This is not finalized (so take with a grain of salt), but Jeon Ji-hyun’s potential drama comeback just may come in the Korean adaptation of Japanese manga Absolute Boyfriend, aka Zettai Kareshi. The kdrama will be directed by PD Kim Min-shik of Queen of Housewives and Before and After: Plastic Surgery.

Jeon Ji-hyun is currently busy surveying projects to finalize her decision, and the Zettai remake is reportedly a strong contender. (It had considered casting U-Know Yunho at one point, who moved on to Heading to the Ground instead.) A source with the production said, “We understand that for a long while, Jeon Ji-hyun has been carefully preparing to take a role in a Korean drama. We are working out the details of her casting, and hope for a positive result.”

In the original fantasy-romance manga, a girl accidentally gets a made-to-order boyfriend android from a website, only to find out that she has to pay an exorbitant amount to keep him — unless she helps the company conduct research to improve future models. She must then hide his non-human status from others, and he starts to develop human emotions.

In the kdrama version, the lead is not a teenager but a 30-year-old woman who is a stylist at a beauty salon without any clients. She is betrayed by her first love who becomes an overnight success as a movie star. Feeling the sting, she orders up her ideal man in robot form, aka her “absolute boyfriend.”

Absolute Boyfriend will be a 16-episode drama to air on MBC either at the end of this year or in early 2010. If she decides on the drama, it will be Jeon Ji-hyun’s first in ten years, since 1999’s Happy Together. After seeing such a lot of the same old kdramas airing one after another, this plot sounds like a refreshing change.

(Of course, the big question — aside from whether Jeon will sign on — is: Who plays the perfect manbot?? My wishlist: Kim Kang-woo or Gong Yoo!)

Via DongA

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KBS’s “blockbuster action spy drama” IRIS [아이리스] is scheduled to premiere in October, but even before it unveils itself to the public, it has confirmed that it is producing another iteration: a manhwa by well-known manhwa-ka Lee Hyun-sae.

The decision to publish the new manhwa comes after negotiations between the drama’s production company, Taewon Entertainment, and writer Lee’s agency, Creek & River. The manhwa version will be set in the same world as the television series, but will follow different plotlines unique to the manhwa. The details of publication are still being worked out.

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Group Eight, the producers who butchered adapted Hana Yori Dango into the hot mess that was Boys Before Flowers, is adapting another popular Japanese manga for Korean television: Itazura na Kiss, or Playful Kiss, which was turned into an anime series as well as the Taiwanese drama It Started With a Kiss.

(Waits for manga/anime/Tdrama fans to stop swearing angrily.)

Normally, I’d be all for a kdrama adaptation of what sounds like a cute romantic trendy drama, but Group Eight has pretty much lost its credibility with me after Boys Before Flowers. Not that I didn’t enjoy watching it, but it was nowhere near what it could, and should, have been. Group Eight is often mentioned as producing Goong, but that’s not strictly true (there was that production company split with Group Eight and Eight Peaks). The titles that Group Eight can claim as exclusively theirs are Fantasy Couple (okay) and Goong S (highly disappointing). On the other hand, they’re also doing Tamna the Island, which looks promising.

According to Group Eight president Song Byung-joon, the adaptation of Itazua na Kiss is next on their slate after Tamna, and they are currently in the planning stages. The licensing has been finalized and they are currently in the process of finding a scriptwriter. They are aiming to broadcast the series (I’ll use the Korean title, 장난스런 키스 or Playful Kiss) next summer.

Song did add that because the original manga never had an official ending (the writer passed away before finishing the series), the Korean version of Playful Kiss may choose to make its own, “entirely different, Korean-style ending.” Just as long as nobody dies of sudden cancer harboring a hidden birth secret, we hope.

Via Joy News

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A highly anticipated drama project that fizzled last year may get a second chance at broadcast life: producers are hoping to give Daemul (aka Big Fish, or 대물) a second go.

The 10 billion won drama production had been a big-buzz project, first of all because it was based off a popular comic, and second of all when it cast A-list stars in the roles of the female president and high-class gigolo: Go Hyun-jung (HIT) and Kwon Sang-woo (Bad Love) in what was to be his big comeback project.

However, Daemul encountered numerous problems with its budget, PDs, and filming locations; SBS then dropped it from its schedule; and eventually it fizzled.

Now, Lee Kim Productions is hoping to get the drama back into production and on the air sometime this year. Interestingly, they say they want to continue with the same actors, but that might be tough, as both are now headlining their own series (Kwon in the current Cinderella Man and Go in the upcoming Queen Seon-deok). LKP is currently working on adapting scripts from the manhwa, which was created by Park In-kwon. Park also created the manhwa War of Money, which was turned into a hit drama in 2007 by the same production company.

I’ve always been more interested in the premise with Daemul than its producers or cast, so I’d actually like to see this one make it to air. Probably won’t be with SBS, though — although, I wonder if the broadcast station will put aside its squabbles with the production company and attempt to woo Lee Kim’s upcoming Lady Castle, starring Yoon Eun-hye.

Via Joy News

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MBC’s upcoming baseball drama Strike Love [2009외인구단, for which I previously used the literal translation Alien Baseball Team], is another drama adapted from a popular manhwa, and has fans eager for its premiere next month.

The sports-themed series stars Yoon Tae-young (Legend) in the lead role of baseball player Kachi, while Kim Min-jung (New Heart) is cast as his love interest Omji (or Umji).

I wasn’t sure how I’d like this drama, but the new preview video clip makes it look pretty good (watch below).

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