not because I favour her over LYH ('cause I don't), but moreso because I am disappointed in the direction East of Eden has taken (especially in terms of progression). It had a lot of potential in the love story department, but now, I think it can only rely on the main issue being the birth story.

Of course, there are many other things to consider. I just typed a lot already, so I'll leave it at that. And a lot of people have already covered the other things.

Lee Da Hae did not do anything wrong. She did not just walk off the job. Apparently she came to an agreement with MBC to end her role at eps 40, and MBC agreed. If not, I am sure MBC would be suing her and that production association would ban her from acting. I don't feel sorry for the other supporting actors. The supporting actors have no problems finding new roles. Look at the actor playing Hye-Rin's father, he is already playing the father in Glass Castle.
Many people are picking on Lee Da Hae because she is a woman. I don't hear many people calling Kwong Sang Woo unprofessional when he backed out of a movie right before filming. At least Lee Da Hae made it to episode 40, which is more than half of the series.

@anne

"Everyone struggles in the beginning but recently( after green rose) she has been only playing lead roles e.g robber, my girl( very very successful), hello miss etc."

Yes, I know that. Your comment was that she only has ever played lead roles, which is untrue. I was just pointing that out to you.

it's sad how many ppl here have such negative view on LDH's withdrawal from the drama....words such as 'irresponsible' and 'unprofessional' are thrown abt and accusing...well, to me LDH has her reasons we don't really know...whether it's because of real sickness and stress or low screen time or whatever, i support LDH's decision as her character does not affect the storyline at all (as far as i can see)...as for her 'family' in the drama being pulled out because of her withdrawal, i can't really blame LDH coz if i look at the issue from a lot of sides, i still fail to see the reason why the must be pulled off...the writers can always still use them without LDH...LDH character is not tht important anyway so why must the whole family be axed?so plz don't blame LDH in this issue....it's always the production's (MBC, the EoE production company, the writers, the director etc) decision to axed actors n actresses, not because of such flimsy reason such as one actress' decision to quit it almost towards the end...n if u guys also see LDH's decision in one perspective, one can sympathise her as her initial expectation doesn't come close to the reality here...i watched the drama on faith of LDH's talent (i've seen her on her other roles n she's very dynamic actress) n the fact tht she's one of the MAIN actresses in EoE...but in the end she only has like 20 mins of screen time in total n her character is so not related to the drama's progression u can almost axe her character from the beginning...i'm not blaming YR's character but to me the whole 'fall in love,bratty attitude,sick,fall in love again,married,don't care abt husband,care abt DC n so on' plot is getting way out of hand....it's like watching a washing machine spinning over n over again, it's just that boring to me (i've even asked some of my friends who doesn't even know who LDH is to watch the drama n comment n they said the exact same thing!)...the dynamic of the story n the progression of characters don't even fit the initial description given by MBC at all n that description is one of the main reason why i watch the EoE drama...YR's actress is not the same caliber other actresses in the drama n it's sad how her character becomes the main character in the end...she's a fine actress but not as good as other actresses in the drama comparatively....i say please do not insult n judge before u look at this issue in all angles possible...the weakness of EoE's storyline can be blamed on many parties such as the writers, MBC and the production company....lastly, GO LDH!FIGHTING!

It is very upsetting to hear lead female role LDH is quitting eoe. Since LDH is
the lead female role, she should be in every episode after child actors episodes
are over and not bit part that she was in. I will not continue to watch this series
after LDH exited from it. This situation was created by PD and MBC station.
What a disappointment!

QUOTE (imogene_af @ Dec 24 2008, 04:43 AM) *
I don't know how to react to the rumors floating about, it's hard to avoid them because it is in every media outlet right now.

I am just very heartbroken right now and if there is some truth to it (more on the management ), I cannot even imagine how much pain LDH went through being in a project that pushed her away because of the powers that be. The media, by the way is feasting on this. Pitting LDH and SSH against each other. I don't know what to think, really because I don't even have the energy to think anymore. It's a David vs. Goliath thing. I don't want to play the blame game.

If ever outside sources did make LDH go and she walks out taking flack for it, my admiration for her just shot up even more. She stuck through her principles and no person deserves that kind of treatment. Especially an AWARD-WINNING (I cannot stress this enough) and successful actress like her.

I ask people, why Lee Da Hae ran away in 75% complete production? Now that her character may get her focus, now that she is getting some sort of story... I ask why she suddenly ran away?

If we are going to talk egos here, Lee Da Hae could have left a 4% rating drama or another drama that portrayed her as a fragile leading lady that only showed her crying in melancholy.

If we are going to talk lack of screentime why not leave as early as Episode 12 when she didn't even come out at all? Why not leave earlier?

Does she have an unprofessional streak? Tell that to the young woman who took off from the hospital in high fever and pneumonia, against the doctor's orders to finish her cold scenes in "Robbers". Her reason? She didn't want the crew to suffer of losing their paycheck because she cannot shoot that day.
Tell that to her multitudes of co-stars and directors who have only the best things to say about her work ethic, tell that to the crew of My Girl and Robbers who were so touched that she knew every little one of them by name and considers them friends. From the camera man to the person who prepares their tea and plum wine. Tell that to someone who had a genuine friendship with the crew in EoE. Who had allies in this. Who patiently explained to her fans to wait for her. Why? why now?

LDH knew of her consequences something pushed her to do this and for her it has pained her so much, it was well worth the risk and gamble --- being tagged as that woman who ran away from production. Being the unprofessional one. It was too much to bear that she is going out scathed with this label.

