On June 20, MBC released Shin Min Ah’s character stills for the upcoming drama, “Arang and the Magistrate.” In the stills, Shin Min Ah is wearing a traditional Korean dress (Hanbok).
In an interview with a representative of MBC, Shin Min Ah stated, “This is my first project in two years so I have great expectations and hopes.” Regarding her character, Arang, she commented, “Unlike a typical ghost character, Arang is courageous and outgoing. She is also aggressive and reckless yet very lovable.”
When asked about her counterpart, actor Lee Jun Ki, Shin Min Ah said, “When I met Lee Jun Ki for the first time, I felt like I met a celebrity. He is always bright and attentive. His positivity and passion keeps me as well as all the production staff very happy. He is a great partner.”
The drama “Arang and the Magistrate” is based on the Korean folk tale “Arang.” MBC “Arang and the Magistrate” is scheduled to air end of July.
Source:
http://www.soompi.com/2012/06/20/shin-min-ahs-stills-for-the-upcoming-drama-revealed/
"Faith" and "The Great Seer" to be released at the end of the year
Blockbusters are making their way through dramas. In addition to MBC "God of War" which cost 20 billion won (~US$10 million), SBS "Faith" and "The Great Seer" cost just as much and is preparing to present themselves with some fancy sights.
"Faith" with Lee Min-ho and Kim Hee-seon start off first. To be aired for the first time on the 31st of August, "Faith" is a romance drama between an ancient warrior and a modern day doctor.
Created by Kim Jong-hak and writer Song Ji-na, it is also Kim Hee-seon's first drama in 6 years and Hallyu star Lee Min-ho's next big project. The computer graphics cost per episode is known to be 6~7 hundred million won (~US$700,000) and the estimated total cost should be about 10 billion.
"The Great Seer" comes next. To be released in October, "The Great Seer" is a fiction historical about topography scholars establishing the Chosun with Lee Seong-gye in the lead. A single episode is said to cost 3 hundred million won (~US$300,000) and the main lineup cast is to be made up of top stars.
Source :
http://news.donga.com/3/all/20120618/47112264/5
http://www.hancinema.net/production-cost-at-10-billion-44017.html
Lee Min-ho is getting ready to become an action hero once again.
"Faith" draws the romance between a warrior from the ancient times and a female doctor from the modern times. Lee Min-ho takes on the role of the king's guard general Choi Yeong.
Lee Min-ho was reviewed greatly for his role in the SBS drama "City Hunter" as Lee Yoon seong who took on the society in his own way and got rid of evil.
His experience from "City Hunter" should reflect well on the drama "Faith". It appears that he is greedy for more action after what he did in "City Hunter". He is suggesting various answers of his own and is very eager in his work. The action scenes in "Faith" should be different from "City Hunter" as it is a fusion historical, it will have more of sword-fighting.
Lee Min-ho's role of Choi Yeong is quite random and cheerful unlike usual generals and should approach viewers in a new way.
"Faith" is perfecting its images with a special computer graphics team. Also, the action team that worked with Lee in "City Hunter" has been asked once again to join on board.
"Faith" is created by Kim Jong-hak and wirter Song Jina. It is also the come back project of actress Kim Hee-seon for the first time in 6 years.
There has been talk about being similar with the MBC weekend drama "Dr. JIN" that is currently on air but the production claims it is only similar in the fact that the subject matter of time travel and nothing else.
Source :
http://news.nate.com/view/20120618n21932
http://www.hancinema.net/lee-min-ho-is-an-action-hero-once-again-through-faith-44014.html
MBC drama "The Sun and the Moon" was honored with an award at the Shanghai TV Festival.
This drama was awarded the silver medal in the Foreign TV Category at the 18th Shanghai TV Festival which was held from the 11th to the 15th.
Not only "The Sun and the Moon" but MBC National Liberation Day Special "The Peak" and documentary "Tears in the Antarctic" made it to the finals in the TV Movies and Documentary category.
The Shanghai TV Festival was established in 1986 and is one of the biggest TV Program Festival looked upon by various media.
