Dramabeans » directors

Yoo Ji-tae’s directorial feature and wedding plans

javabeans — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 23:19:58 +0000

It’ll be a busy winter for actor Yoo Ji-tae (A Star’s Lover, Oldboy), whose feature directorial debut is about to start filming, just a month after his upcoming wedding to actress Kim Hyo-jin (Mary Stayed Out All Night), who’s pictured with him in this wedding-themed shoot for Harper’s Bazaar.

Yoo has been directing shorts for a number of years now, picking up awards and traveling the film festival circuit, and his first feature film, which he also wrote, has been in the works for a while. Now he’s found a major investor, Lotte Entertainment, and completed contracts with a distributor, which means his attention now turns to casting. Once that’s done, he’ll begin filming in January of next year.

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Read the rest of Yoo Ji-tae’s directorial feature and wedding plans (191 words)

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Post tags: directors, Kim Hyo-jin, Yoo Ji-tae

Yoo Ji-tae begins work on feature directorial debut

javabeans — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 20:21:00 +0000

It’s been a while since Yoo Ji-tae (Midnight FM, A Star’s Lover) announced his foray into directing features, but almost three years later, he’s ready to begin working on the project.

According to one source, Yoo is currently writing the screenplay, which is described as a human drama about the heartache and love of a female migrant laborer. He is also in talks with investors and production companies for possible backing. Yoo’s management confirmed the reports, but added that they couldn’t divulge additional details because the script is still in the working stages.

This will be his debut in terms of full-length feature films, but Yoo has already had modest success with his four shorts, all of which he wrote in addition to directing, and which have traveled the film-festival circuit. His debut short, 2003′s The Bike Boy, is about a boy with a crush on a girl who tries to impress her by riding a bicycle. His second, 2005′s How Do The Blind Dream, is about a blind acupuncturist who’s tired of peace and quiet. One day a young woman comes to him as a patient and shakes things up with her frankness and bold talk.

His third, Out Of My Intention, was about a middle-aged man out to track down an old love. His most recent, 2009′s Invitation, deals with the lack of communication in today’s materialistic modern age, the alienation felt by those who want to communicate but find themselves cut off from each other.

Based on his choices, he strikes me as a serious sort; I’m intrigued as to what he’ll have to say with his debut feature. He’s obviously not going for commercial appeal, but I can appreciate that; he’s got enough commercial success on the acting front.

Via DongA

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Kim Ki-duk’s Arirang wins at Cannes

javabeans — Sat, 21 May 2011 20:15:32 +0000

Director Kim Ki-duk has picked an award at Cannes International Film Festival for his film Arirang, taking home the top prize in the Un Certain Regard section along with Andreas Dresen’s Halt Auf Freier Strecke (Stopped On Track).

The film received a standing ovation at Cannes when it screened to approximately 2,000 viewers there, and it’ll be interesting to see how that affects its response in Korea, if at all, as it’s been peppered with criticism there. (Here’s a well-written review in English, from The Hollywood Reporter.)

Kim has long had a contentious relationship with the industry in Korea, while being lauded overseas for his indie arthouse films (3-Iron, Samaritan Girl, Coast Guard and Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter…And Spring are some of his more well-known films). While other Korean directors like Park Chan-wook and Bong Joon-ho are respected both at home and abroad, it’s not quite the case for Kim, whose movies are often commercial flops domestically. He’s developed a reputation for being a “bad boy” of cinema, and Arirang takes that reputation, inflates it by about a thousand percent, and flings it back in the faces of his detractors.

The film is documentary-style and features himself in a cabin, edited in an experimental fashion as a dialogue with himself (in three distinct personas), reflecting on his 15-year-long career. He doesn’t hold anything back, and at points swears and rails at the camera, and himself, about the pains and betrayals he’s felt by moviegoers and others in the industry, including his protégé Jang Hoon (who left to work on a major film production).

Kim was reportedly spurred to make Arirang after the traumatizing accident on set of his 2008 film Dream, in which Lee Na-young almost died while filming a suicide (hanging) scene. In a letter posted on the film festival website, Kim wrote, “The countless people I’ve meet while making films…Human relationships that come together as if forever only to rip apart like tissue paper…All of us entangled by love, passion, hate and the urge to kill…To me all this is Arirang.”

Via 10 Asia, Hollywood Reporter, Wall Street Journal Scene Asia

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Post tags: awards, directors, film festivals, Kim Ki-duk

Gu Hye-sun sets up film production company

javabeans — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 18:14:18 +0000

Actress-director Gu Hye-sun has established her own company, Gu Hye-sun Film, and had in fact set it up back when she was filming her first feature film, Magic.

The company is more of a formality than anything, as it employs no workers and is not planning to operate on a grand scale. It’s a one-woman operation for Gu, who will produce and film her projects under its name, which will offer her a measure of legal/business protection.

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Read the rest of Gu Hye-sun sets up film production company (184 words)

Gu Hye-sun directs festival trailer

javabeans — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 22:20:24 +0000

Actress and budding director Gu Hye-sun is back behind the camera as she takes on the directing of the official trailer for the International Women’s Film Festival in Seoul. She’s done a trailer of this kind before, for 2009′s 7th Asiana International Short Film Festival, so she’s got some experience, even if the trailers are super-short (approximately 1 minute in length).

