Management company Yedang Entertainment has gotten a bunch of its star-clients into the December issue of Elle magazine under the photo-spread header “Share Happiness.”

Included are East of Eden’s Han Ji-hye (above), along with Lee Jung-jae (Disturbance In Her Barroom), Kim Sun-ah (When Night Comes), and Kim Haneul (On Air), below.

Huh. For promoting such a warm holiday theme, Han Ji-hye and Kim Haneul sure look pissy. If that’s your happy face, ladies, I’ll share my happiness with Lee Jung-jae and Kim Sun-ah instead, thanks.

Via Herald Biz

Tags: Han Ji-hye, Kim Haneul, Kim Sun-ah, Lee Jung-jae, photo shoots

Filed under: Celebrity News by javabeans - 8 Comments →

On November 7, Jung Jun-ho (The Last Scandal of My Life) and Kim Sun-ah (When Night Comes) were named spokespersons for the Korean headquarters of GCS International in Seoul.

GCS is nongovernmental organization (NGO) recognized as a special consultative body by the United Nations Economic and Social Council, whose name stands for its tenets “goodwill, cooperation, and service and contribution.”

At the same ceremony, the presidency of the Korean branch of GCS was passed from its ninth president to its newest, Song Seok-gu, currently chancellor at Gachon University of Medicine and Science.

More from the event >>

Tags: Jung Jun-ho, Kim Sun-ah

Filed under: Celebrity News by javabeans - 6 Comments →

My Name Is Kim Sam-soon (aka My Lovely Sam-soon), the super-popular 2005 drama that made Kim Sun-ah and Hyun Bin into household names, is being given the Hollywood treatment and remade as a U.S. television series. Hopefully Sam-soon will meet with better success as a remake than other Hollywoodified versions like My Sassy Girl and Il Mare (as The Lake House).

NBC will be producing the series as a prime-time drama, casting has been completed, with the script is in the revision process. Production is scheduled to begin early next year.

A few notes on the U.S. television process: just because a drama has entered production does NOT mean, as it does in Korea, that it will definitely air. The pilot will need to be shot, after which point the network can decide whether or not to order more episodes. If it dies in that stage, we’ll never see it, and if it proceeds, it will usually be given an initial 13-episode order, or half a season. (If the ratings are good, the back 9 episodes will usually be ordered to finish out the season. If ratings are bad, the series may be canceled at any point, whether or not all the produced episodes have been aired. There’s always a small chance that the drama will be picked up to series but canceled before any episodes air.)

Also, I actually heard about this a few months ago (in an unofficial capacity), and if the people involved in this remake are who I think they are, there’s a chance this series may turn out decently well. Also, considering that Samsoon was compared a lot to Bridget Jones’s Diary, the inherent premise of the series is one that translates well to Western audiences.

Via Break News

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Tags: Hollywood, Hyun Bin, Kim Sun-ah, My Name Is Kim Samsoon, remakes

Filed under: Drama Casting & News by javabeans - 62 Comments →

It’s kind of unnerving how all the news right now is either Choi Jin-shil’s sudden death or the 13th Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF), and sometimes while looking through the news listings, it’s easy to confuse the two based on the thumbnail images. (Given the timing, as far as I can see, there were no overlaps in attendees — or at least, very few — between PIFF and Choi Jin-shil’s funeral viewing.)

October 2 saw the opening night to the nine-day festival; PIFF closes on October 10 and is the largest film festival in Korea, and one of the largest in Asia. Over the course of the week, more than 300 films will be screened from 60-plus countries.

Kim Rae-won and Han Eun-jung, above, came as brand models for PIFF sponsor L’Oreal. Other famous name actors showed up to the red carpet night; the opening film was Kazakhstan’s The Gift to Stalin, as well as the Hyun Bin & Lee Bo-young film I Am Happy.

PIFF’s red carpet >>

Tags: Cha Seung-won, Choi Jung-yoon, Choi Kang-hee, Eom Ji-won, Eugene, fashion, film festivals, Go Ara, Gong Hyo-jin, Han Eun-jung, Hyun Bin, Jang Dong-gun, Joo Ji-hoon, Jung Ryeo-won, JYP, Kang Hye-jung, Kim Ji-soo, Kim Jung-eun, Kim Rae-won, Kim So-yeon, Kim Sun-ah, Lee Bo-young, Lee Dong-wook, Lee Jung-jin, Lee Seon-kyun, Lee Wan, Lee Yeon-hee, Oh Ji-ho, Park Eun-hye, Park Hae-il, Park Jin-hee, Shin Hyun-joon, Shin Mina, Song Chang-eui, Yeh Ji-won

Filed under: Chungmuro/Film by javabeans - 46 Comments →

When Night Comes, Strongest Chil Woo

This is interesting because I’m actually watching all three Monday-Tuesday dramas right now, and I agree with the general points made, and yet find the outcome curious. Gourmet is the undeniable winner, consistently earning more viewers than When Night Comes and Strongest Chil Woo combined — and based on what I’ve seen, rightly so.

But what strikes me as odd is that although Chil Woo manages every week to barely beat out Night, ratings-wise, their numbers have been fairly comparable. So why is one being called a mania drama (a cult hit), while the other is on the verge of being pegged a flop? To wit:

MBC’s ambitiously prepared Monday-Tuesday drama When Night Comes hasn’t been able to work free of its struggle. On top of that, its lead actors’ conditions have been aggravated by injury. These days, Night seems to be acting true to its title, slipping into trouble when night comes along.

And yet, by contrast:

The KBS2 MondayTuesday drama starring Eric (Moon Jung-hyuk), Strongest Chil Woo, seems set for mania drama status following Hong Gil Dong.

Although the ratings have come to a standstill after going up and down around the 10% mark following the premiere, it’s stirring up strong response within a faction of its viewership.

SONG OF THE DAY

When Night Comes OST - “사랑 탐험” (Love exploration) by Buga Kingz [ Download ]

 
What’s the deal with Monday-Tuesday dramas? >>

Tags: drama ratings, Eric, Gourmet, Kim Sun-ah, Lee Dong-gun, mania dramas, Strongest Chil Woo, When Night Comes

Filed under: Drama Casting & News by javabeans - 17 Comments →