Source
http://www.asiatoday.co.kr/news/view.asp?seq=656622
http://www.hancinema.net/the-sun-and-the-moon-takes-over-shanghai-44012.html
Making his much-awaited comeback from army duty, Lee Jun-ki takes the role of the magistrate in his upcoming drama, Arang and the Magistrate, which you can see in these stills.
The drama riffs on the famous tale of a young woman named Arang who was killed, who returned as a ghost to plead with magistrates to bring justice to the evildoers, played in the series by Shin Mina. Though there are definite fusion-mystery-ghost story vibes, there also seems to be a current of humor that’ll run through it (though I hope it’s more the wry kind and not, say, broad and slapstick).
Lee describes his character as a man who doggedly pursues clues about his mother’s disappearance; he feels nothing in the world matters aside from that. His character as cynical and brusque on the outside, though (naturally) much warmer on the inside: “It seems like he treats people coldly, but he feels a lot of sorrow and sympathy for them; ‘Eun-oh’ is a three-dimensional character. At first I was drawn to him because he was a prickly type of role I haven’t played before, but as I delve more into the drama, I find that he’s someone I can show a lot of different sides to.”
Regarding making his comeback: “Inasmuch as this is my comeback project after a two-year hiatus due to military service, I pursued it extremely seriously. There were many dramas that came in, but more than my personal desires, I thought it might be better to choose a drama that’s more accessible. I considered a variety of projects, but this stood out the most. After receiving the scenario, from the perspective of an actor I thought it was extremely fresh and original. I became curious about what kind of drama would come out of this premise.”
Asked about why he chose a sageuk as his return project, Lee said, “To be honest, the thing I worried most about was whether I might have lost my feel for acting after being away for two years. I think sageuk is a genre without limits, which allows for a lot of experimentation… Rather than feeling fear over my worries or trying to avoid them, I chose a sageuk thinking to pour that much more of myself into the drama. I intend to pour everything I have into it.”
When asked about what he finds most fun about the story, Lee said, “The images of the King of Heaven (Yoo Seung-ho) and the King of the Underworld will be quite different from the traditional images that viewers are used to, and will play out in comic scenes. Just the fact that it’s set up against the legend of Arang is novel and interesting. … It’s a different take than previous romantic comedies.”
Given the premise (and the drama’s description as a fantasy-melo sageuk), which requires one-half of the main pairing to be dead, it seems like any romance is going to be the bittersweet variety. Lee: “I’m looking forward to it. To be honest, because in most dramas the scripts aren’t out in their entirety from the outset, you start to imagine all sorts of things about the story. For instance, ‘How will the next episode progress, and how will my character change and what will happen to the character relationships?’ Especially since there’s a lot of anticipation for the romance between the two leads, I always wonder, ‘How will the romance develop in this drama?’ The one thing I can tell you all is, because this drama’s genre is fantasy-melo sageuk, it’ll probably have a much stronger melo inclination than my previous dramas.” Gulp. I’m not sure whether to look forward to it, or whether to start guarding myself for the sturm und drang.
Arang and the Magistrate airs on Wednesdays and Thursdays beginning in late July.
Source:
http://www.dramabeans.com/2012/06/lee-jun-ki-gets-into-character-as-the-magistrate/
Actress Park Joo-mi stole the hearts of the four men in "A Gentleman's Dignity".
Park made her first appearance in the drama for the first time on the 17th. A story of the four men in 1993 when they were 20 was told on this day's episode. It was the memory of Choi Yoon's (Kim Min-jong) birthday party.
The four men went out on a blind date with inflated hearts. Their partner was known as the 'bomb girl'. Lee jeong-rok (Lee Jong-hyuk) pretended to be stupid, Choi Yoon a mama's boy, Im Tae-san (Kim Soo-ro) shook his hands and Kim Do-jin (Jang Dong-gun) spoke with a lisp.
However, their acts didn't keep up long when Kim Eunhee (Park Joo-mi) arrived. She appeared with an apology that her lecture finished late and the four men stared at her with their mouths open.
Netizens say, "Park Joo-mi shines on TV", "She is so hot", "I wish she would keep coming out" and more.
