News bites: August 6, 2016

by awcoconuts

Joo Ji-hoon, Lee Yoon-ji

• Joo Ji-hoon (Mask) has received a proposal to join Lee Sung-min and Hwang Jung-min in Yoon Jong-bin’s upcoming film Maneuver, which will be based on a true story about a joint project involving North and South Koreans and the underground dealings that occur as the two parties come together for a delicate and precarious agreement. Casting is still ongoing and cameras for the film will begin rolling next year. [Herald, Sports Chosun]
• MBC’s upcoming daily drama Person Who Gives Happiness is courting Lee Yoon-ji (Ex-Girlfriend Club) for the leading role. She’s positively considering the job, for which she’d play a former nutritionist and current CEO of a lunchbox business. Lee’s character is a single mother who hails from an orphanage herself, and she pours all of her love into raising her adopted child. She’s supportive of her kid’s acting aspirations, but then the birth mother will reappear and Lee will struggle to protect her child. [Joongang, Xports News]


Jin Yi-han, Lee Sang-yub

• Jin Yi-han (My Secret Hotel) will reunite with his old co-star Lee Soo-kyung for her cameo on Bring It On, Ghost in the episode airing on August 8. The two worked together on MBN’s You’re Here, You’re Here, You’re Really Here. [DongA]
• The cameo parade continues on Doctors: Lee Sang-yub (Master—God of Noodles) will appear in next week’s episodes, following last week’s guest spot by Namgoong Min. [Osen]
• The first-ever awards ceremony for tvN will have dual purposes, to reward those who’ve been affiliated with the cable network for the past decade and to celebrate ten years of success. The ceremony will be held at KINTEX in Ilsan on October 8 and 9, with the 9th marking tvN’s official birthday. [My Daily]


Esom, Train to Busan

• Esom (Madam Bbaeng-deok) will romance Lee Jung-jae in Jung Yoon-cheol’s upcoming film Enemy Soldier. She’s a court lady who has protected the crown prince (Yeo Jin-gu) since he was wee, and she’ll enjoy a brief but passionate fling with Lee’s character, a leader of the enemy camp (but also the crown prince’s bodyguard). Cameras begin rolling at the end of August, and Enemy Soldier is targeting a 2017 release. [Sports Chosun]
• Yay for Gong Yoo, Jung Yumi, Ma Dong-seok and the other stars of zombie blockbuster Train to Busan — in its first two weeks, it’s racked up 9 million in ticket sales and is quickly approaching the 10 million mark. The film, which debuted at Cannes in May but wasn’t widely released until July 20, has had the best opening ever in Korea for a domestic movie with over 872,000 admissions sold (they must be using the number of tickets sold as the metric, as other sites report that the film’s opening day revenues were just shy of Roaring Currents’ splash of an open in July 2014). Train to Busan lost its first place box office spot to Operation Chromite in its second week, but the movie is still selling tickets at a pace 5 to 6 days faster than last summer’s Veteran and Assassination. [Sports Chosun]


Jung Woong-in, Sohn Chang-min

• The sageuk reboot of My Sassy Girl has added two villains to its cast. Jung Woong-in (Monster, Sweet Savage Family) is a charismatic politician and influential member of the royal court who had a hand in overthrowing the former queen. He’s a cold man who won’t hesitate to dispose of a royal to retain his power. Sohn Chang-min (My Daughter Kim Sa-wol) is a king who wants to preserve the dignity of the monarchy, but Jung and his group have him under their thumbs and Sohn is nothing more than the royal court’s lackey. My Sassy Girl will be 100% pre-produced and released simultaneously in Korea, China and Japan. Filming will begin in September. [Joongang]
• The writer of Unkind Women and When A Man Loves, Kim In-young, has revealed her next project will be a fantasy romance airing on SBS in the early half of 2017. [Xports News]


Kim Hyun-sook, Lee Seung-joon, Ra Mi-ran, Kim San-ho

• For the fifteenth season of Rude Miss Young-ae, Kim Hyun-sook might find herself in a love triangle with Lee Seung-joon and another man. The casting of Young-ae’s ex-boyfriend (and the third member of the triangle in the previous season), Kim San-ho, is up in the air, and the production team is currently searching to fill a new role, that of a pojangmacha owner and manly man who will enjoy “some” with the titular character. Kim Hyun-sook, Lee, and Ra Mi-ran are all confirmed to be reprising their roles when Season 15 airs in November. [Joongang, TV Report]
• Wanted’s final two episodes have been pushed back a week due to the Rio Olympics; they’ll now air on SBS on August 17 and 18. [Star News]

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