[K-Drama]: Chief producer of drama “Moments of 18” opened up about casting Ong Seong Wu as the lead actor of the series.

Jul 24, 2019

He had nothing but praise for Ong Seong Wu as he explained, “We had expected him to be at about 50 out of 100, but he gave us a performance that was 100 out of 100.” The CP shared that people around him had expressed concerns at first because it isn’t an easy decision to cast a rookie actor as the leading role.

When asked why he decided to go ahead with the plan, Oh Hwan Min explained, “From the planning stages, we had Ong Seong Wu in mind for the role of Choi Joon Woo. I came across the 15 minute short he appeared in and I thought, ‘This kid could do it.’ I felt a sense of strength from him that only he possesses.”

Oh Hwan Min brushed aside the concerns people had as he added, “People assume that when an idol acts for the first time, they’ll be bad at it. I think Ong Seong Wu was worried about that too. At the press conference, he came up to me first and asked, ‘What did you think of my acting?’ Personally, I really enjoyed it. So I told him, ‘I don’t think there will be any controversies about your acting. Thank you for doing so well.'”

The CP explained that he had held a meeting with Ong Seong Wu while he was still active as a member of Wanna One. He said, “I didn’t go with a script. I just wanted to talk to him to understand what kind of charms he has and to gauge how he would do in our drama. And I decided to trust him and go with it. It’s been over a year since we started planning this drama. We’ve put a lot of thought into it and made our decision.” He stated that Ong Seong Wu defied the team’s expectations and did much better than anyone could have hoped for.

“Moments of 18” premiered on July 22