I say this without snarkiness (a quality I think is growing far too overrated these days anyway): One would have thought that idol singer Kim Hyun-joong’s stiff, uncomfortable acting debut in Boys Before Flowers earlier this year would have convinced people to STOP casting him in high-profile projects, but alas ’tis not the case. He has just been cast as the lead in the film adaptation of popular Japanese manhwa-turned-drama Kimi wa petto, or You’re My Pet. The j-dorama aired in 2003 on TBS.

Like Boys Before Flowers, the Japanese original starred the popular idol-actor Matsumoto Jun (opposite Koyuki). The romantic drama unfolds as a woman fashion-magazine editor who is perfect in looks and talents comes to live with a good-looking young man. She and the man, who is first taken in and affectionately called her “pet,” gradually fall in love. The female lead is still currently casting.

The contract has yet to be finalized, according to Kim’s management, but should be made official soon. The film will begin shooting as soon as the casting is complete, and aims for a release date next year.

(I really thought Kim Hyun-joong would go the way of Se7en, as in, he’d realize that he was sorely limited in the acting arena and focus on his music. Coupled with his seemingly indifferent attitude toward acting in the first place — he had to be persuaded to take the BBF role by management who were eager to heighten his name recognition — I figured he’d fade from acting, not be cast as the lead in another high-profile remake. Again, I mean this without sarcasm, but I sincerely hope he hies himself to some intensive acting training if he wants a career in the field.)

Via OSEN

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Filed under: Chungmuro/Film by javabeans - 228 Comments →

Several months after their drama sensation Boys Before Flowers ended, (most of) the cast members — Kim Bum, Lee Min-ho, and Gu Hye-sun — reconvened to cheer on their former castmate Kim Hyun-joong at a concert for his pop group SS501. (The fourth F4 member, Kim Joon, was unable to attend as he is currently performing in his musical theater debut.)

The August 1 concert was held in Seoul and kicked off the “SS501 1st Asia Tour Concert in Seoul, Persona.”

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Filed under: Kpop News by javabeans - 52 Comments →

Boys Before Flowers star Kim Joon (or Kim Jun), also known as the rapper of three-member pop group T-Max, is about to launch his first solo song. On July 7, he released the teaser video for his upcoming single, “준비 OK” — the title literally translates to “Ready OK” but is also a play on his own name, reading “Jun Be OK.”

The video shows Kim Joon putting on a tougher face than he showed as his gentle, friendly Woo-bin character in Boys Before Flowers, and also features BBF buddy Kim Hyun-joon.

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Yoon-ah, Park Su-jin

The following article looks at pop singers who make the jump to acting and kind of falls into the “No duh” category with its statement of the obvious. But I think the topic is interesting, even if the article is overly simplistic. (It could have been a more persuasive piece if it had looked at more examples, for instance.) As a jumping-off point, it does the job, given how many idol stars are trying to make the leap into acting careers these days, some with more success than others.

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Filed under: Celebrity News by javabeans - 44 Comments →

As announced, Mnet has (finally!) released the last two parts of the four-part F4 “After Story” music drama, featuring Ji-hoo’s (Kim Hyun-joong) and Jun-pyo’s (Lee Min-ho) segments.

Although the songs were pretty nice to listen to, the first two parts with Kim Bum and Kim Joon were rather disappointing, imo. Like those parts, the last two also featured mostly old footage cobbled together into a new video. I thought Ji-hoo’s was pretty lame (there have been better fanvideos), but at least Jun-pyo’s had a little bit of new footage.

SONG OF THE DAY

Lee Min-ho – “My Everything.” His pronunciation could be better (everyTING? ah, well, just pretend he’s going for a rasta accent) but I love how husky his voice is. I had no hopes for his singing voice (after his CF/digital single for Cass beer was so annoyingly overproduced with barely audible vocals), so this is a nice surprise. [ Download ]

F4 AFTER STORY Parts 3 & 4 >>

Filed under: Drama Casting & News by javabeans - 84 Comments →