This doesn’t give us much new news, just a few more stills of Lie To Me, wherein leading man Kang Ji-hwan plays a chaebol and hotel CEO.
I suppose “chaebol” is just one of those roles all actors have to go through to be a proper leading man — alongside the benevolent Prince Charming, the uptight Mr. Darcy, the overlooked best friend, the tragic hero. In K-dramaland, we like our heroes to fit squarely within the established boxes, apparently.
Kang’s already starting to attract the inevitable comparisons to the industry’s most recent version of that type, which would be Hyun Bin’s Joo-won character from Secret Garden. (Not that he’s the quintessential chaebol; just the most recent one. Two years ago, we’d have been maxing out on the Lee Min-ho/Gu Jun-pyo comparisons.)
Kang’s an actor who I think is plenty capable of taking on meaty, complicated characters so I’m sort of wary of him being stuffed into a boring little box for this role, knowing he can do much more. These kinds of stories tend to be great vehicles for the heroine, who gets to be bubbly and quirky and interesting, or at least really cute, but less imaginative with the men (examples: Kim Tae-hee versus Song Seung-heon in My Princess, Chae Rim versus Lee Min-ki in Dal Ja’s Spring). And it would be a shame to waste him.
Hopefully there’s something about his character to set him apart from the dozens (hundreds?) of chaebol heroes who came before him; if anything, we can hope for great chemistry with Yoon Eun-hye, who’s been reliably solid in the chemistry department (Joo Ji-hoon, Gong Yoo, to a lesser extent Yoon Sang-hyun). Now’s not the time to break the pattern!
Lie To Me premieres on May 9, following Midas.
Via No Cut News
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I love the first foto so much…I would die if I hade a boss like him…drol
I will work everyday plus stay for overtime if he is my boss. HAHAHA! XD
i’d work the hardest and work overtime FOR FREE if i he’s my boss! love him!
I’m going to have to disagree with you JB- lee min ki’s kang tae bong was just as compelling a role as chae rim’s oh dal ja. even more so, maybe.
God I love me some lee minki.
Lee Min Ki was delicious!
kang tae bong was awesome, not very chaebol-esque, i must say. more of roles like his would be lovely.
not liking the all-white on kang ji hwan, i always get the smarmy, oily vibe. same thing with bae soo bin when he did the all-white in 49 days.
hahaha
if i had a boss like him, i’d work overtime just to see him
BWAHAHAHAHAHA love your comment !!
And I guess we’d be rivals, then !
^^
This new dramabeans for mobile seems to cut off half the pictures on my IPod no matter if I turn it landscape or portrait I can’t get the full picture!! It’s really annoying!! Just read the Lee min ho article and I can’t see his face!! Nor the eye candy here!!!
me tooo…new dramabeans for mobile is like allkpop..i’m using blackberry n can’t get the full picture…sucks!!!
This happened to me a few days ago with my iphone4. If u check it, it should have a function to go back to the original form. That is what I did with my phone.
Yeah, I have the same problem with my BB.
I am in the same boat..the new mobile application Sucks
I love chaebols!
Ahhh, Kang Ji-hwan….I have a feeling you’re going do something really special with this role.
right there with you,I think its impossible for him to play bland role , he will be for sure one of those memorable props deserving chaebols
Didn’t they say in Coffee House, he did a lot of improvisation that ended up on the screen?
No matter what is written on the page, if the actor can bring something better and funnier, the good directors should listen, and allow it!
Chaebol role, blahh…but he sure does look very fine.
Fashionable chaebols wear “over the calf” sox and wouldn’t let their skin show.
Hah! It’d be awesome if he had a scene on a boat while wearing the all white suit. Fashionable chaebols dress for the occasion.
… and will have water served to them in a glass and not bottled!! and btw, will have a better executive chair! lol, that looks like a computer chair he’s sitting on!