Does one really think that an actress who built her name for seven years without one scandal in her name left just for ego and pride?

There are two sides to every story. And maybe, this one... will never be heard. If she is going to be judged for this, over her past work, her past sacrifices... that's sad, but for me she know she just jumped on a gamble. Maybe companies will rethink to hire her again, maybe this will affect her career for years to come. She is taking that gamble. That to me speaks volumes.

imogene_af said it all. Sorry imogene_af that I took your comments without your permission. My sincere apology.

her leaving will screw the plot of the drama, & screw the cast that will lose their jobs. that sucks.

BLAME IT ON MBC who USED HER! kept changing the script, gave her little parts to the drama...
....................
i will support lee DA hae no matter what
becus i know she is professional!
i would do the same if i was her
AJA aja fighting lee da hae!!

Too bad she had to leave the drama before it was finished. I still think she should have stayed until the end. I wished she could have stayed in the drama and see how her character would develop later on. Even so whatever made her to make such a drastic decision will surely affect her in the future. We may never know what really happened but hopefully everything turns out well for everyone involve.

it's a cruel world. drama is team effort subject to battling egos, ratings, ever-changing fickle taste and ADD attention span of viewers.

consider survival skills of supporting, bit-part players who only have a few minutes' worth in a drama or movie. what do they do with bad logic of their characters, or even "humiliating" purposes of decoration? they steal scenes, chew up everything in sight -- and the more graceful ones make it seem like they're doing it within their character's purpose of existence. (i wanna nominate: lee han-wie and park kil-soo from Beethoven's Virus, or yang hee-kyung from Dal ja's spring.)

they turn the throwaway into great moment to shine AND help the story along. it's a very different mindset from those leading entire story, sometimes staying passive so others revolve around them - while always supported by the blanket of the script.

every problem is also an opportunity. take a step back and what looks like gross neglect and injustice of a group project directed at an individual, could be an interesting new challenge to learn. one day young actors will grow old, and if they stay active in some capacity, they'll eventually tackle with smaller roles. they find themselves having to justify their work. as they say there are no small roles, only small actors :)

I understand her decision....but I think her manager or agency should try everything possible to stop her from doing it. I'm sorry that she ends up to a good character....yet also a character that's going no where.....but considering the effect of her career, her reputation, others people jobs, and turning this series into a whole controversial mess....she should think twice before quiting. Tons of people sign up for roles that they end up regretting but they survive til the end......I'm just sorry that she couldn't think this through and like you say....LDH didn't realize the extent of the damage she has done.

what's up with LDH's fans always try to connect her leaving to YR/LYH. It is not LYH or her character's fault that she gets more screen time than LDH. LYH is only doing her job and her appearance on the show is decided by the EOE's writer/production team. It is widely known and as been going for years now that the Korean drama production team is willing to go along with what the viewers in South Korea want, even if it is means adjusting the script. It is not LYH's fault for having more screen time than LDH when the korean viewers like YR's character and the YR&DC relationship. This is an entertainment industry, they only cares about profits. These Korean viewers bring in money.

If MBC wants to write-off her parents, sister and Baek, how is that LDH's fault. With the budget cuts on EOE, it would be easy for MBC to cut off the supporting casts with or without LDH in the drama. MBC created this mess in the first place by changing the storyline and the script as well as the writers and now they have to clean it up. Whatever agreement they had with LDH was not followed to the utter confusion of LDH. If there is any finger pointing to be done, people should point to MBC. MBC must have been so arrogant as to think that they can just swat her like a fly; they probably thought that she will just take the abuse from them. How wrong they were. Its easy for people to lay blame on LDH because they are not in her shoes.

I am sure within the entertainment circle, everyone knows the truth behind what happend. Things like these can never be kept a secret because a lot of people are involved in the making of EOE and so they have first hand knowledge of what is going on and of course, they would discuss among themselves. Naturally, what happened to LDH will reach the highest level of the industry like SBS and other networks. LDH was never involved in any scandal until now and everyone she worked with in the past had nothing but praises for her. For example, in her last drama, Robbers, Jang Hyuk was so impressed with her and they had a good working relationship. He even mentioned that among the actresses he worked with, LDH was the most memorable.

I support her, she can do whatever she wants if it's really bothering her and she can no longer continue acting for this drama.
I think that she's still a great actress.

If MBC wants to write-off her parents, sister and Baek, how is that LDH's fault. With the budget cuts on EOE, it would be easy for MBC to cut off the supporting casts with or without LDH in the drama. MBC created this mess in the first place by changing the storyline and the script as well as the writers and now they have to clean it up. Whatever agreement they had with LDH was not followed to the utter confusion of LDH. If there is any finger pointing to be done, people should point to MBC. MBC must have been so arrogant as to think that they can just swat her like a fly; they probably thought that she will just take the abuse from them. How wrong they were. Its easy for people to lay blame on LDH because they are not in her shoes.

With regards to your question javabeans "how is it that her health is suffering when she’s only in three minutes per episode", I am sure within the entertainment circle, everyone knows the truth behind what really happend. Things like these can never be kept a secret because a lot of people are involved in the making of EOE and so they have first hand knowledge of what is going on and of course, they would discuss among themselves. Naturally, what happened to LDH will reach the highest level of the industry like SBS and other networks. LDH was never involved in any scandal until now and eveyone she worked with in the past had nothing but praises for her. For example, in her last drama, Robbers, Jang Hyuk was so impressed with her and they had a good working relationship. He even mentioned that among the actresses he worked with, LDH was the most memorable.