Source :
http://news.sportsseoul.com/read/entertain/1049712.htm
http://www.hancinema.net/spoiler-a-gentleman-s-dignity-park-joo-mi-s-first-appearance-43952.html#!prettyPhoto
Still shots of Lee Min Jung in a wedding dress from KBS2TV‘s ‘Big‘ have been revealed.
Lee Min Jung, who has starred in both dramas and movies with her feminine image, has once again captured the attention of male fans with her quirky personality as Gil Da Ran in ‘Big’.
Although Gil Da Ran was involved in a confusing mess, in which her fiancee Seo Yoon Jae (played by Gong Yoo) switched bodies with the high school teenager, Kang Kyung Joon (played by Shin Won Ho) in a car accident, she showed off her motherly side by warmly caring for Kyung Joon. In addition, Gil Da Ran took her wedding photos with Kang Kyung Joon’s soul still in Seo Yoon Jae’s body.
Fans who saw Lee Min Jung’s wedding stills commented, “That’s Lee Min Jung for you“, “She’s so pretty. She’s the prettiest bride I have ever seen” and “Just looking at her makes my heart flutter. Lee Min Jung is a goddess“.
Source:
http://www.allkpop.com/2012/06/lee-min-jung-looking-beautiful-in-her-wedding-dress-for-big
In case you have been wondering, “Are Gong Yoo and Suzy friendly to each other when the cameras are off?”, a picture posted on a social networking service on June 14 seems to answer that question. The picture is from the filming set of KBS “Big” at an hospital.
In the picture, Gong Yoo is wearing a white doctor’s coat. His tall stature makes even the most boring white coat look like it’s straight from the runway. Suzy, wearing a feminine pink blouse with pink-stripes and a flower-pleated skirt, is perfectly transformed into Jang Ma Ri. Both Suzy and Gong Yoo look great in the picture, but they don’t seem interested in interacting with each other. They are looking away from each other, looking like a couple after having an argument.
Netizens commented, “So they are not really friends in real life?” “You never know. You can’t assume everything from this one picture,” and “Suzy is so pretty!”
Source:
http://www.soompi.com/2012/06/16/are-gong-yoo-and-suzy-awkward-around-each-other-off-screen/
On December 7, Navi released her OST track “Missing You” featuring Pae Nuri of FIX, for the new drama ‘Come Come Absolutely Come‘.
“Missing You” was composed by Gavy NJ, KCM, and produced by a famous producer Min Myung Ki. Navi’s clear and beautiful voice tied well with the track’s medium tempo and smooth melody.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Singer : Navi
Single : Come, Come, Absolutely Come Part.1
Date : 7 December 2011
Source:
http://www.allkpop.com/2011/12/navi-releases-missing-you-for-new-drama-come-come-absolutely-come-ost
Singer Kim Hyun Joong has announced that he will be starring in a drama soon.
On November 29th, the star attended a press conference for the ‘2011 MAMA‘ in Singapore’s Sands Expo Convention Center. He said, “It hasn’t been officially revealed yet, but I will be acting in April of next year. We originally had a world tour in mind, but we postponed that for the drama.”
He continued, “I heard that I did well on the Billboard charts. I am very happy about that. It feels real that being #1 in Korea means being #1 in the world.”
Stay tuned for more updates on Kim Hyun Joong’s new drama!
Source:
http://www.allkpop.com/2011/11/kim-hyun-joong-to-star-in-a-drama-next-year
The song isn’t released yet, but Jung Il-woo will be featured on the upcoming Flower Boy Ramyun Shop OST with the title track on its Part 3, “Someone Like You” (너란 사람).
Jung plays the delightfully immature, spoiled Chi-soo in the drama, and it’s been a hoot watching him grapple with actual human feelings the more he finds that not everybody (namely, our intrepid heroine) is going to kowtow to his every demand. It’s like Chi-soo’s got the social awareness of a 3-year-old, but wrapped up in an adult body. The song will be a warm ballad that’ll accompany Eun-bi’s (Lee Chun-ah) growing feelings as she starts to see more of Chi-soo’s childlike sincerity. Aw. We’ve sure seen a lot of the childlike, so it’s time for the latter part of that equation to step up to the plate.
