Awards, awards, awards! Friday, November 25, was the night of the 2011 Blue Dragon Film Awards, and — no surprise — the winners list was dominated by one of the biggest films of the year, sageuk-action-thriller Bow: The Ultimate Weapon. The film is a David and Goliath story of one man (Park Hae-il) taking down the enemy with his exceptional prowess with the bow and won awards for most of its leading stars.

A few other films also nabbed multiple awards, with best picture going to the thriller Bad Deal. (which also won for director and screenplay).

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Post tags: awards, Byun Jung-soo, Go Soo, Gong Yoo, Han Chae-young, Jo Sung-ha, Jung Ryeo-won, Kim Haneul, Kim Hye-soo, Kim Soo-hyun, Lee Je-hoon, Lee Jung-jin, Lee Min-ho, Lee Min-jung, Lee Shi-young, Moon Chae-won, Nam Gyuri, Park Bo-young, Park Hae-il, Ryu Hyun-kyung, Ryu Seung-ryong, Su Ae, Yoo Sun, Yoon Kye-sang

Aw, don’t they grow up so fast? One day he’s playing a kid with a dream, and the next he’s blue-steeling it in a photo shoot, soaking up the noona love. Perhaps he’s honing his noona-killer skills for his upcoming role in MoonCloud Kissing SunBeam? Er, what am I saying? Since when does Kim Soo-hyun need practice when it comes to noona-slaying?

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Read the rest of Kim Soo-hyun and Han Chae-young for Marie Claire (197 words)

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Post tags: Han Chae-young, Kim Soo-hyun, photo shoots

New feature: First Episode series!

Time constraints keep us from being able to write “classic recaps” for older dramas, but I thought it would be a fun idea to revisit old dramas to recap just the first episodes. It’ll give us a chance to reminisce on old favorites while also providing an introduction to the shows.

To aid in navigation, I’ve created a new tag (use this: first episodes) so you can sort through all the Episode 1 recaps on this site. (Also, if you’ve missed it, we do have a Tag Index on the site, linked on the bottom of the page.)

For the inaugural post in this series, I’ve decided on a drama I’ve often referenced as one of my emotional favorites, 2005′s Delightful Girl Chun-hyang. We all have those dramas that occupy a special place in our hearts — whether it’s because of a particular character, storyline, or where we were in our lives when we first saw it. This one’s mine.

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Read the rest of Delightful Girl Chun-hyang: Episode 1 (3,837 words)

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Post tags: Delightful Girl Chun-hyang, featured, first episodes, Han Chae-young, Jae Hee

Han Chae-young has signed with Creative Artists Agency, or CAA, one of the Big 3 agencies in Hollywood, marking her intent to expand her career to the U.S. market. This comes not long after taking official steps in the Chinese market as well, where she enjoys residual popularity for dramas like Delightful Girl Chun-hyang and Autumn Love Story. More recently, she starred with Song Il-kook in the action drama A Man Called God.

Han lived in the States for a time and speaks English, albeit heavily accented. Although her pronunciation and grammar are flawed, based on interview snippets at least she seems able to carry on a conversation in English, which is to her benefit. Not to mention that she’s seriously gorgeous, which never hurts.

Han is not a particularly strong actress, but she’s not hopeless; of all her roles I think her best performance was in Delightful Girl Chun-hyang, where she came off natural and unaffected. She has explained that the character’s personality wasn’t too different from her real one, which is probably why. I’d put her in the same category as Park Shi-yeon of actresses who got unfortunately typecast as sexy and glamorous because of their looks (as Han was for Boys Before Flowers and Girlfriends), when they’re really better at playing down-to-earth characters (A Man Called God).

In any case, best of luck to her. Hollywood is a beast; hope she fares well. On the upside, she is managed by BH Entertainment, which is the company headed by Lee Byung-heon. Of all the Hallyu-to-Hollywood attempted crossovers, Lee’s has probably been the most successful with G.I. Joe.

Via Star News

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Post tags: Han Chae-young, Hollywood

“Korea’s Barbie doll,” actress Han Chae-young (Delightful Girl Chun-hyang, Exhibition of Fireworks, A Man Called God) is poised to break into China, and possibly the U.S.

