From housemaid to housewife? Jeon Do-yeon (The Housemaid) currently has a film waiting to hit theaters, but she’s already looking at her next project. Jeon is set to return in her next film as an ordinary housewife-turned-drug-mule in The Road Home.

The film is based on a true story, and Jeon will play a woman who goes to Europe on a trip, and somehow mistakenly drops off a bag of drugs, thinking that it’s full of gemstones. Why is she even making the drop in the first place? Interesting question. Either way, she ends up being an inadvertent drug mule, and gets incarcerated for the crime. The film follows her rough journey to get back home.

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So there are a lot of big movies coming this fall, but this is one that I’ve been eagerly anticipating, and the trailer does not disappoint. Countdown looks slick, sexy, and badass. Just a straight-up con job with two awesome actors? What’s not to love about that? Jeon Do-yeon (The Housemaid) stars as a mysterious con-artist whose entire existence is a lie, and when she steals from the wrong person, Jung Jae-young (Moss) is the man hired to find her.

She’s a million-dollar grifter who goes by the nickname Miss Chun-hyang, which is the height of irony of course, since Chun-hyang is a legendary figure known for her virtue. He’s a bounty hunter with a hundred percent success rate in finding his mark, but when he tracks her down (for managing to steal 170 million won in 30 minutes), she seems to think it’s lucky, since she happens to need some help in tracking someone down…

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Post tags: Jeon Do-yeon, Jung Jae-young

Cannes queen Jeon Do-yeon (The Housemaid, Lovers in Prague) is set to return to the big screen this year with an action film called Countdown. She’ll be playing a con-artist, whose description I already love: “everything about her, except the fact that she breathes, is a lie.” Nice.

She’ll be playing opposite Jung Jae-young (Moss, Shingijeon, pictured below) who plays a heartless debt collector with a 100% success rate in getting his mark to pay up. He puts his life on the line as he chases her down, but meets his match in Jeon Do-yeon’s character. She can’t pass up one last score, and cons him even as he hunts her relentlessly. What ensues is a cat-and-mouse game where the better con wins. What a great premise; I’m already conflicted as to who I’m supposed to root for.

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Post tags: Jeon Do-yeon, Jung Jae-young

Aie, is it that time of year again? We’re heading into the holiday months, which also means that awards season is about to descend upon us. (It’s still early, but I bet you’ll tire of them soon enough!) Here we have the 47th Grand Bell (Daejong) Awards, which were held on the evening of October 29, giving out awards to films in 22 categories.

The event was emceed by comedian Shin Dong-yub and actress Kim Jung-eun (I Am Legend), and big winners included Poetry, which notably won the best screenplay prize at Cannes; Moss, the dark thriller from the director of Silmido; Ajusshi, the dark thriller starring Won Bin, who picked up two awards; and Lee Min-jung, who likewise took home two trophies.

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Post tags: awards, Cha Ye-ryun, Chu Ja-hyun, Daniel Choi, Eom Ki-joon, Hwang Jung-eum, Jeon Do-yeon, Jin Gu, Jung Jae-young, Kim Heung-soo, Kim Jung-eun, Kim Sae-ron, Kim Yun-jin, Lee Min-jung, Min Hyo-rin, Oh Ji-ho, Park Hee-soon, Seo Young-hee, Shim Eun-kyung, Song Seung-heon, TOP, Won Bin, Yoon Yeo-jung

The 35th Toronto International Film Festival has invited five Korean films this year, and anticipation is high. Poetry, The Housemaid, I Saw the Devil, Oki’s Movie, and Late Autumn (Manchu) will be all be launching their North American premieres in Toronto.

Director Im Sang-soo’s The Housemaid was invited as the gala film, and will capitalize on all the mixed reviews from Cannes, which has generated an interesting buzz for the film. Or perhaps it’s just the nudity. Either way, this is the one people will be talking about. The Housemaid is a dramatic thriller of an affair gone wrong, starring Jeon Do-yeon, Lee Jung-jae, and Seo Woo.

Poetry, which won the prize for Best Screenplay at Cannes, will be featured in the Master Section. Directed by Lee Chang-dong and starring Yoon Jung-hee, Poetry is a film about a woman who fights Alzheimer’s by learning to write her own poems.

Both The Housemaid and Poetry are looking at Toronto as forays into the Oscars, and expectations are high for both productions to represent Korea in the foreign film category if things go their way.

I Saw the Devil, starring Lee Byung-heon and Choi Min-shik, was invited as a Special Presentation film. Directed by The Good, The Bad, The Weird‘s Kim Ji-woon, it’s a dark thriller about a secret service agent who goes after his wife’s killer.

Late Autumn and Oki’s Movie were both invited in the Contemporary World Cinema category, which showcases newer directors who are leading the pack in their respective countries.

Late Autumn stars Hyun Bin and Tang Wei in a story about a man on the run and a woman on a leave from prison, and their brief love affair. The remake, directed by Kim Tae-yong, is being hailed as a global project, a successful multi-national co-production.