LOL! So true! I never realized it until you mentioned it!
yea i really hope his character is more interesting than this. His suit is already making me worry. His characters have always been a bit off-beat, and he plays them so well.
Well.. I imagine that he wouldn’t choose this drama if it was boring, right? There must be some crazy weird thing about this guy… what is it what is it???
I will work for free if my boss looks that fineeeeeeee!
I absolutely adore Kang Ji-Hwan and think he’s best character up to now is Lee Jin Soo in Coffee House! He really is a great actor and I hope this character in Lie To Me isn’t the typical chaebol character because that would be such a waste on his talent. Hopefully K-Dramaland is changing up their Chaebol hero’s personality from the *typical*; we need more of of Jin Soo and Joo Won!
Who is the makeup artist here because he/she totally caked up his face in every single still!
I also hope he can put something extra in the character.. So it’s not the regular variety of chaebols. Then again, it’s also any script…
I don’t think he would mind too much if the character is typical and boring because I’m sure he’s just happy to be working again.
I think that he’ll be great in this role and I believe that he is good in acting ……………………..
I go crazy seeing his good looks get tainted by bad make-up artists.
… alongside the benevolent Prince Charming, the uptight Mr. Darcy, the overlooked best friend, the tragic hero.
Pfft~ from the looks of this headline photo, KJH appears more like Twilight’s Edward Cullen to me than before your P.C., or Mr. Darcy.
The atrocious foundation caking his face… argh…
Bad make up or may the lighting, agrh.
WHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!
I can’t wait to watch this new drama because of my best top actress YOON EUN HYE is with KANG JI HWAN!!!! =D =D
Woot Woot!
hm…. Kang Ji-hwan in suits…yum.
…and i hope his character is nothing like Joo-won.
I think that the Chaebol role in Midas was a disaster for Jang Hyuk – a very talented and compelling actor. I hope that Kan Ji Hwan, whom I adore, hasn’t fallen into a similar trap.
In my mind there is a jilted, misunderstood Chaebol on every street corner of Seoul just waiting to meet me….I’de skip them all for KJH >swoon<
If i ever go to korea and don’t meet at least 1 chaebol with daddy problems and 1 totally reliable and good i’d feel VERY disappointed… -_-’ haha
Maybe this chaebol is a “Genius chaebol” xD
One thing he does better than most I’ve seen is deliver meanness with style, so even if he’s given the classic chaebol lines, there’ll be that spark in his eyes…
They couldn’t possibly kill that. Could they?
i’m more than willing to be his secretary!!!
Totally agree , KJH is such a talented actor ,
My first love
He looks really nice in suits
Anyway, I can’t wait for this drama!
Oh, dang … so sweet in white … he really can pull off a white suit.
I want to second Yasmin complaint but I couldn’t even see a reply button for her response.
Please JB I IMPLORE and BEG you on bended knees, this new format isn’t merely not user’s friendly it’s hostile to mobile users! I’m travelling alot and my work necessitas me to attend more than 6 hours of meeting a day so you see I would be severely hurt by this new development. All that I can see now is the article. And some responses without a way of knowing who respond for who.
Please return to your old format. Please, please, pleeese…..
What she means to say is KJH is the sun, her life force, her life-giving drug.
Her cell phone is the only means for pipipipipipit to access this source of all that is love in her life, and sadly, without KJH, she will wither and die.
LOL!
Well, I’m glad someone is able to learn elvish and translate all that, or had I not learn a darn thing through LotR saga for this reason.
U da BEST Jomo! Just for you…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0zyf_4d6y4&feature=related
*giggling* poor pipit, she sounds desperate
It’s back! The old format is back! Now I can see everything just like I see it on my PC.
JB thank you so much! I LOVE YOU! LOVE YOU!
BTW, don’t listen to Jomo. I admit that she has a talent to read between the lines to a small degree, but she’s mistaken in this instant.
What Kang Ji Hwan? I don’t even think he is good looking – no offense to you. So, there’s no need for me to see him as an eye candy.