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Post tags: Han Chae-young

Han Chae-young mentioned an underwater kiss scene in the recent press conference for A Man Called God, and now the drama (drumming up for its premiere tomorrow with a constant stream of promotional releases and stills) has released photographs. You can barely tell in the shot above, but that’s Han with her leading man, the drama’s revenge-driven hero played by Song Il-kook.

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Post tags: A Man Called God, Han Chae-young, Song Il-kook

February 25 was production press conference day for MBC’s new weekend series A Man Called God, starring Song Il-kook, and was held at Seoul’s Sogongdong Lotte Hotel.

The entire main cast was present: Song as main character Choi Kang-ta, a billionaire and spy also going by the names “Peter Pan” and “Michael King”; Han Chae-young as a reporter and his primary love interest; Han Go-eun as a sexy femme fatale; Kim Min-jong as a sharp special agent with the National Intelligence Agency; Yoo In-young as the precious daughter of the man who killed Kang-ta’s parents; and Jo Jin-woong as a villain.

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Post tags: A Man Called God, Han Chae-young, Han Go-eun, Jo Jin-woong, Kim Min-jong, press conferences, Song Il-kook, Yoo In-young

Posters are out (a whole mess of ‘em!) for MBC’s upcoming A Man Called God, and I can’t decide if I think they’re cool (a la Batman Begins) or unbearably cheesy (Batman & Robin).

In the series, star Song Il-kook is back in a modern role after a couple high-profile historical ones (Jumong, Kingdom of the Wind), and he certainly looks fierce and ready for action… but the rest isn’t really working for me. This also seems an odd choice to follow weekend family drama Assorted Gems, doesn’t it?

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Post tags: A Man Called God, Han Chae-young, Han Go-eun, Song Il-kook

The official poster has been released for “mystery digital blockbuster” The Influence, and my main question is: Considering that it stars one of Korea’s top A-listers (Lee Byung-heon) and the nation’s “Barbie doll” (Han Chae-young), that’s the best they could do? (It looks so cheesy!)

The preview is also out (watch below) for the thriller, which seems to thrive on cryptic plotlines: Lee plays “W,” who can travel through time over 100 years, while Han is “J,” his love interest who is locked in a tank called “Jubilee.” The movie is about a promise that doesn’t change and which must be kept through the years. A shadowy group called the “DJC” figures heavily in the mystery.

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Read the rest of The Influence’s teaser poster and preview (40 words)

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Post tags: Han Chae-young, Lee Byung-heon

Finally, more news about upcoming MBC drama A Man Called God. Character descriptions have been released, as well as news that Han Chae-young has been cast as Song Il-kook‘s leading lady.

Hard to believe she hasn’t acted in a television drama (in a role that wasn’t a cameo, as she did appear in a few episodes of Boys Before Flowers) in four years; how time flies! The last drama that Korea’s “Barbie doll” actress starred in was 2006′s underwhelming Fireworks (which was watchable mostly because of Kang Ji-hwan); before that, she had 2005′s Only You and Delightful Girl Chun-hyang. In the interim, she’s mostly done films, such as last year’s Good Morning, President with Jang Dong-gun and the more recent Girlfriends.

A Man Called God is a drama adaptation of a manhwa that is described as a “love story about a modern day hero.” The lead character is “Michael King,” also known as “Choi Kang-ta,” played by Song Il-kook, who vows to seek revenge upon the enemy who killed his parents. He becomes the boss of a secret underground organization and takes on a worldwide drug syndicate. Han Chae-young plays a rookie journalist on the local news beat, “Jin Bo-bae.” As he falls in love with her, his belief that “I’ll use evil to punish a greater evil” is shaken. This role was initially going to be played by Jung Ryeo-won, but she dropped out due to personal reasons.

Kim Min-jong (Return of Iljimae) has been cast as an intelligent, sharp man; a rivalry springs up after he runs into Bo-bae, his first love. Complicating things is Han Go-eun (Can Anyone Love), who takes the role of a woman utterly devoted to Michael King who swears her undying love to him. However, when Michael returns to Korea, he falls for Bo-bae insead.

A Man Called God starts filming in February in Hawaii and will follow Assorted Gems on weekends. Its first episode will air on March 6.

Via OSEN, Osen

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Post tags: A Man Called God, Han Chae-young, Han Go-eun, Kim Min-jong, Song Il-kook