Renowned director Park Chan Wook (Oldboy, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, I’m A Cyborg, But It’s Okay) has cast his leading lady in his new film Bak-jui/Bat, and calls uljjang-turned-actor Kim Ok Bin (Over the Rainbow, Dasepo Naughty Girls) an “actor of infinite potential.”

He described her as having a “complicated and complex” appearance: “She can seem like a mischievous boy, and also feminine, smiling cheerfully one moment and turning despondent immediately, at the same time a classical yet contemporary actress.”

Also cast in this drama about adultery and blind infatuation is well-respected actor Song Kang Ho, who plays the friend of Kim Ok Bin’s husband; the two engage in a “fatal love.”

The plot sounds straightforward (and dare I say, trite?) enough, but in the hands of Park Chan Wook, it’s sure to result in something quite interesting. It will film through the end of March after casting is completed.

Via Star News

SONG OF THE DAY

Belle Epoque - “December” from the artist that brought you “May” from the Coffee Prince OST, perhaps better recognized as “that chestnut scene song.” [ zShare download ]

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Tags: directors, Kim Ok-bin, Park Chan-wook, Song Kang-ho

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The “uljjang” phenomenon is one that is fascinating, odd, borderline disturbing (or at least perplexing), uniquely Korean — and now, it appears, waning.

The word uljjang comes from a mashup of the word for “face” and a slang term for “best,” thereby meaning “best face” or simply “good-looking,” in the same way that momjjang means “well-built body.” However, the term also refers to the phenomenon of recent years where ordinary (albeit extremely good-looking) people have become bona fide celebrities simply from a photo posted online in their blogs, mini-hompages, and cafes. The photo in question would be widely circulated, and the hottie would find him- or herself vaulted into quasi internet celebrity, and then real honest-to-goodness mainstream celebrity once they’d been “discovered” and debuted as actors and entertainers. (Some were discovered in more conventional ways, aka off the streets and in public locations, which is how I hear Nam Sang Mi, pictured above, was first found, although I don’t know for sure that that’s true.)

Many uljjangs may have faded back into relative obscurity soon after the initial buzz, although a fair number went on to success. According to the following article, however, it seems the phenomenon — as with so many internet-spawned fads — is on the downtrend:

Why are there no recent internet “uljjang stars”?

Where have all the “uljjang” stars, who’d once seemed to pop up every day, gone?

Starting with Gu Hye Sun of the currently airing King and I and Nam Sang Mi of Time of Dog and Wolf, and including others such as Park Han Byul, Kang Eun Bi, and Bae Seul Ki, many stars who’d originated as “uljjangs” are now in the entertainment industry, but it’s not so easy finding new uljjang stars. …

 
(Random) SONG OF THE DAY

Romantic Couch - “Star Bossa” [ zShare download ]

 
Where have all the uljjangs gone? >>

Tags: Gu Hye-sun, Kim Ok-bin, Nam Sang-mi, netizens, Park Han-byul, uljjangs

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