Ryu Seung-beom, Kim Joo-hyuk

Hm, interesting. They’re making another version of the famous folktale Story of Chun-hyang, called Story of Bang-ja [방자전]. The folktale tells of two young lovers in Joseon times, gisaeng’s daughter Chun-hyang and nobleman’s son Mong-ryong, and the trials and tribulations they overcome on their way to Happily Ever After. It’s already been made into several films and formed the basis for 2005’s trendy drama Delightful Girl Chun-hyang.

Then, there was the spoof-like Story of Hyang-dan starring Seo Ji-hye and Choi Siwon, which tweaked the story and played with the twist of Mong-ryong falling in love with Chun-hyang’s servant girl, Hyang-dan, instead. Purists may eschew this two-episode goof as a silly throwaway, but I loved the tongue-in-cheek humor of this near-parody version and the chemistry of the adorable leads.

As you can guess from the title, in this film version, Bang-ja is the protagonist and Mong-ryong his less-charismatic sidekick — and by “sidekick” I mean story-wise, not literally, since Bang-ja is still servant to his noble young master Mong-ryong. Playing Bang-ja will be Terroir’s Kim Joo-hyuk, while Ryu Seung-beom takes on the role of Mong-ryong. As the article points out, this is quite an interesting bit of casting, given both actors’ images.

Directing will be Kim Dae-woo, who wrote the screenplay for Untold Scandal and directed Forbidden Quest; already Tale of Bang-ja is garnering attention for its “bright, clever screenplay.”

Via Segye

RELATED POSTS

• No Forgiveness for Han Hye-jin and Sol Kyung-gu
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• The Story of Hyang-dan: Episode 2
• The Story of Hyang-dan: Episode 1

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Are you watching SBS’s new Monday-Thursday drama Terroir?

I admit not being that captivated after catching a bit of the first episode, but I don’t think I’ve seen enough yet to give it a fair chance. No doubt SBS is looking to re-create the success of Gourmet — first with the just-ended Tazza (since both were based on popular manhwas), and now with Terroir (since both are food-related. Or at least gastronomy-related).

After filming in France, the production is back on Korean soil. The story takes place around a restaurant called “Terroir” and pits a cheerful specialist in Korean traditional wines (Han Hye-jin) against a cold, haughty connoisseur of French wines (Kim Joo-hyuk). Classic conflict, or trite setup?

[Read more →]

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Kim Haneul and Kang Ji-hwan

Did the Blue Dragon Awards sneak up on us this year or what?

As one of the largest year-end awards shows, the Blue Dragon always tends to draw out a good number of A-listers, and we saw plenty of them out on the red carpet on November 20 and posing pretty for photos.

One big winner of the night was the “kimchi Western” The Good, The Bad, The Weird, as was the thriller The Chaser and even the sports movie Forever the Moment, from way back in January.

But, as with any awards show, sometimes the fun is less about the actual awards and more about parsing all the red carpet looks.

More photos! (May take a while to load) >>

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Terroir is a drama I’ve been hearing about for months, but which has finally been given an airdate — it follows Tazza on SBS and will premiere in early December.

The drama stars Han Hye-jin (Jumong) and Kim Joo-hyuk (My Wife Got Married), and is based in the world of wine; the word terroir is a winemaking term:

Terroir: “French for ’soil’ and used in the phrase gout de terroir (’taste of the soil’) to refer to the earthy flavor of some wines. When French wine producers use the term terroir, it not only includes reference to the type of soil, but also to other geographic factors that might influence the quality of the finished wine like altitude, position relative to the sun, angle of incline, and water drainage.” –Epicurious

Terroir, like Gourmet and I Love You (both also SBS dramas), is a drama that has been produced in advance. It has been in the works for the last two years, and recently finished its location shoot in Bordeaux, France, in October.

Han Hye-jin recently wrote in an online post, “The filming atmosphere was fantastic. The drama is cheery and bright, and the story will have you laughing.”

Terroir bumps out the previously scheduled drama Lord of Study to follow Tazza on Mondays and Tuesdays after that drama was delayed with contract and filming difficulties. Episode 1 airs December 1.

Via Hankook Ilbo

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Getting in character for their upcoming film My Wife Got Married, stars Sohn Ye-jin and Kim Joo-hyuk dressed up as bride and groom for their movie press conference on September 23.

The movie is based on a novel of the same name, and centers around its pure-hearted romantist (Kim Joo-hyuk) and the free-love-espousing Sohn Ye-jin. Whereas the guy is just an average guy, he contrasts sharply with his “shocking” wife, who tells him, “I don’t ask for the stars or moon, I just want one more husband.”

Yes, maybe a little shocking. Co-star Kim Joo-hyuk even expressed his difficulty understanding her character at times.

Jung Yoon-soo (Are You Living With the One You Love?), who directed the film, explained, “Rather than explaining this difficult-to-understand Ju In-ah character [Sohn Ye-jin] like a teacher talking to a class, I tried to embrace her with love, and show her lovable side.” Jung also spoke of swapping gender roles, showing a woman in the role formerly occupied by men, of having had many past lovers. It raises the issue of the discrimination that often gives men allowances for behaviors and traits that women aren’t “allowed” to have.

Sohn is described as portraying her character with lively and cute charm, and the question will be whether audiences will embrace her — and the film — despite her nontraditional character.

My Wife Got Married opens on October 23.

More photos from the press conference and movie stills >>

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