More casting news for City Hunter comes with the announcement of Lee Kwang-soo, the Dong Yi and High Kick Through the Roof actor whom you may also know from the variety program Running Man. (He’s known there as “angry Kwang-soo” and “incriminating Kwang-soo,” the latter nickname being attributed to his habit of embarrassing his fellow castmates with stories.)
In City Hunter, the drama that no longer bears much resemblance to its source material (going from the gritty urban underground to the posh presidential house), Lee’s character has a methodical, rigid personality and has a genius (sigh! Another one) for computers.
He’ll join Lee Min-ho, Park Min-young, and Lee Jun-hyuk. The first two are co-workers at the Blue House, with Lee Min-ho as a part of the international communications team and Park playing a presidential bodyguard. Lee Jun-hyuk is a workaholic prosecutor who’ll vie for Park’s affections (naturally).
I have no idea how this project went from the PI partnership premise of City Hunter to a bickering workplace dealio, and am wondering if there’s any way to preserve the original property (in story, tone, relationship dynamic) with this new setup. I’m all for updated scenarios and reimagined characters, but it’s just hard to understand how a supposed remake can be so unlike the franchise from which it takes its name.
City Hunter is set to premiere on May 25.
Via TV Report
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first
“first” is not meaningful at all, next time say something of substance. even if it’s a fangirl comment of “OMG he’s so pretty” that at least tells us something about you (not much but at least it’s something).
I’m all for beauty being in the eye of the beholder and all, but isn’t it a stretch to call Lee Kwang-soo pretty? (*whispers* I know, you were being sarcastic. XD)
But yeah, Kwang-soo is not much of a looker, pulling off a more sad kind of look about him, but he is one hell of an entertainer on Running Man. There were times when he pretended to be mean and it was quite a surprise. I look forward to his performance on City Hunter (not that I’m looking forward to the drama itself anymore. That went down the hill the minute they signed Park and changed the scenario).
Hey ain’t pretty, but the voice is pretty, and for a minute there I thought he was the voice.
WTH is wrong with me?
actually, I find his looks to be really charming. I saw him on SGB and watch Running Man so I must be one of those “personality makes them attractive” types
Hahaha….YAY for you!^^
Honestly if i were you….id probably just comment an exclamation mark [!] or something….just so it makes me earlier than someone like you who wrote just ‘First’. =P
They should really rename this. I was excited at first, because hey, City Hunter! But now…it bears no resemblance at all to the story the name implies. And of course…a computer genius. I add my sigh to the chorus.
Glad I’m not the only one who thinks this!
Since they’re just adding stuff anyway, do you think they’ll start taking requests? I want a pool scene. Not with a billards table, but with a swimming pool. And ducks. But Lee Min Ho has already done that, hasn’t he? Okay, pools with hippos. They like to swim. And I think that they should add an ice cream truck, too. That would make this show great!
I would like all amnesia, birth switches, cancer related deaths dealt with in the first 3 episodes… plz
and the world would be a happier place!
gosh. if they only listened..
And this is the reason why Dramabean’s commenters are the best! XDDD
LMAO!!!
lol
[2.2.1 Ambie] rofl
Though I’m happy for Kwangsoo is added to City Hunter cast. But I can no longer interested in this remake as the plot unveiled. It’s gonna be iffy, and just ruining my imagination of the original version.
As for me, the best City Hunter version will be the Hong Kong version. Even if Jackie Chan is much-less good looking than Lee Min Ho. But he’ll still be my number one Ryo Saeba, ever.
HAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA Sorry but I Couldn’t help….What ? Jackie the best city hunter ? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA…
What is strange to me also is the title. How does “City Hunter” relate to the Blue House set up? Weird. They should just give it up and call it something different as well.
HAHAHA, so true !!!
thanks jb,
I don’t think this year kdramas will remain a nostalgia for us viewers.
It just makes the gems that do appear more memorable.
I’ll watch this but not for LMH but for this guy, hahaha i love him xD
Doesn’t he look like Lee Sun Gyun?
I’d watch it for him if he a similar voice, heh.
He does resemble LSG!
Did he play the really tall court musician who was sort of an older brother figure to Dong-yi? He looks sooo different from that character in this photo.
yep, he’s the tall guy in Dong Yi, and actually in everything he is in it.
oh now that u tell me about it I can see a little resemble
Whoa, beef him up a bit and the resemblance his there. Good catch.
Yeah, he does look a bit like “the voice” in that photo. lol
His character in DY wasn’t that great. He and that older musician were more annoying than funny at times.