If you’ll recall, Jung also contributed a track to the soundtrack of his last drama, 49 Days (posted below), which is one of my favorite tracks from that series. He’s reportedly working himself ragged (not a new state for him) with all-night shoots, song recording, and cameo appearance filming. Busy boy is busy.
Jung’s track releases on the 24th.
Credit:
http://www.dramabeans.com/2011/11/jung-il-woo-sings-a-track-for-for-ramyun-shop-ost/
So the rumors were half-true: Yoon Eun-hye isn’t taking on romantic comedy series Wild Romance, but Lee Dong-wook is.
He’ll be joining Lee Shi-young, who was recently cast as the female lead, a judo athlete turned bodyguard. He plays a baseball player, and their relationship gets off to an inauspicious start with some “unpredictable bad luck.” I foresee lots of comedic clashes in their future, before the antagonism turns to love.
I love Lee Shi-young — she can make even the worst writing somewhat watchable (see: Poseidon) — and I think Lee Dong-wook has solid comic chops, so I’m looking forward to this pairing. But more than the casting, I’m particularly keen on this drama because it comes from writer Park Yeon-seon, who wrote Alone and Love and Mixed-up Investigative Agency, both of which were standouts. Directing is PD Bae Kyung-soo of Infamous Chil Sisters; actor Oh Man-seok has also joined the cast.
The drama is set for 16 episodes and premieres in January. It’ll air on Wednesdays and Thursdays, in the post-Man of Honor timeslot.
Credit:
http://www.dramabeans.com/2011/11/lee-dong-wook-added-to-wild-romance/
Yet more stills are out from Padam Padam: The Sound of His and Her Heartbeats, the upcoming cable drama starring Jung Woo-sung, who is the focus of this batch of images.
Jung plays Kang-chil, a man wrongly accused of murder who serves 16 years in prison, whose innocent nature is protected in part by his younger buddy and “guardian angel” Kook-soo (Kim Bum). Kang-chil at one point experiences a near-death experience, surviving thanks to a miracle. He falls in a “fateful love” with a woman described primarily as “selfish,” played by Han Ji-min. Due to his past, he’s awkward in the romance arena and turns shy around her, bringing out his innocent, cute nature, while also contrasting with his tough side. (See: tattoos and skill with mechanics.)
So that explains Jung’s clean-cut, aw-shucks appearance in the show. Yet I can’t help feeling that Jung’s character is starting to veer past “pure” and “good-hearted” and into simpleton territory, based on the way he’s depicted here. He’s supposed to be a good boy, not Forrest Gump. And the Dumb and Dumber hair certainly doesn’t help.
I feel like we’ve been hearing about this drama forever, with photo dumps occurring on a regular basis, and yet we don’t actually know any more about it. With a respected writer like Noh Hee-kyung (The World They Live In, Goodbye Solo, More Beautiful Than a Flower) penning scripts, you’d think they’d put a bit more emphasis on the story, but other than “fateful love between an innocent man, a selfish woman, protected by a guardian angel,” we’re not getting much. It’s all the same old. How ’bout some story with that story, hmm?
Padam Padam premieres on jTBC on December 5, and will run as a Monday-Tuesday drama.
Credit:
http://www.dramabeans.com/2011/11/jung-woo-sungs-image-transformation-in-padam-padam/
T-ara‘s Eunjung met with an unfortunate accident on set while filming for her new drama, ‘Queen Insoo‘.
Representatives of Core Contents Media revealed, “On November 14th, Eunjung headed straight for the ‘Queen Insoo’ set after completing her choreography rehearsal.” They continued, “Unfortunately, due to the cold weather and the fast speed of the horse, Eunjung lost her grip on the reins and fell.”
The representatives assured that Eunjung was given painkillers after she was rushed to the hospital. Shooting schedules will be readjusted accordingly after closer examination.
In related news, T-ara will be making their comeback performance on November 17th through Mnet‘s ‘M! Countdown‘.
Source:
http://www.allkpop.com/2011/11/t-aras-eunjung-falls-off-a-horse-while-filming-for-queen-insoo
Lee Beom-soo, Jung Kyeo-woon, Jung Ryeo-won, Hong Soo-hyun
History of the Salaryman is the SBS drama coming from the producers of last year’s hit Giant, and after teasing cast possibilities for a while, the drama has now finalized its main cast.
