(I don’t know about you, but I actually like seeing an actor photographed with laugh and age lines. It makes their good looks seem real, in a way.)
Jang Dong-gun is currently promoting his latest film, Good Morning President, in which he plays a handsome single president, which is also the reason why he graces the cover of Cosmopolitan magazine’s November issue.
On October 8, the 14th Pusan International Film Festival, or PIFF, opened in Busan. (Yes, the city takes a different official spelling than the film festival. Blame inconsistent Romanization.)
As the largest film festival in Korea, it drew a large list of attendees, as you can see from the long list of red-carpet walkers. It was definitely a star-studded opening night, and even included one familiar Hollywood face (Josh Hartnett).
This year’s PIFF features its largest lineup to date, screening 355 films from 70 countries, and closes on the 16th.
Technically, 1 minute and 35 seconds.
Such is the box office draw of one of Korea’s favorite actors, Jang Dong-gun. The warm and humorous Good Morning President is his first film in several years, and Korean audiences are eager to see Jang back onscreen, as he has been out of the Hallyu spotlight to pursue Hollywood interests (The Warrior’s Way is still forthcoming). Thus they’ve leapt at the chance to get their first glimpse of his latest role when President opens October’s Pusan International Film Festival.
Sure, he only plays one of three presidents in the movie (with Lee Soon-jae, Go Du-shim) and stars opposite glamorous Han Chae-young, but really, the pull is all about Jang Dong-gun.
Tickets went on sale at 5pm on September 21, and according to a rep at PIFF, they sold out completely in the first minute and 35 seconds. This follows a similar response to last year’s PIFF opener, Gift to Stalin, which also sold out in under 2 minutes. Some previous fast sellers include The Coast Guard (which also starred Jang Dong-gun and sold out in 2 min 4 sec) in 2002, The Last Witness (2 min 28 sec) in 2001, and Traces of Love (2 min 45 sec) in 2006. President is therefore the fastest-selling Korean film at PIFF, which seems to me a strange statistic to keep track of, but oh well.
Via Joy News
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The first posters are out of Jang Dong-gun’s latest movie, Good Morning President [굿모닝 프레지던트], which features him as one of three presidents along with Lee Soon-jae and Go Du-shim.
Each presidential figure is noteworthy in his/her own way: Jang Dong-gun’s character is a handsome and single president (Han Chae-young plays his love interest), and his tagline reads, “Thanks to the president, the ratings for the 9 o’clock news are skyrocketing.”
Ooh, now THAT’s what I’m talkin’ about!
Jang Dong-gun plays a president in the upcoming film Good Morning, President [굿모닝 프레지던트], as we can see in these (many!) behind-the-scenes shots taken at the film set. The production opened the Kyunggi province shooting location to a press conference on July 20 and gave the media a glimpse of the crew and its universally liked lead actor (really, Jang Dong-gun has among the fewest anti’s — if any — in the business, which is remarkable given how incredibly famous he is).
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