Hm, I don’t think even the beauty of LMH can save this (see Personal Taste, and there he had a kick ass costar in SYJ which helped a lot but not enough).
I’m not a PMY hater, she’s just decent in my opinion.
I was really excited to see Lee Min Ho play the original City Hunter PI character. Now, I’m just disappointed that they’ve completely sterilised the story.
Unfortunately, for me, I really like LMH so I’ll be watching regardless.
It’s hard being a stan.
tell us all this is a joke. surprise us with the real dealio when time comes…PUH-LEASSSSSSSSSE?
I am joining the chorus of pleading them to change the name of the drama and not call it a remake. They shouldn’t tease us for months with the expectation of the popular manga. I guess no more pervy detective LMH,and no lineup of beautiful women. I was expecting them to announce more beautiful actresses added to the cast!
Haven’t read the manga before so i can’t really compare the setup to the original. But i feel curious because in all of the recent city hunter articles, there seems to be a lot of questions about how it’s deviating from the actual story.
Was the original story really very good? I may try reading it if it’s worth a try. But argh… that style of illustration kind of puts me off. It is very 80s-90s, because it was from a decade ago after all. Perhaps because I’ve gotten used to the way contemporary anime/manga is drawn, esp. the CLAMP kind.
You can have an idea of what the original manga is like at this website Mangafox.com . It is definitely different from what the production team is telling us.
I watch city hunter the anime and read some bits of the manga and this material is a classic to me. I can add this the only anime I would rewatch without any doubt today. The way the storyline succeeds at being intense, funny, dramatic… very well ! I loved every characters here even the vilains and Ryo Seiba goofy character (the hero and the soul of the story !) has so much depht and his relationship with Kaori is so top that I think this is an insult to the character and the material when they casted LMH…I mean… no comment about PMY who is casted as the heroine.
Since I’ve never read the original story, it doesn’t make a big difference to me personally. But I did find the original plot much more interesting.
Sigh. Why does everyone want to follow each other? You’d think these guys would rather want to stand out with their projects. I know they think viewers “like” this stuff, but it’s more like they watch it because there isn’t anything else being put out. What other choice is there?
SIGH. I was so excited when I first found out that City Hunter would be an adaptation of THE City Hunter which stars Lee Min Ho. I haven’t read the manga or seen the anime yet, and I was planning on doing those before I watch the drama. But after knowing that the premise of the show is not exactly what I hoped for, I’ll be watching this show because of Lee Min Ho and Lee Jun Hyuk. However, if the first few episodes don’t pick up and lose interest, then I might drop it because I have other dramas to watch. Again, SIGH.
They should just change the title. Like, City Hunter: The Blue House Adventures. Or City Hunter: Not the City Hunter you think it is. Anything, any title because City Hunter alone is very misleading.
For some reason I thought he is a really petite version of THE VOICE!!! Lol..
You wouldn’t if you saw him in Dong Yi being the dumb, weird, adorkable musician sidekick. He was so random! I didn’t even recognize him in that pic! Then I read Dong Yi and I’m like…Hmm…who? I had to stare at him for a few minutes to connect the dots! LMAO! He’s hilarious!
Hope I get to see another side of him, because I haven’t seen any of the other stuff he’s on. It’ll be interesting to see him as the second lead. Thanks JB!
Doesn’t Dong Yi have a million episodes? LOL.. Don’t really go for those dramas.. but yea, he must look different.. It’s just that pic above made me double think. LOL
Haha. 50, 60-ish? LOL. Watched every ep until around 30, then finally just skimmed through the rest…ugh. I don’t go for million-ep dramas either. I was in it for Bae Soo Bin and the pretty…and the King-Dong Yi scenes.
You’re not the only one. That pic is a looker
Here’s what he looked like there:
http://cphoto.asiae.co.kr/listimglink/6/2010050716003369984_3.jpg
http://hot.popcornfor2.com/uploads/assets/user_11506/Lee_Kwang_Soo_Yoo_Jae_Suk.jpg
LOL apparently they’re comparing him with Yoo Jae Suk? ^^
DY had its moments.
Skip the early episodes w/ the child DY and then skip the last 1/3 which pretty much repeats the same evil schemes.
And yeah, the best parts were the King and DY and DY getting her nose in places where it shouldn’t be and causing trouble for others, as well as herself.
LOL I thought so too I thought he was Mr. Voice too. That pasta guy for a second
Hhahaha, same here! With all the hype, I’m kind of getting turned off by this drama. If Mr. Voice was actually casted I would totally be for it.
They should rename this drama, seriously.
Awwwww He’s so ahdorkable!
Oh I like Gwangsoo in Running Man!
He’s nothing like genius though.
