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 →

Although the media is careful to say the details aren’t finalized, they are reporting that Han Ji-min (Capital Scandal, Yi San) is on the shortlist to fill out the main cast of SBS’s Cain & Abel.

Either she is really close to being cast, or the media is jumping the gun again. She does seem to be seriously considering the role, and even went out earlier this month to eat with and spend some bonding time with the other three confirmed lead actors, So Ji-sub, Shin Hyun-joon, and Chae Jung-ahn. In any case, her management has acknowledged that Han will be making her decision soon, so we won’t have to wait long to find out.

A source at production house Plan B Pictures said, perhaps indicating their eagerness to bring in Han, “Because we’re still in the process of writing the script, the character can be adjusted.” Although Cain is a medical drama, her character is not a doctor, unlike leads So Ji-sub and Shin Hyun-joon, who also play brothers.

Han Ji-min finished up the long-running sageuk Yi San earlier this summer. Cain & Abel plans to start shooting in November and will air next February.

UPDATE: Han Ji-min is confirmed for Cain & Abel.

Via Star News

RELATED POSTS

• Cain & Abel emphasizes brotherly strife
• Cain & Abel or Doctor Stop?
• “I am SO glad Yi San is finally ending!” “Tell me about it”
• News bites: March 10, 2008

Tags: Cain and Abel, Chae Jung-ahn, Han Ji-min, Shin Hyun-joon, So Ji-sub

Filed under: Drama Casting & News by javabeans - 13 Comments →

Urgh, confused yet again by the vaguery that is Doctor Stop aka Cain & Abel aka So Ji-sub’s comeback drama.

First called Cain & Abel, the drama had attached Jung Ryeo-won opposite So, but then undergone production delays and planning issues, losing both Jung and its original title. At one point the SBS president even said it was officially canceled. (You can read more about that here.) It was then called Doctor Stop and may or may not replaced its original PD, and then may or may not have gotten him back on board.

Anyway. Now the drama is back to being called Cain & Abel and has fixed upon a February 2009 premiere on SBS (it’ll be a Wednesday-Thursday series). Writing the script is Park Kye-ok; behind the camera is Kim Hyung-shik (Surgeon Bong Dal-hee).

Shin Hyun-joon has been cast as So Ji-sub’s brother, marking both lead actors’ return to television after five years — Shin in Stairway to Heaven and So in I’m Sorry, I Love You. Apparently part of the reason for the name switch (again) is to highlight the rift between the brothers (although I wonder if the Cain/Abel title actually ties into the story more than as a vague, thematic Biblical reference).

Filling in for Jung Ryeo-won’s vacated female lead role is Coffee Prince’s Yuju, Chae Jung-ahn. The drama starts filming in November.

Via JK News

RELATED POSTS

• Cain & Abel or Doctor Stop?
• So Ji-sub’s U-Turn

Tags: Cain and Abel, Chae Jung-ahn, Shin Hyun-joon, So Ji-sub

Filed under: Drama Casting & News by javabeans - 34 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 →

Actors Shin Hyun-joon and Bae Doo-na were sent earlier this summer to do some charity work abroad via cable channel tvN’s world special “LOVE” (their phrasing) documentary program. I’d mentioned this before Bae Doo-na set off for Nepal, but now that she’s gone there and back, we can see for ourselves what the trip entailed.

Shin’s trip was taken back in July to a small village in Malaysia, where he stayed a week, accompanied by photographer Yang Hyun-mo. Bae, on the other hand, made her trip in August to Lele, a village in Nepal, in conjunction with the Good Neighbors International program. She was also there a week with a photographer to document the events as she aided the family of a 7-year-old girl who worked manual labor to earn money for her family.

Shin Hyun-joon’s segment aired on September 6, while Bae Doo-na’s will be featured on the 20th.

More pics beyond the cut >>

Tags: Bae Doo-na, good deeds, Shin Hyun-joon

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