I’ll admit I haven’t paid much mind to KBS’s upcoming sageuk (and manhwa adaptation) Kingdom of Wind because, well, I never cottoned on to Jumong and felt no particular thrill to see Song Il-kook back in his old-fashioned threads playing Jumong’s grandson.

But I will say I’m a little surprised at the casting of two up-and-coming new pretty boys who have hitherto been known mostly for their good looks, in their first sageuk roles: Coffee Prince’s Kim Jae-wook, pictured above, and Kim Hye-sung, who’s just started expanding his repertoire (Jenny, Juno; Unstoppable High Kick) to more daring roles, like the queer short Boy Meets Boy. (Well, everyone knows that when you want to prove your acting mettle, you either go theater or sageuk.)

Furthermore, three of Kingdom of Wind’s main cast are also making their first sageuk attempts: lead actress Choi Jung-won (Infamous Chil Princesses), supporting actress Oh Yoon-ah (Old Miss Diary, Someday), and actor Park Gun-hyung (Dancing Princess). Generally I find that an actor’s first time in a sageuk is often marked by stiff, awkward acting (because the cadence of a historical drama is so different from a modern one), but the mark of a versatile actor is one who adapts to the new milieu quickly.

Must be their strategy to try to rope in the younger viewers, I suppose? The drama’s competition will be MBC’s Beethoven Virus, with whom it shares a premiere date — this Wednesday, the 10th — and SBS’s Painter of the Wind, which premieres two weeks later on the 24th.

Via My Daily

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Tags: Kim Hye-sung, Kim Jae-wook, manhwa adaptations, sageuk dramas, Song Il-kook

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Check out the latest photos of uljjang-turned-actor Kim Hye-sung (formerly of family sitcom Unstoppable High Kick, more recently of queer indie flick Boy Meets Boy), currently causing an online stir.

These were posted recently on his cyworld page, the most recent ones uploaded yesterday, to lots of admiration for the pretty kid turned pretty young adult. (Kind of brings to mind the feminine-masculine good looks of Coffee Prince’s model-actor Kim Jae-wook, doesn’t he?) Once an uljjang, always an uljjang…

Tags: Kim Hye-sung

Filed under: Oh snap by javabeans - 33 Comments →

I admit the first thing that struck me about Kim Hye Sung was his adorable baby face. But although he’s part of the newest generation of good-looking, trendy young stars, he seems to be slowly differentiating himself from his peers and taking some personal care (and risks) into his acting choices. He’s one I’ve got my eye on for the future.
 

“Kim Hye Sung’s transformation from pretty boy to hot-tempered youth to gay lover”

By the time 2003’s hot uljjang trend had blown over, some new stars had appeared on the scene: uljjangs. [What’s an uljjang?] The first-generation ulljangs included Park Han Byul, Gu Hye Sun, Nam Sang Mi. Second-generation ulljangs: Kim Ok Bin, Bae Seul Gi, Lee Yeon Hee. And also Kim Hye Sung and Kang Eun Bi.

They rose to fame not via television or movies, but through the internet, causing a shake-up of the currently existing star-making system. Uljjang stars weren’t discovered through television station tests, new-actor auditions, talent agencies, or streetside castings; they were made into stars by audiences and consumers themselves.

Five years later. …

SONG OF THE DAY

Deb - “Dopamine” [ Download ]

 
More on Kim Hye Sung, Boy Meets Boy >>

Tags: homosexuality, Kim Hye-sung, netizens, uljjang, Unstoppable High Kick

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Recently married actress Seo Minjung, last seen in the very popular sitcom The Unstoppable High Kick, had moved to New York after marrying her gyopo husband in August and retired from acting. She’s back in Korea, though, and hanging with her former High Kick co-stars:

 
The primary reason for her trip to Korea was for knee surgery, but she had time to meet with young heartthrobs and rising actors Jung Il Woo (in yellow) and Kim Hye Sung (baseball cap), who were her affectionately termed troublemaking students on the show.

I know the entertainment industry is small and close-knit by nature. But it’s still nice to see actors who seem to carry on genuine friendships after their work relationships have come to an end. And when said actors are as adorable as these guys (just as long as I don’t look at their birth years, eek!), you’ve gotta thank stars and their cyworlds for documenting all such instances.

Just for good measure, here’s another photo of her back in the High Kick days, with Jung Il Woo and Kim Bum, both of whom are entering university this year:

Source: Newsen

SONG OF THE DAY

Hourmelts - “Moonlight Melody” [ zShare download ]

 
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• High Kick movie
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Tags: Jung Il-woo, Kim Bum, Kim Hye-sung, Seo Min-jung, Unstoppable High Kick

Filed under: Sitcoms/Variety Shows by javabeans - 6 Comments →

I’m bored. Bored, bored, bored.

Not only bored, but restless. The only drama that holds my interest these days is Legend, and that’s just barely. It’s not hard to tell that my taste veers to trendy dramas — the fluffier, the better — and I feel the current lack keenly. As I was saying to a friend recently, I can find meaning in the most superficial of trendy dramas — just give me the sugariest cotton-candy drama and I’ll mine the hell out of it looking for depth and thematic resonance. Of course, I do have some standards — I won’t watch just any trendy drama, if it’s just a boring rehash of familiar stuff. But let’s say that if trendy dramas are the television equivalent of chick lit, I’m looking for Bridget Jones, not Shopaholic or Lipstick Jungle or whatever else comes with cheesy pink covers and pictures of high heels and handbags and jewelry. (I am not my accessories closet! … and if only I actually had an accessories closet!)

What does that have to do with The Unstoppable High Kick? Nothing really, except explain just how bored I am and in need of something light and fun, even if it doesn’t aspire to be meaningful. I missed the boat on High Kick when it first aired — daily sitcoms usually air over a hundred episodes, and that’s just too much of a commitment. It finished its run earlier this summer, but AZN has been showing it (unsubtitled), and I’ve let the episodes accumulate on my Tivo, watching them whenever I remember to. I’m somewhere up in the nineties now (there are 167 episodes), although I skipped a bunch in the beginning.

(Random) SONG OF THE DAY

Heritage - “Grateful” [ zShare download ]

This is just an excuse to post pretty pictures >>

Tags: Jung Il-woo, Kim Bum, Kim Hye-sung, Park Min-young, Seo Min-jung, Shinji, sitcoms, Unstoppable High Kick

Filed under: Sitcoms/Variety Shows by javabeans - 42 Comments →