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.

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Add Jung Ryeo-won (Ja Myung Go) to the growing ranks of Hallyu stars aiming to make the leap to Hollywood.

Jung visited the U.S. last month for a meeting at the request of a film studio representative. Although she had received some calls of interest last year, this was her first step in actively pursuing a Hollywood crossover. One of Jung’s reps confirmed, “It’s true that she is planning to enter the U.S. market.” She’s currently considering offers for her next acting project, after wrapping her last drama, SBS’s disappointing fusion historical flop Ja Myung Go, and I’d say she’s still best known for her 2005 turn in My Name Is Kim Sam-soon. Hopefully her next project, Korean or otherwise, proves more successful.

Although some Hallyu attempted crossovers have fallen flat, I’ve always thought Jung Ryeo-won was a strong contender. Not only is she fluent in English thanks to growing up in Australia, she has a lovely naturalistic feel in her acting, and her personality also seems to have a strong Western vibe to it (so much so that I think she feels uncomfortable at times in the Korean entertainment machine). Plus, we know her good buddy Daniel Henney is currently working on his American drama series debut with CBS’s medical show Three Rivers; they can commiserate with each other of their respective crossover dilemmas, I’m sure.

Via Star News

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SBS’s sageuk Ja Myung Go was supposed to be a 50-episode fusion historical extravaganza, but, as we know, it’s had its share of troubles. The drama took too long to introduce its adult stars (six weeks), including headliner Jung Ryeo-won, and never really caught on. Once the storyline got going in earnest, competitor Queen Seon-deok was kicking its butt in the Monday-Tuesday ratings and Ja Myung Go’s episode order was cut to 39.

Now that the drama has ended (it aired its last episode today, Tuesday the 21st), its star Jung Ryeo-won expressed her disappointment with her sageuk debut upon its wrap-up. She posted on her mini-homepage, “Farewell, my Ja-myung. I’m sorry, Ja-myung.”

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Jung Ryeo-won (”Ja Myung Go”), Go Hyun-jung (”Queen Seon-deok”)

Queen Seon-deok, MBC’s historical extravaganza, got off to a decent start today with a first-place premiere at a 16% rating. Ja Myung Go, already nervous, may as well be put on death watch.

In most cases, a first-episode rating number isn’t too important (ratings can change greatly over the course of a drama’s run), but Ja Myung Go is currently awaiting a final decision on whether or not to curtail its 50-episode run by six weeks, or 12 episodes, down to 38 episodes total; it is reportedly monitoring Seon-deok’s opening numbers closely. Ja Myung Go has been drawing positive response for its acting, but given that its numbers are not rising from its current 10.4% (Story of a Man swung upward just a little bit at 9.8%), I think it was hoping for more than it got. The actors are preparing themselves for an early finish.

The drama to follow Ja Myung Go, Dream, is preparing to begin filming. (It stars Joo Jin-mo, Kim Bum, and Sohn Dam-bi and features Kim Bum as a juvenile delinquent who becomes a mixed martial arts fighter.)

Meanwhile, Seon-deok has drawn positive response for the acting of its leading lady, Go Hyun-jung; the writer has praised Go’s performance as “better than expected.” Her co-star Lee Yo-won will make her appearance a bit later as Queen Seon-deok herself.

Via My Daily, Segye, and Segye again

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News is starting to leak that SBS’s Ja Myung Go [자명고] is hurrying to wrap up and will very likely end early, falling short of its initial 50-episode plan to sign off at Episode 39.

Ouch. I actually feel sorry for the drama production, because it’s like they’ve essentially given up on their grand historical series.

Ja Myung Go got off to a weak start, and was soundly beaten by Queen of Housewives, unable to pull itself out of single-digit ratings. It was banking on improving once the adult characters replaced the children about 12 episodes in. After all, the series was heavily promoted with its pretty lead stars, Jung Ryeo-won (My Name Is Kim Sam-soon) and Park Min-young (I Am Sam), playing rival sisters.

However, ratings didn’t pick up much, and now, with 19 episodes broadcast, the drama is pretty much toast.

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