Ooh. Kim Kang-woo is about to join the cast of sageuk drama Dong Yi, which stars Ji Jin-hee as Joseon’s King Sook-jong and Han Hyo-joo as water maid (Dong-yi) turned concubine (later named Sook-bin).

A production source confirmed that he has been offered the role, and the decision is 90% of the way to finalization. They expect his casting to be made official within a week’s time. Kim Kang-woo’s side gave a more cautious answer that Kim wants to do the role and is looking on it favorably, but given how both sides have responded, I think it’s looking likely.

The role would have Kim in the role of Cha Chun-soo, who is by day a coroner with the police but a core member of an underground group by night. He’s a childhood friend of Dong-yi’s older brother Dong-joo, and when the latter is killed, he promises to take care of Dong-yi and devotes his life to protecting her.

As you know, I was blown away by Kim’s performance as an ice-cold, calculating, brilliant psycho financial genius in this year’s Story of a Man. I would LOVE to see him doing a sageuk — I think his first? — in what looks like another intense role. I confess I was only half-interested in Dong Yi, but now it’s got my attention.

Dong Yi is scheduled to air in March 2010.

Via OSEN

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• Story of a Man: Episodes 1 & 2

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Ji Jin-hee, most recently of KBS’s j-drama adaptation The Man Who Can’t Get Married, has been cast to be Han Hyo-joo’s leading man in the upcoming MBC sageuk drama Dong Yi [동이].

This’ll be the second time Ji teams up with PD Lee Byung-hoon, with whom he first worked in the hugely successful Dae Jang Geum. PD Lee also directed several other hit sageuk series such as Heo Jun and Yi San.

Ji Jin-hee will play Joseon-era King Sook-jong, portraying both the leadership skills of the king as well as the pure heart and affection of the man. Han Hyo-joo is to play Sook-bin, a water maid who becomes the king’s concubine and bears him a son, a future Joseon king.

Han has been playing more mature roles as she transitions from rookie actress to leading lady, but this is still a pretty wide age gap — 16 years, as Han is 22 and Ji is 38. I tend to find age gaps less of an issue with sageuk dramas, so I’m keeping my mind open for the pairing, although the thought of Han taking on another sageuk makes me nervous. (She’s improved a lot in her short career, but I don’t think sageuk is her thing, and I thought her turn in Iljimae was one of her weaker performances.) Of course, as we know, his role in Dae Jang Geum makes Ji no stranger to the historical epic.

Dong Yi will air next March on MBC.

Via Joy News

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Remember the “music drama” Soul Special, featuring Han Hyo-joo (Brilliant Legacy) and Kim Dong-wook (Partner)? Kim Dong-wook has participated on the soundtrack, which also features artists like Rumble Fish and K.Will, and Kim’s track (”나에게 그대는”) was released online this week to such great response that within the first day of the release, the website went down. (Listen below.)

Soul Special is a twelve-part web series of five-minute videos that are released every Tuesday and Thursday. Parts 7 & 8 were released this week. (Watch Parts 1 & 2 in this previous post; see 3 through 6 below.)

SONG OF THE DAY

Kim Dong-wook – “나에게 그대는” (To me you are), from the OST of Soul Special. [ Download ]

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Han Hyo-joo, who has just come off her SBS hit drama Brilliant Legacy at a career high, has a new project which takes the rather unique format of an “Internet drama.” Called Soul Special [쏘울 스페셜], it co-stars actor Kim Dong-wook (Partner) as her love interest.

(Hm, another web series. And this comes so soon after the other one, SETI, was announced starring Seo Hyo-rim and Kim Kyu-jong.)

Parts 1 and 2 were released this past week, which you can watch below.

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Continuing from Part 1 of the drinking interview with Han Hyo-joo, here’s Part 2:

 
“No more talk of scandals… I’ve been hurt a lot”

What drinking habits do you have?

Nothing in particular. My face doesn’t redden, either. If I really drink a lot, I get a little sentimental.

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