Yoo Hana, who played the adorably bubbly Eun-ji in Sons of Sol Pharmacy, has been cast as the romantic counterpart to DBSK’s Choi Kang Changmin in the upcoming drama Paradise Ranch. She joins Lee Yeon-hee (East of Eden) and Joo Sang-wook (Queen Seon-deok) in this story “set against the beautiful nature of Jeju Island, which deals with the lives, work, and loves of young men and women.”

Yoo Hana plays an up-and-coming interior designer who is a second-generation chaebol, and trades in her previously cute, energetic image for a more cosmopolitan one. The romantic melodrama boasts a “cheerful story that incorporates beautiful music” and is currently filming. It will be produced entirely in advance of its broadcast, which means no live-shoot system for this one. Perhaps buoyed by its lead actor’s popularity abroad, Paradise Ranch has already been bought for broadcasts in Japan and Southeast Asia. Yoo Hana also has a lot of overseas fans after acting in the Taiwanese drama My Lucky Star.

I hadn’t really been that interested in this drama, since we’ve had quite a few idol stars falling flat in lead-role acting debuts and the track record wasn’t looking good. Furthermore, I find Lee Yeon-hee absolutely beautiful to look at, but not quite natural in her acting. Yoo Hana, however, does have an effervescent charm onscreen and is quite likable. (Even though she can sometimes overdo the comic overtones, at least she does have a comic sensibility.)

Paradise Ranch will have 16 episodes and is looking at a March premiere.

Via Mk.co.kr

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Well, I suppose it isn’t totally out of line, considering that Lee Yeon-hee, who is managed by SM Entertainment, was almost in Girls Generation back in her training days. But I admit I tire of singers crossing over as actors with mediocre acting skills, as well as the reverse, actors crossing over into kpop with middling singing talent.

In any case, the East of Eden actress will feature her vocals on Super Junior’s upcoming third album, having lent her voice to the song “Club No. 1.” The album is also drawing notice for featuring DBSK’s U-know Yunho and Micky Yoochun, who will rap on the song “이별… 넌 쉽니 (Heartquake).” (What, with 13 members — or is it 14 now? — is Suju finding it difficult to fill out their songs with their own talent?)

Super Junior will kick off their comeback with an appearance on KBS’s Music Bank on March 13.

Via Herald Biz

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MBC hosted its awards ceremony for the 2008 Acting Awards on December 30. Let me first reiterate that I think these end-of-year broadcast-station awards are mostly meaningless. That said, this year’s Daesangs were TOTAL WEAKSAUCE, MBC. Top honor (the “Daesang” grand prize) went to…

Oh, you mean it was split this year? Between Beethoven Virus’s much-lauded epitome of awesomeness, Kim Myung-min, and East of Eden’s overblown and overrated Song Seung-heon?? I mean, I could understand going for the sentimental vote and awarding deceased Choi Jin-shil (she got a lifetime achievement instead), but Song Seung-heon winning acting awards is in itself a joke.

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Lee Yeon-hee has been picking up a lot of flak for her acting in East of Eden, which many feel has been pretty weak. And while the 20-year-old feels that some criticism, when stated with affection, can be motivating, “outright condemnation is a little hard to take.”

After many of those bad reviews came out, she received lots of encouraging text messages from friends and acquaintances in the biz telling her not to worry about the negative press, which, ironically, is what clued her in to the overwhelming press in the first place: “Because I was busy filming the drama, I didn’t know how much people were talking about my acting. Seeing all the messages made me realize it.”

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The cast was out to promote the film made from popular internet manhwa Soonjung Manhwa (i.e., shojo manga) on November 3 in Seoul. Well, most of the cast — the production press conference featured stars Chae Jung-ahn (Coffee Prince), Super Junior’s Kang-in, and Lee Yeon-hee (East of Eden), but was missing one of its leads, Yoo Ji-tae (Oldboy), who was in Japan.

The relationships in the film feature the large age gaps between its older generation and the younger, pairing Chae Jung-ahn (as an older woman who’s experienced disappointment in love) with the younger Kang-in, whose character is a high school student “who chases her around doggedly.” Meanwhile, Yoo Ji-tae plays a bashful 30-year-old who meets the “tough” high school student played by Lee Yeon-hee (and is pushed around by her strong(er) personality).

Soonjung Manhwa opens on November 27.

More from the press conference >>

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