Huh. When it rains, it pours?

Coming on the heels of his drama announcement for Cinderella Man, Kwon Sang-woo is announcing his next film project, starring alongside Lee Bo-young (Queen of the Game). If you thought from reading about Cinderella Man that Kwon playing a dual role with an identity switcheroo in a trendy drama sounded out of character, you’ll be relieved to see him back in his usual tearjerker role for the film A Story Sadder Than Sadness. (….aaaand I’m out. No thankee!)

This’ll be Lee Bo-young’s third leading film role, following previous movies Once Upon a Time and I Am Happy, and her second time working with Kwon; they teamed previously for an ad campaign for the cosmetic brand The Face Shop (at right).

In A Story Sadder than Sadness, they’ll play a radio station PD and songwriter, who for some reason have harbored longtime affections but have been unable to express them to each other. Lee Beom-soo (On Air) is a dentist in love with Lee’s character.

Interestingly enough, the director is actually a bestselling poet (oxymoron?) in his directorial debut, and the film will be produced by the company behind Unstoppable Wedding and Go-sa: Bloody Midterms, distributed by CJ Entertainment.

The movie starts filming next month and will be released on White Day (March 14).

Via My Daily

RELATED POSTS

• Two Kwons for the price of one
• Kwon Sang-woo drops film, pisses off production
• Cast of I’m Happy looking decidedly unhappy at PIFF
• Kwon Sang-woo weds Sohn Tae-young (finally)

Tags: Kwon Sang-woo, Lee Beom-soo, Lee Bo-young

Filed under: Chungmuro/Film by javabeans - 16 Comments →

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) >>

Tags: awards, fashion, Go Jun-hee, Han Chae-young, Han Eun-jung, Han Ye-seul, Joo Ji-hoon, Jung Jun-ho, Kang Ji-hwan, Kim Haneul, Kim Hye-soo, Kim Joo-hyuk, Kim Min-sun, Kim Nam-gil, Lee Bo-young, Lee Jung-jae, Lee Ki-woo, Lee Mi-yeon, Lee Soo-kyung, Park Shi-yeon, Shin Hyun-joon, So Ji-sub, Sohn Ye-jin, Song Yoon-ah, Su Ae, Uhm Tae-woong

Filed under: Chungmuro/Film by javabeans - 70 Comments →

In stark contrast with its star-studded opening night, the 13th Pusan International Film Awards closed after nine days with a night much lacking in glitz or stars.

Maybe it was just a lackluster year, or maybe Choi Jin-shil’s untimely death cast a pall over opening night, or maybe celebrities went up to Seoul to pay their respects and didn’t return to Busan. In any case, stars were few and far between at the closing ceremony on the 10th.

In fact, Yeh Ji-won (Old Miss Diaries, looking gorgeous all festival long) and Jo Jae-hyun (New Heart), above, were two of only a very few famous faces to walk the red carpet. (The only other top names present were Hyun Bin and Lee Bo-young, and even then I’m not sure I’d call them A-list. Maybe B+.)

[Read more →]

Tags: film festivals, Hyun Bin, Lee Bo-young, Yeh Ji-won

Filed under: Drama Recaps by javabeans - 10 Comments →

After a lackluster week, the Pusan International Film Festival (which has been called a bore this year by most media) screened its closing film on Thursday: Hyun Bin (My Name Is Kim Samsoon) and Lee Bo-young’s (Queen of the Game, Mr. Goodbye) new movie I’m Happy.

(But before we get into the movie or the press conference itself, it must be asked — why is Hyun Bin looking so pissed off? He seems about ready to cut a bitch — Lee Bo-young? — and I wanna know what she did. Steal his color scheme? His fashion sense? Because also, what the heck is Hyun Bin wearing and why? An oversize blazer over a snug waiter’s vest over an un-tucked shirt — and sneakers — oy.)

The film, produced by Blue Storm and directed by Yoon Jong-chan (Sorum, Blue Swallow), deals with a psychiatric patient and the relationship that develops between him and his nurse. This film festival marks the word premiere for I’m Happy, and Hyun Bin expressed his appreciation for being given particular honors as the closing film.

More photos of the event >>

Tags: film festivals, Hyun Bin, Lee Bo-young

Filed under: Chungmuro/Film by javabeans - 15 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 →