Lee Beom-soo, who also starred in Giant, was an early lock for the series, with Jung Ryeo-won (Pain, Ja Myung Go) now set to play leading lady. Her name had been previously floated, so there’s no surprise with her, nor with Jung Kyeo-woon (Romance Town) also onboard, although his contracts are still in the works. We do have a fresh name in the mix, though, with Hong Soo-hyun signing on.
That’s great, since she’s fantastic. After a rather slow start in her career (Only You, Sangdoo Let’s Go To School), Hong Soo-hyun really burst out of the gates this year with a couple sharp performances: She stole scenes as the jealous frenemy to Yoon Eun-hye in Lie To Me, then put in a strong turn in The Princess’s Man as the commanding-yet-vulnerable Princess Kyung-hye. I remember thinking she was a lackluster actress in earlier dramas, but she’s on fire now and a definite actress to watch.
The four main leads all participated in the drama’s script reading last week, and will begin filming in the upcoming week, with first shoots scheduled for November 17. It’ll air in January.
Credit:
http://www.dramabeans.com/2011/11/sbss-history-of-the-salaryman-finalizes-its-cast/
Wow. Impressive. Yesterday’s Vampire Prosecutor episode pulled in a seriously solid 2.59% viewership rating overall. It peaked at a (minute-by-minute) high of 3.31%, making it a series best. Just yesterday I’d said it might take a little bit longer for cable dramas to make it that high, but I’m happy to stand corrected on that front.
Here’s another metric to consider: Of all 20- to 30-something female viewers watching television in that timeslot, Vampire Prosecutor had a 20% share, meaning that 1 in 5 women in that demographic tuned in at the time were catching a glimpse of our chic, wry prosecutor vamp tasting the blood of victims and solving crimes.
Read Full Artcle @
http://www.dramabeans.com/2011/11/vampire-prosecutor-rocks-the-ratings-again/
You’re probably going to get sick of hearing it, but here’s yet more news that cable is standing strong: Channel CGV’s newly premiered four-parter, TV Bang-ja Chronicles, enjoyed a promising start on Saturday with an overall viewership rating of 1.510%, hitting 2.475% at its highest point. Other current cable offerings like Flower Boy Ramyun Shop, Vampire Prosecutor and Empress are performing strongly as well.
To clarify, as there have been confused comments in recent ratings posts: Cable dramas have generally aired in non-prime-time slots and therefore don’t compete directly with broadcast dramas, which air in the 10 pm hour (with dailies in the 9 pm slot). A few exceptions: tvN has tried to carve out a spot in the prime-time landscape with Manny, I Need Romance, Birdie Buddy, and Flower Boy Ramyun Shop, all of which have competed with Big Three shows.
But given that many cable dramas are late-nighters (11 pm or midnight), and because cable has an inherently more limited audience, a 1% rating is considered favorable — even if a broadcast drama would be considered a failure in the 5% range or below. Only a year or two ago, a 1% cable show was a big success, but with the way things are changing, I think we’re going to see that baseline tick up to 2% very soon.
TV Bang-ja Chronicles is an adaptation of the sageuk film of the same name, updating the classic story of Chun-hyang. It brought in positive viewer response, thanks to its speedy storytelling, visuals, and portrayal of emotions as Episode 1 kicked off the love story between servant Bang-ja (played by Lee Sun-ho) and Chun-hyang (Lee Eun-woo), which naturally infuriates her other man, the aristocrat’s son Mong-ryong (Yeo Hyun-soo).
TV Bang-ja Chronicles continues airing on Saturday nights for the rest of the month.
Credit:
http://www.dramabeans.com/2011/11/tv-bang-ja-chronicles-is-another-cable-hit/
With KBS medical drama Brain about a week from its premiere, here are the drama’s first two teasers, as well as character stills of the main cast of neurosurgeons featuring Shin Ha-kyun, Jung Jin-young, and Choi Jung-won.