Oki’s Movie, directed by Hong Sang-soo and starring Lee Seon-kyun and Jung Yumi, is about film student and her quirky relationship with a classmate. This one looks adorable. And y’all know how I feel about Lee Seon-kyun. Swoon.

The 35th Toronto International Film Festival will run from September 9-19.

Via Star News

RELATED POSTS

• Lee Seon-kyun and Jung Yumi in Oki’s Movie
• Hyun Bin’s film Late Autumn heads to Toronto
• Poetry wins for best screenplay at Cannes
• The Housemaid screens at home and at Cannes
• First Stills from Lee Byung-heon’s I Saw the Devil

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Post tags: Choi Min-shik, Hyun Bin, Jeon Do-yeon, Jung Yumi, Lee Byung-heon, Lee Jung-jae, Lee Seon-kyun, Seo Woo

IFC Films picked up North American distribution rights for The Housemaid, which debuted at Cannes in May and has sold over 2.3 million tickets in Korea since its release.

The erotic thriller by director Im Sang-soo is a remake of the classic 1960 film, and stars Jeon Do-yeon as the titular housemaid who seduces Lee Jung-jae away from his pretty young bride, Seo Woo. Things don’t pan out exactly how the maid would like, so she takes her own kind of revenge. I don’t know about you, but I didn’t need much more than this to seal the deal for me. Sold.

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Post tags: Jeon Do-yeon, Lee Jung-jae, Seo Woo, Yoon Yeo-jung

Um. Wow. That’s pretty much all I’ve got left in my brain after seeing this still from The Housemaid, which was just released.

The film is currently at Cannes International Film Festival, where it screened yesterday (May 13). The Korean press has kept a close eye on the reaction, and particularly regarding its stars Jeon Do-yeon (who won Best Actress at Cannes for Secret Sunshine in 2007) and Lee Jung-jae. Initial press has been generally positive (calling it entertaining) and while The Housemaid has been described as suspense thriller, it also drew laughs for its black comedy. In addition to the two leads, veteran actress Yoon Yeo-jung drew praise as the elderly housekeeper.

The cast and director gave the film’s official press conference at Cannes today, where the director explained that he was surprised when not just one but two Korean films were accepted into the festival’s competitive portion (the other is Poetry, which stars Yoon Jung-hee and Ahn Nae-sang). He also talked about the necessity for updating the film from the 1960 original, pointing out that Korea is well-known for its incredibly fast development in the past half-century, but that the central themes at the core (adultery, love, sexual relationships) are just as relevant now as they were then.

The Housemaid also released yesterday at home, and has already attracted an impressive 170,000 theatergoers in its very first day.

Via BNT News, E Daily

RELATED POSTS

• The Housemaid releases character posters
• The Housemaid’s teaser video
• The Housemaid wraps filming
• Jeon Do-yeon returns with a remake of a classic

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Post tags: film festivals, Jeon Do-yeon, Lee Jung-jae, Yoon Yeo-jung

The above main poster for The Housemaid was released a little while ago, but the following character posters are new. They feature the four characters of the erotic suspense thriller, namely Jeon Do-yeon, Lee Jung-jae, Seo Woo, and Yoon Yeo-jung. The movie is currently in post-production and will release in theaters on May 13.

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Post tags: Jeon Do-yeon, Lee Jung-jae, Seo Woo, Yoon Yeo-jung

Rawr! The preview video is out for The Housemaid‘s remake, and it’s pretty damn sexy. The music, the ambiance, the juxtaposition (literal and figurative) of Jeon Do-yeon‘s sly maid character — with those sneaky sidelong glances! — and Seo Woo‘s young wife character… I have a feeling I may not feel a ton of sympathy for Lee Jung-jae‘s cheating husband character but his magnetism abounds. He’s always been confident and sexy, but he’s even more so here.

The Housemaid will release in theaters on May 13.

Thanks to a reader’s recommendation, you can also see the 1960 original film (called by many the greatest Korean film of all time) for free online here: TheAuteurs.com

Via Kuki News

RELATED POSTS

• The Housemaid wraps filming
• Lee Jung-jae added to The Housemaid
• Seo Woo faces off against Jeon Do-yeon
• Jeon Do-yeon returns with a remake of a classic

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2010. | Permalink | 62 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Jeon Do-yeon, Lee Jung-jae, Seo Woo

The anticipated remake of psychological thriller The Housemaid — starring Jeon Do-yeon, Lee Jung-jae, and Seo Woo — has wrapped production after three months of filming. It has also released a new set of four stills, which feature the three lead actors and veteran actress Yoon Yeo-jung.

The film has been drawing a lot of interest with its casting and its description as an “erotic suspense thriller,” which places Jeon Do-yeon in the femme fatale role as the older housemaid who has an affair with Lee Jung-jae, who is married to a young perfect wife played by Seo Woo. Jeon said after filming her last scene, “The Housemaid is an extremely entertaining film. I still don’t feel like it’s really over.”

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Post tags: Jeon Do-yeon, Lee Jung-jae, Seo Woo, Yoon Yeo-jung