• Actor Lee Wan (Insoon is Pretty) revealed on a Yashimmanman episode taped on October 20 that Kim Tae-hee (above) doesn’t look so hot when at home and that she’s prettier onscreen than in person. Spoken like a true kid brother out to annoy big sis.
• East of Eden is killing in the ratings, with its latest episode on the 20th bringing in a hefty 29.7%. We’ll see if it can hold up against The World They Live In’s premiere next week.
• Unfortunately, Eden star Lee Yeon-hee (below) can’t catch a break. She’s been repeatedly criticized for poor acting, and now that extends to her pansori (traditional singing) skills. The 17th episode showed Lee’s character giving a pansori performance to the famous “Arirang” song, after which the drama’s homepage was flooded with scorn for her “embarrassing” and “inadequate” performance.
• Newlywed Kwon Sang-woo has been picked as the second favorite in a Top 10 list of Asia’s young actors as chosen by Japanese female fans (part of Asahi TV program SmaSTATION). He came in behind Taiwan’s F4, stars of the Hana Yori Dango adaptation Meteor Garden. (3rd: Jay Chou, 4th: Song Seung-heon, 5th: Jaycee Chan, 6th: Lee Junki, and Rain in 10th.)
• Moon Geun-young is back in action on the Painter of the Wind set after fracturing her nose during filming.
• Speaking of which, Painter of the Wind is set to pick up more fans throughout Asia to add to its already lavish praise as a “perfect drama.” It has already made contracts exporting the drama to Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, and now also Thailand.
• “Kimchi western” film The Good The Bad The Weird won double awards at the Hawaii International Film Festival, taking home the Achievement in Acting award for Jung Woo-sung (who played “the good” to Lee Byeong-heon’s “bad” and Song Kang-ho’s “weird”), as well as the Maverick Award (ugh, that word gives me twitches) for director Kim Ji-woon.

 
RELATED POSTS

• East of Eden: Viewers up, paychecks down
• “Painter” delayed due to more injury
• These boys don’t cry
• Now quite ready for her close-up yet
• Presenting the cast of East of Eden
• Press day for the Good, Bad, and Weird

Tags: East of Eden, Jung Woo-sung, Kim Tae-hee, Kwon Sang-woo, Lee Wan, Lee Yeon-hee, Moon Geun-young, news bites, The Painter of Wind

Filed under: Celebrity News by javabeans - 24 Comments →

The actors of MBC’s Monday-Tuesday drama East of Eden, including star Song Seung-heon, are taking a pay cut — as much as 50% from their current pay rates.

The drama boasts a large cast of name actors — Yeon Jung-hoon, Yoo Dong-geun, Lee Mi-sook, Jo Min-ki, Lee Yeon-hee, Lee Da-hae, Han Ji-hye, Park Hae-jin — all of whom are pulling in lead-actor rates. Those add up quickly in what is already a high-budget production (approx 25 billion won).

Perhaps the actors are feeling secure now that Eden has established itself as a ratings success. For those who aren’t already A-list, this drama will likely shoot them up in that range (Yeon Jung-hoon, for instance, playing Dong-wook, or the young ladies; they’re on the rise, but this ought to solidify their places in the next generation of young actresses). One unnamed actor explained, “East of Eden is a project I chose because I had faith in the drama’s quality, writer, and director, more than because of the acting fee.”

A production team member said, “It’s a difficult feat to get this many actors of this caliber acting together, and thanks to the care they’ve poured into the drama, East of Eden has been able to receive this kind of love.”

Also, Song Seung-heon has volunteered to return his pay and receive it after the show ends, saying, “These days, a lot of dramas run into difficulties while filming because of sudden increases in production costs. I can receive my pay later, if that means our production process can continue smoothly.”

I say: It’s a small gesture on the part of the megastar (who no doubt isn’t hurting for cash), but a fabulous thing for his PR.

Via Seyge.com, Hankyung

RELATED POSTS

• The current drama landscape: An overview
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Tags: drama production, East of Eden, Song Seung-heon

Filed under: Drama Casting & News by javabeans - 21 Comments →

Choi Su-jong of “Dae Jo Young,” Kim Haneul of “On Air”

Nominees are out for the 2008 Korea Drama Festival awards, and the list is rather ho-hum. For example, the nominees for Best Drama are: Legend (MBC), Mom’s Dead Upset (KBS), Dae Jo Young (KBS), and Gourmet (SBS).

At first I was disappointed in the list of nominees, but then I thought back to the year and realized it’s just been a ho-hum year for dramas overall. Although, if we’re nominating Legend for Best Drama, which premiered over a year ago in September 2007, surely there are other series that have been overlooked.

The Korean Drama Festival runs from November 1 through 5 in Jinju; see the nominee list beyond the jump.

[Read more →]

Tags: awards, Beethoven Virus, Choi Su-jong, City of Glass, East of Eden, Han Ji-hye, Hong Gil Dong, Jang Geun-seok, Kim Bum, Kim Haneul, Kim Myung-min, Lee Jin-wook, Legend, New Heart, On Air, Sung Yuri, You're My Destiny

Filed under: Drama Casting & News by javabeans - 40 Comments →

It seems we suddenly have a ton of new dramas out, and I was starting to feel a bit lost. So here’s a brief overview of the dramas currently airing, some of which I’m following regularly and some that I haven’t committed to sticking with yet.

For the series I plan to keep watching, I’ll probably follow up with more in-depth posts, but for now I’m taking a general, overall look at the current lineup. (The two dramas pictured above, Kingdom of Wind and The Painter of Wind, are probably the two best series airing currently, but for different reasons.)

SONG OF THE DAY

Sorri - “Because of You” [ Download ]

More on the current drama scene >>

Tags: Beethoven Virus, East of Eden, Jang Geun-seok, Kim Bum, Kim Myung-min, Kingdom of Wind, Lee Jia, Lee Jin-wook, Love & Marriage, Moon Geun-young, Park Shin-yang, Song Seung-heon, Tazza, The Painter of Wind, Yoon Soyi

Filed under: Drama Reactions & Reviews by javabeans - 53 Comments →

With a special broadcast kicking off the East of Eden extravaganza, eyes have turned to the upcoming Monday-Tuesday ratings rivalry, although Tazza won’t be making its debut until Gourmet ends in a few weeks.

Oddly enough, Eden chose to air a one-hour special on Monday, and plans to air both Episodes 1 & 2 on Tuesday, which they see as a method for grabbing viewers.

Thus it’s probably premature to draw conclusions based on ratings data on Day 1, but no matter how you slice it, the numbers were a severe disappointment to the high-budget, way-overhyped East of Eden. Some have even gone so far as to call its 6.2% first-day ratings (the special, mind you, not Episode 1) a “crushing defeat.” It came in last place, although just by a hair.

More Monday-Tuesday ratings nonsense >>

Tags: drama ratings, East of Eden, Gourmet, Love & Marriage, Tazza

Filed under: Drama Casting & News by javabeans - 16 Comments →