The way this drama handled its casting process has been pretty clunky (not to mention controversial), which had turned me off the show from the start. Having seen the teasers, though, you can see that they’re clearly going for suspenseful and dramatic, in which case it makes sense to opt for a serious film actor like Shin Ha-kyun (The Front Line) over the younger Lee Sang-yoon (The Duo). And Choi Jung-won (Wish Upon a Star) has been a leading actress for longer than new face Yoon Seung-ah (Playful Kiss), even if I think she’s much more appealing in lighter comedies than serious dramas.
All that said, it doesn’t excuse the poor way the drama dumped its first cast, and begs the question: If you say these actors were all wrong for the parts, why cast them in the first place?
Brain is doing something a bit unusual for premiere week, in airing Episodes 1 and 2 on the same night, Monday. That’s because the following day is going to be pre-empted for soccer, so they’re trying to get the jump rather than falling an episode behind schedule. With Mondays and Tuesdays pretty packed with programming, a new show can’t afford to lose interest, so hopefully they’ll hook viewers with the double header. Medical dramas aren’t really my bag, but they do have some dynamic actors at play here with Shin Ha-kyun and Jung Jin-young, both of whom are pretty damn charismatic.
Brain comes from God of Study’s team, PD Yoo Hyun-ki and writer Yoon Kung-ah. It follows Poseidon and airs its first two episodes on November 14.
Credit:
http://www.dramabeans.com/2011/11/medical-drama-brains-teasers-and-stills/
Fermentation Family (aka Balhyo Gajok), starring Song Il-kook and Park Jin-hee, may have an awkward-sounding title (at least in English), but the stills from the upcoming cable drama are quite easy on the eyes.
Pictured together here are series stars Song Il-kook (A Man Called God) and Park Jin-hee (Giant) from the drama’s open set day, and already the chemistry is crackling between them. Take the above shot: They look like they’re either about to bite each other’s heads off or start making out, or maybe both.
Normally I’d find the drama’s unwieldy title off-putting (even if it’s apt given the traditional (fermented) Korean cuisine milieu), but in this case I don’t even care, since what has my attention is the credentials of the producers: Writer Kim Ji-woo and Park Chan-hong have paired twice before, and both Devil and Resurrection were standouts — tightly written, dark, and gritty.
This drama is aiming lighter than those previous projects, though, so I’m expecting less in the way of dark crime material and more of the heartwarming variety. The drama is centered around a family that runs a Korean restaurant who bumble through life, as well as the oddball characters who gather there, and promises to tell a “cheerful, touching story.”
The romance between the leads described as one of those bickering relationships that graduates to friendship, mutual helpfulness, and then a “family-like, warm romance.” Now, that’s an ill-thought-out simile: Familial is just about the last quality I look for in a romance, myself. (I’m going to write this one off as a promotional foot-in-mouth moment rather than an actual faux-incest motif.)
The broadcaster, jTBC, is another of the new cable channels that has yet to premiere. It is preparing an impressive drama lineup with which to launch: Fermentation Family joins the list along with others like Padam Padam: The Sound of His and Her Heartbeats and sageuk drama Queen Insu starring Chae Shi-ra.
Fermentation Family premieres on December 7.
Credit:
http://www.dramabeans.com/2011/10/song-il-kook-and-park-jin-hee-in-fermentation-family/
Upcoming SBS drama History of the Salaryman secured its leading man Lee Beom-soo, but has turned in a new direction for his leading lady. Jung Ryeo-won, who has been focusing the majority of her career on films, is reportedly in talks to take on the role. In addition, Jung Kyeo-woon (Romance Town, Dr. Champ) is also considering a supporting role. Not that I expected anything else from the producers behind Giant, but the cast looks like it’s shaping up nicely.
I suppose starting with Lee Beom-soo as your anchor doesn’t hurt in attracting your choice of leading ladies. It’d be nice to see Jung Ryeo-won back on the small screen, now that she’s established herself as an actress in a broad array of film roles. She’s probably a better fit than Lee Min-jung was, because she’s got a little more heft in the melodrama department. Salaryman is described as the story of an average, everyday office worker, and his personal struggle to succeed as he deals with loneliness and isolation.
Read Full Article
http://www.dramabeans.com/2011/10/jung-ryeo-won-and-jung-kyeo-woon-to-join-salaryman/
