Meh.

The “female Rain” pop dance-singer Sohn Dambi is making her Hollywood acting debut.

One thing she’s got going for her is that her debut comes in a dance-themed movie, Hype Nation, and even if her vocals are mediocre, she’s a decent (though overhyped) dancer (see MV below). The flick is backed by Universal and, according to the article, was in search of a female lead “with East Asian appeal.” Hence Sohn Dambi taking the role.

She’ll star alongside hip-hoppers B2K, who face off in the movie against top Korean b-boy group Gambler. Because she’ll speak entirely in English, she plans to start studying with an English tutor.

Apparently she also hopes of breaking through to the U.S. music scene, but is starting with film. (I say: A pan-Asian superstar like Boa has the odds stacked against her, so it’ll only be that much harder for a B-list singer like Sohn Dambi to break through…) Also, she’s pretty, but she’s never acted before, and the fact that she was cast despite non-fluency in English plus an absence of demonstrated acting ability doesn’t make me approach this movie with high hopes.

Check out her “Cry Eye” video (which makes me laugh, for all the wrong reasons):

Via My Daily

Filed under: Chungmuro/Film by javabeans - 27 Comments →

I love Horan. Not only is she a great singer for electronica group Clazziquai as well as indie band Ibadi (not the strongest vocals, but lovely all the same), she’s smart and literate (she put out a collection of essays, served as book columnist for a magazine, and hosted an educational book program on television).

Now the singer-author-MC-radio DJ takes her first stab at a new type of stage: musical theater. Next month, she’ll debut in SHOUT! — “the mod musical” about women’s liberation that takes place in England’s swingin’ ’60s — which has enjoyed successful runs in England, the States, Australia, and Japan. Characters are named after colors (Yellow, Green, Blue), and Horan steps into the role of “Red.”

SHOUT! runs from October 24 through January 18 in Seoul’s Cecil Theater.

Via Sports Khan

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Filed under: Theater/Musicals by javabeans - 8 Comments →

It feels like we’re constantly hearing of pop stars venturing forth into acting, and this time it’s rock-ish pop singer Younha who’ll give it a shot. She makes her acting debut in a Japanese film, titled Next Sunday, and explained that the director, Kenmochi Satoki, “saw me singing on a Japanese program, came upon an idea and had the script written. After hearing that, I couldn’t turn down this role.”

Younha has actually already appeared in a short film, 2005’s Day of Praise [천사가 내려온 날], but this project is considered her official acting debut. The movie is described as a “quietly drawn film” that follows a young Korean woman studying in Japan who falls in love with an older Japanese man.

She explained, “The crew is all Japanese, and so is the dialogue. Although it’s produced in Japan and is a ‘99% made in Japan’ film, since the movie deals with the lead girl’s development, there will be some Korean spoken too.”

About the movie: “I think of it as a movie that quietly shows the inner thoughts and feelings of a main character who realizes, through watching the hardships of a lowly cleaner, that everybody undergoes struggles.”

Seems like every pop star these days wants to become a movie star, doesn’t it? I bet if you canvassed the current players on the kpop scene, we’d find that most of them harbor acting aspirations and see their kpop work as more of a “starter” career. Still, enough pop stars have crossed over successfully that one can’t be dismissed for wanting to make the effort.

Via DongA.com

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The “romantic musical” Polaroid (first mentioned here as Andy’s second stage role) starring former Miss Korea and classical musician Honey Lee (so pretty) held its dress rehearsal–cum–press conference on June 30, the day before its official July 1 premiere.

The project is directed by Sung Jae-joon and written by Won Mi-sol, who also produced last year’s musical Music In My Heart, and its story unfolds around the two leads who meet by chance on a street — he’s an aspiring photographer, she’s an art student — and fall in love. Although Honey Lee’s musical specialty lies in traditional folk instruments, she had trained as a vocalist with YG in the past, which makes a musical role a natural vehicle for her acting debut. (Although I haven’t heard her sing myself, so who knows?)

Honey Lee was also asked about current Miss Korea Lee Jisun, who’s competing in the upcoming Miss Universe 2008 pageant in Vietnam on July 14. She wished her successor well and said she hoped that Lee Jisun would be able to improve on her own fourth-place finish last year.

Polaroid runs through August 24; Andy joins the cast in August.

Via Yonhap News

SONG OF THE DAY

Super Kidd - “사랑예보” (love forecast) [ Download ]

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Tim, the man with the smooth velvety singing voice, is taking to the stage — as an actor. Perhaps in keeping with his well-known strong Christian faith, his role is in the musical Jesus Jesus (which, as far as I know, is not the same as Jesus Christ Superstar), and he takes on the titular role as — you guessed it! — Jesus Christ.

In case you couldn’t recognize Tim above, here’s a refresher to your right. Prior to his debut as a pop/ballad singer, he’d participated in small-scale plays and musicals, but this is his first time onstage in a large-scale musical.

In the seventeen years since Jesus Jesus made its debut in 1991, it’s been performed all around the world, and Tim’s role was previously filled by actors Cha In Pyo and Kim Jang Seob.

He’ll give performances in a rather short run — June 18 through 20 — in Seoul.

Via DongA.com

SONG OF THE DAY

Tim - “내 마음 사용 설명서” (Instructions on Using My Heart) [ Download ]

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