Dramabeans » Jung Woo-sung

Jung Woo-sung begins work on wuxia film

javabeans — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 17:00:10 +0000

Jung Woo-sung, who played “The Good” part of The Good, The Bad, The Weird, is joining his Hallyu colleagues like Lee Byung-heon and Jang Dong-gun in attempting a leap to the global stage: his next project, Rain of Swords, is directed by John Woo (Mission Impossible 2) and co-stars Michelle Yeoh (Crouching TIger, Hidden Dragon).

Filming began this past week in Shanghai on the wuxia (martial arts in ancient China) project, described as “Face/Off meets Mr. & Mrs. Smith set in the Ming Dynasty.” According to the Korea Times, the film “follows a love affair between a retiring assassin (Yeoh) and a messenger (Jung) whose father was killed by the assassin’s former associates. The assassin is initially oblivious of her lover’s history and the fact that he is well-trained in martial arts. Meanwhile a character played by Wang Xue-qi sets out to steal a powerful artifact in her possession.”

Jung Woo-sung has been studying Chinese for the movie, which plans to release in later 2010.

Via Now News, Korea Times

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Jung Woo-sung sets his sights on directing

javabeans — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 17:24:22 +0000

Add Jung Woo-sung (The Good, The Bad, The Weird) to the list of actors who are seeking to branch out into directing (Yoo Ji-tae and Gu Hye-sun are two who have already put out directorial work). He explained in a recent interview that he had been intending to make his directorial debut for years, but kept pushing it back. To date, Jung has finished three screenplays in the action genre, and plans to take either a lead or a prominent supporting role as well as directing the feature. He is even considering casting close friends to keep the budget down, as he could rely on them to act without pay.

Who would agree to do that? “[Lee] Jung-jae in particular will have to act for free,” he said with a laugh. The two are good friends, and acted together in the 1999 film City of Rising Sun.

Jung is currently promoting his latest film, Rainy Season aka Season of Good Rain. He hopes to film his directorial debut project next year.

Via My Daily

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Post tags: directors, Jung Woo-sung, Lee Jung-jae

Jung Woo-sung in Rainy Season

javabeans — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 20:47:33 +0000

Jung Woo-sung, like his The Good, The Bad, The Weird co-star Lee Byung-heon, also has a new movie in the works, a romance called Rainy Season [호우시절].

Rainy Season is directed by Heo Jin-ho of Happiness (who also directs one of the segments of Ogamdo). The film shot entirely in China and co-stars Chinese actress Gao Yuan Yuan.

The story begins as Jung’s character, an office worker for a construction company, travels on a business trip to China and happens to run into an old friend, May (Gao Yuan Yuan), from his study-abroad days in America. Back in their earlier relationship they hadn’t realized they’d been in love, and Jung’s character had a difficult time expressing his feelings. In the intervening years, they’d forgotten about each other and went on to live their own lives, but as they rekindle their affections now, they fall in love for real.

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Read the rest of Jung Woo-sung in Rainy Season (71 words)

City Hunter comes to U.S. television (maybe)

javabeans — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 20:31:52 +0000

This seems a bit… odd. Jung Woo-sung (The Good, The Bad, The Weird) has been cast in a Korean-Japanese co-production… of an adaptation a Japanese manga… in a multi-season drama series… for his American television debut. (Nothing wrong with the concept, of course, but talk about multiple layers of risk!)

The series is City Hunter, which I vaguely remember seeing (as an anime) back in Ye Olde Nineties. I remember almost nothing about the actual series, but I do seem to recall it being a little blue — although perhaps racy content is not a big deal in today’s TV climate. The description, from Wikipedia:

The series follows the exploits of Ryo Saeba, a “sweeper” who works to rid Tokyo of crime, and Kaori Makimura, a tomboyish girl who manages Ryo’s business affairs. Their “City Hunter” business is an underground jack-of-all-trades operation, contacted by writing the letters “XYZ” on a blackboard at Shinjuku Station.

Jung takes the lead as Ryo Saeba, who is basically a pervy P.I. (Kaori is not yet cast.) The series is being planned for four seasons — a Seoul version, Tokyo version, New York version, and Paris version — each with its own hero. Shooting is scheduled to begin next year.

I’m still not quite clear on how this is going to work. U.S. television shows do not green-light multiple seasons in advance (shows are lucky if they even make it through their first season intact). While the production team is looking to broadcast on Fox Television (which suggests they have some kind of relationship or preliminary deal there), let’s just keep in mind that the U.S. broadcast machine is vastly different from the Korean one, and a series that is cast and shot does not always make it to air.

Via Hankook Ilbo

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Post tags: Jung Woo-sung, manhwa adaptations, remakes

The 11th Director’s Cut Awards

javabeans — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 00:18:48 +0000

Yet more awards, as we get deeper into December: this time it’s the 11th Director’s Cut Awards, which were presented on December 16.