And since I’ve seen him ‘moving’ in that show ( not in a still pic like this ) I don’t think he resembles Mr. Voice at all.
I guess this City Hunter is not adaptation to the comic anymore?
I thought I was the only one like umm no look-a -like to me lol
Had to do a double take. I thought it he was Lee Sun Gyun!
So did I !
Me too!
I LOVE GWANGSOO!!! he was HILARIOUS in episode 28 ahha one of my most favourite episode .
I like Gwang-soo too…though recently he’s no more incriminating GS….He’s more angry GS….and maybe Pitiiful GS. lol. Still..zero interest in this set up. Well, unless it does the unthinkable and prove to be iressistable…
I cannot imagine PMY as a bodyguard no matter how I try…isn’t she like REALLY REALLY petite…she can pass as a boy in SungKyunKwan because she’s a sort of flower-boy with brains….but don’t bodyguards need…uhm…SOME amount of brawns too?
my excitement for this show disappeared a long time ago……
Here we go again…. Angry City Hunter fans rants…. commence….
They should change the title to “Pity Hunter”
No offence..but I’m so tired of them tagging on City Hunter..
If it doesn’t follow any of the original’s, just drop it and get creative.
For it to be called City Hunter, first, it need to have Ryo Saeba and Kaori working together as PI.
That what Ryo is, and Kaori’s reason to join him was also to find out the murderer of her brother.
WTH with this Blue House??
They can call it it “Not Really Really Like You”, or “Not So Powerful Opponents”
He looks (from the 26 pix I saw on Google Images) like he would be a funny guy, not and angry guy.
Maybe he will be a funny angry guy.
Since he is not as beautiful as LMH, I’m guessing the set-up is that the LMH character would underestimate him as a rival, which could be interesting.
I know nothing about City Hunter, so other than the title having nothing to do with the story, I have no complaints.
I’m just hoping for some PP or SKKS kisses, not BOF kisses.
Sorry, but my crazy uncontained enthusiasm for this drama pretty much hit the meh stage since Park Min-young was cast as the main lead…. *eyeroll*.
It sounds like just another run of the mill Korean drama now. *Not really complaining here but bitter cos It could have been a.w.e.s.o.m.e.*
I think they definitely should amend the title… at least it gives some of us hope that they might possibly eventually do a proper Cityhunter adaptation.
They can’t even call it City Hunter anymore because it has nothing to do with the original story anymore.
It’s not even loosely adapted anymore, but will they really be calling it City Hunter. (The mangaka should object)
And now it seems hanakimi is also going to be made into a korean version.
Still trust the origin manka writer to have allowed all these, anyway will be tuning in for LMH hehe.
the mustache has to go away.
I REALLY WONDER WHY….the writer of the
original storyline of “City Hunter” hasn’t
objected (yet) to these changes. True, in
most cases if you buy someone’s work you
might also buy the right to finagle the story
around. But still, why buy the well-known
storyline of “City Hunter” in the first place,
if you intended to do such a major hatchet
job on it?
And why do I have a slight premonition that
LMH will pull out of this drama, because it’s not
the original story/premise that he signed on for?
*
I really wish he will pull out of this drama now, but he would have wasted all these months training and studying the character and then have to start looking for another project takes time too. Does that mean he signed on too early before the other costars and script are finalized?
LOL i wtch every episodes of RunningMan and i just love his tall tales…its hillarious…but i also dnt lyk the idea how they chnged the whole idea of CityHunter..i wnted it to be fun not all polished lyk every kdrama seem to be!! im a minyoung-minho fan so thats ok…but the story ,scenario..it all seems wrong comparing it to the manhwa. i realli wish theyd keep it along the original storylyn and will stop chnging things!! but i realli would lyk to see how minho and minyoung play out their respective roles..its diff from what they hve done…sooo..ill deffi wtch for that
Wow one by one, Running man members are getting casted, that’s really good and really bad T_T. They might not be able to film running man depending on the schedule. PLEASE DON’T GO AWAY!
LOLLOLLOL
sorry.. but i can’t really see Kwangsoo as a “methodical, rigid personality”… pwaha
don’t get me wrong- i really like him… and i hope he puts his all in his character!
Pretty cast. Looks like I have to wait 2 months before anything interesting pops up. This season, there’s nothing much.
facepalm.
I am all for “City Hunter”! I think the producers will not deviate too much from the original manga as they must have signed an agreement with the original writer. I remember at the very beginning there was a report that the original writer allowed Korea to produce the drama only if they cast Lee Min Ho as the main lead. So I am all for this drama. Lee Min Ho fighting!:)