As you probably are aware, Gu has spent the better part of the past two years focusing on her interests outside of acting, such as songwriting, drawing, writing, and directing. She does have an acting project in the works (the drama The Musical), but for whatever reason, it has yet to secure a broadcaster or a timeslot and has been languishing for a while. One wonders when it’ll finally see the light of day — will it be like Birdie Buddy and fade into nothing, or Paradise Ranch and hit airwaves eventually?

It appears that she’s more interested in directing than performing at the moment, and she has been writing her next feature length film, a vampire romance that she intends to direct. Truth be told, I prefer her as an actress, and it’s the area where I think she’s strongest (though, funny enough, her biggest project — Boys Before Flowers — is pretty much her worst acting performance), though I’m sure it’s her prerogative to spend her time developing other interests.

This year’s festival (the 13th) takes on the theme of women in action, which’ll serve as the main motif of Gu’s trailer, and takes place on April 7 through 14.

Via Sports Khan

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Gu Hye-sun’s vampire movie to follow The Musical

javabeans — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 13:36:53 +0000

Actress Gu Hye-sun is getting ready to put on her director’s hat again with her next film, even as she’s currently working as an actress in the drama series The Musical. The project is her first feature film as the writer-director, an as-yet untitled vampire romance.

She’s written and directed two shorts already, the latter of which, Magic, was released earlier this year to mixed reviews. (The film was called more style than substance, with a plodding plot but strong visual work.) In contrast with Magic, this project aims to be much more commercial and will be filmed on a large scale to do justice to its subject material.

Gu is scheduled to travel to New York for The Musical‘s Broadway location shoots in October. She’ll stay there for about half a month, then return. The vampire movie has been in preparation for the better part of the past year, and will get going once The Musical wraps.

Via Star News

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Jack-of-all-trades Gu Hye-sun’s secret: “I’m a workaholic”

javabeans — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 19:18:29 +0000

Gu Hye-sun hasn’t been acting for the past year, and is currently wrapping up work on her first feature film. (She made her directorial debut with a short film last year.) Here’s a recent interview where she talks about her myriad artistic interests and how these different pursuits culminate with her film.

Jack of all trades Gu Hye-sun’s secret: “I’m a workaholic. If I don’t work, I feel uneasy”

The entertainment industry’s “Renaissance girl,” director-actor-songwriter-writer… Gu Hye-sun

“Gu-onardo Da Vinci.”

He was a “Renaissance man” specializing in many diverse fields, from medicine to science, art, and architecture. Leonardo da Vinci is the name Gu Hye-sun alludes to. Attached in front of her name are many modifiers. Actor, film director, writer, songwriter — she covers many genres in popular culture.

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Read the rest of Jack-of-all-trades Gu Hye-sun’s secret: “I’m a workaholic” (1,123 words)

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Post tags: directors, Gu Hye-sun, interviews

Gu Hye-sun casts new movie

javabeans — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 08:14:16 +0000

Twenty-five-year-old actress Gu Hye-sun is at work on her new film Magic [요술] , and has cast her female lead: Seo Hyun-jin, a former pop singer turned actress.

Seo Hyun-jin got her start in 2001 with the SM girl group M.I.L.K, and went on to act in musicals and dramas like Hwang Jini and HIT. She first became friends with Gu back in her singer days, and was featured in Gu’s directorial debut, the short film The Madonna (aka The Cheerful Caretaker).

Magic is Gu Hye-sun’s first feature directorial project, and is set in a music school. Seo plays a genius pianist, and is currently immersed in practicing the instrument. The film will begin filming in mid-January after the male lead is cast.

Via My Daily

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Gu Hye-sun’s film festival trailer

javabeans — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:50:49 +0000

As previously announced, actress Gu Hye-sun took a second stab at directing with a short (1-minute) trailer for the 7th Asiana International Short Film Festival, which was released on October 20. This follows her directorial debut, a short film about euthanasia called The Madonna [aka The Cheerful Caretaker, 유쾌한 도우미].

This AISFF trailer will be shown before each screening at the festival, which will take place from November 5 through 10. Watch the video below.

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Read the rest of Gu Hye-sun’s film festival trailer (135 words)

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Post tags: directors, film festivals, Gu Hye-sun, short films

Gu Hye-sun directs a short for Asiana Film Fest

javabeans — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 04:37:35 +0000

On October 6, actress-director Gu Hye-sun spoke at a press interview for the upcoming 7th Asiana International Short Film Festival about another of her film efforts. She was wearing her director’s hat at the event, although not for her recent short film, The Madonna (aka The Cheerful Caretaker). She filmed a 30-second short trailer that will show before each screening and therefore takes a tone that is representative of the overall festival.

Gu Hye-sun explained, “The theme is love, but I made this thinking of the relationship between the media and people as one of love and hate. I hope you will find it interesting. …The production budget was small, so I had some difficulty directing the scenes that I had in mind. I received a lot of help from the art director and crew members.”

Also in attendance at the press event were actor Ahn Sung-ki, director and executive committeeman Kim Ji-woon, and actress and jury member Sohn Ye-jin. The festival takes place from November 5 through 10.

Via Joy News

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