Awards were determined based on a vote cast by approximately 200 film directors. Actors Ha Jung-woo and Gong Hyo-jin won nods for their roles in The Chaser and Crush and Blush, respectively. The Chaser and The Good, The Bad, The Weird also continued their winning streaks with more trophies. One new name to crop up in this list: Antique Bakery’s (and Strongest Chil Woo’s) baby-faced Yoo Ah-in.

Being mainly a director’s night, this ceremony has the distinction of being substantially less glamorous than the others we’ve seen and will be seeing. Personally, I can dig when the dress code of the night constitutes sneakers, jazzing up that hoodie with a jacket, and maybe trimming that goatee a bit.

Full winners list beyond the cut.

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Read the rest of The 11th Director’s Cut Awards (499 words)

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Post tags: awards, directors, Gong Hyo-jin, Ha Jung-woo, Jung Woo-sung, Lee Byung-heon, Park Chan-wook, Song Kang-ho, Yoo Ah-in

News bites: October 20, 2008

javabeans — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 02:37:11 +0000

Actor Lee Wan (Insoon is Pretty) revealed on a Yashimmanman episode taped on October 20 that Kim Tae-hee (above) doesn’t look so hot when at home and that she’s prettier onscreen than in person. Spoken like a true kid brother out to annoy big sis.
East of Eden is killing in the ratings, with its latest episode on the 20th bringing in a hefty 29.7%. We’ll see if it can hold up against The World They Live In’s premiere next week.
Unfortunately, Eden star Lee Yeon-hee (below) can’t catch a break. She’s been repeatedly criticized for poor acting, and now that extends to her pansori (traditional singing) skills. The 17th episode showed Lee’s character giving a pansori performance to the famous “Arirang” song, after which the drama’s homepage was flooded with scorn for her “embarrassing” and “inadequate” performance.
Newlywed Kwon Sang-woo has been picked as the second favorite in a Top 10 list of Asia’s young actors as chosen by Japanese female fans (part of Asahi TV program SmaSTATION). He came in behind Taiwan’s F4, stars of the Hana Yori Dango adaptation Meteor Garden. (3rd: Jay Chou, 4th: Song Seung-heon, 5th: Jaycee Chan, 6th: Lee Junki, and Rain in 10th.)
Moon Geun-young is back in action on the Painter of the Wind set after fracturing her nose during filming.
Speaking of which, Painter of the Wind is set to pick up more fans throughout Asia to add to its already lavish praise as a “perfect drama.” It has already made contracts exporting the drama to Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, and now also Thailand.
“Kimchi western” film The Good The Bad The Weird won double awards at the Hawaii International Film Festival, taking home the Achievement in Acting award for Jung Woo-sung (who played “the good” to Lee Byeong-heon’s “bad” and Song Kang-ho’s “weird”), as well as the Maverick Award (ugh, that word gives me twitches) for director Kim Ji-woon.

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Post tags: East of Eden, Jung Woo-sung, Kim Tae-hee, Kwon Sang-woo, Lee Wan, Lee Yeon-hee, Moon Geun-young, news bites, The Painter of Wind

Kwon Sang-woo weds Sohn Tae-young (finally)

javabeans — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 16:59:24 +0000

After all the hullaballo, Kwon Sang-woo finally married Sohn Tae-young today (September 28), and I for one am glad, since we won’t be having to hear about it anymore.

The couple gave a press conference prior to the wedding, as the wedding itself was closed to the press. Sohn Tae-young wore a Kenneth Pool gown, which she bought on the couple’s recent trip to England.

Kwon: “I’m finally getting married. I’m so nervous — my nerves don’t begin to compare with any film festival or event I’ve been to. … We’ll live happily together. I vow to love her forever.” Sohn: “It doesn’t feel real yet. Actually, I wasn’t nervous at all while getting ready. But now I’m starting to feel it.”

When asked about kids, Kwon answered that he’d like three, but joked that Sohn “has agreed to two, for her figure’s sake.”

And, since it’s not every day such a huge Hallyu star gets married, we have a pretty impressive guest-star roster that rivals the red carpet at some of the largest industry events.

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Read the rest of Kwon Sang-woo weds Sohn Tae-young (finally) (286 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2008. | Permalink | 62 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Byun Jung-soo, Cha Seung-won, Choi Ji-woo, Ha Ji-won, Han Ga-in, Hwang Bo, Jang Dong-gun, Jung Woo-sung, Kim Sung-soo, Kwon Sang-woo, Lee Beom-soo, Lee Byung-heon, Lee Jung-jae, Lee Jung-jin, Oh Ji-ho, So Ji-sub, Sohn Tae-young, Song Seung-heon, star romances, weddings, Yoo Ji-tae