You’re wrong Jomo!
*start cheking out the pictures in detail and excitedly mumbling to oneself: Yes!Yes!Yes!*
I’m pretty excited to see how Kang Ji-hwan will play out the chaebol archetype. Hopefully he’ll bring more depth and subtlety to the role.
Now onto another topic: the Mobile Edition of dramabeans. I heartily agree with the previous posts voicing their dismay over this recent development. This Edition eats up all of the quality and visual appeal presented in the original format of the site, not to mention most of the pictures and screencaps have been chopped in halves. I think the Mobile Edition should be further fine tuned before it is used because I want the old format back whenever I access dramabeans on my iPod.
I hope he gets to be a chaebol with personality! Kang Ji Hwan really suits fun roles!
Yay! Thank you! They just released a still of the two of them together, and this is going to be great!
so excited about this drama!so many goodies are coming out!thank DB
i mean…Thanks! =D
Is that… grass on his desk? O_o
Yeah, what is that green stuff? Files? CDs? There’re some at his knee too.
http://www.allkpop.com/2011/04/yoon-eun-hye-kang-ji-hwan-throw-a-surprise-birthday-party-for-lie-to-me-pd
Now I feel like rewatching Coffee House…
Kiss kiss kiss
Yes kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss
kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss
There is seriously something strange going on with the KJH fans.
Maybe it is a cerebral overheating – brain smelting – caused by flashes of brilliance and heat from his aura.
You all need a self help group, but by no means should you spend any more time in each others’ company…Or all of your brains will merge into one big blotch of kiss kiss kiss.
lol… K.I.S.S.
This spring instead of cherry blossoms we have a big bunch of drama blossoms … and very aluring I might add. which one to pick, which one to watch? This is really hard.
I don’t like this new mobile setting too! Tried to click on the “Exit the Mobile Edition” button but it doesn’t work! Can someone pls help how to get back to old settings?
Whoever the leading man is, Yoon Eun-hye will pull the great chemistry off
I really hope she will do the good job in this drama .
I’m not getting my hopes up yet but I do love my Chaebol heros
I do hope he has some sort of quirky or different side to him than all the traditional characters. Then it would give me a reason to like him better! 
Fighting!
Cant wait to see this!
Anything with YEH on it, I’ll watch! KJH, I sooo adored him in My Girlfriend Is An Agent (his pairing with Kim Ha-neul was really good!) Also, can I say he’s YUMMY! can’t wait, can’t wait, CAN’T WAIT!!!
I think my heart skipped a beat. Felt like I was transported to those days when I was so into Coffee House and was very affected by the ending.
God, why does he have to look sooo good in a suit? Can’t. Sleep. Now.
I only liked him in Capital Scandal (one of my fav kdrama and the last one I ended )
And the only actor I really think YEH has chemistry with is Oh Man Suk
Kang Ji Hwan is just plain delicious. I cannot decide which of the two photos is the better one. I’ll chew and swallow both.
“Chaebol” characters don’t have to be boring (a la Hyun Bin’s Joo-won in “SG”), while they still usually aren’t as fun or endearing as their corresponding female leads, the “chaebol” characters in “Coffee Prince” (Gong Yoo) and “My Princess” (Song Seung-heon) brought their own sense of fun and charisma to the table.
Hopefully, Kang Ji-hwan’s character will have that certain something that makes his character interesting and not just be the typical arrogant arse with no sense of humor.
On the plus side… Chaebol=Great suits!
Yes! I really think this is the reason why there are so many chaebol characters in dramas.
just wondering, has the postering of chaebols as guys with soft spots / heroes changed real chaebols into nicer guys or more accepting of marrying w ‘lower class’? or if it had served to perpetuate the stereotype?
nice!!! excited to see this in may!! the white suit is just awesome!! i havent seen a chaebol yet whos wearing a white suit?or is just me ?
damn taht 2nd picture! DROOLS!!!