After a few years of film and drama projects, actor Song Chang-eui (Cinderella Man, Boys Don’t Cry, Scale of Providence) is keeping his promise to fans in returning to the title role of the musical Hedwig (aka Hedwig and the Angry Inch). He had originally taken the role of the transgender rocker back in 2006 to much praise, and out of the many actors who played the part (Jo Seung-woo included), Song Chang-eui has generally been called by fans the Hedwig they’d most like to see back.

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Aw, isn’t little Wang Seok-hyun cute?

September 5 saw the end of the 17th Chunsa Film Festival and its closing-night awards ceremony, which was held in Icheon, Kyunggi-do. The winners list was dominated by the popular, recently released sports film Take Off [국가대표, or National Athlete], although vampire film Thirst did well, as did lush period piece Portrait of a Beauty.

Full winners list below:

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This is a pairing I could get behind: Seo Ji-hye (I Love You) is teaming up with Song Chang-eui (Scale of Providence) as spouses in a new movie with the (working) title Tree that Sleeps Standing [서서 자는 나무]. Apparently the title speaks to the theme of a person’s desire to stay next to and support a loved one.

Song Chang-eui, taking his follow-up role to the drama series Cinderella Man, plays a warm-hearted, passionate firefighter. Having dealt with his father’s death at a young age and knowing the pain of losing a parent, he doesn’t want to subject his young daughter to the same kind of pain, yet his job requires that he put himself in risky situations, and that weighs on him as a burden. He finds refuge and hope in his wife and daughter, but one day things start to change.

Seo Ji-hye, known for her bright image, again plays an innocent, simple woman as Song Chang-eui’s wife. They meet when she finds herself caught in a revolving door, and he helps her to safety. However, after that incident, she has difficulty being in crowded places and suffers panic attacks. She is also dearly devoted to her husband, but begins to feel that he’s hiding something from her.

The film is described as a “heartbreaking love story” and will begin filming in September. (To be honest, I don’t love the description — melodramas, bah! — but I do really like both actors…)

Via Newsen

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And wouldn’t we all?

Oh, Kwon Sang-woo. I understand that you’re in something of a career slump after being one of the hottiest hotties of the early 2000s, and yeah, both your best buds Song Seung-heon and So Ji-sub came off pretty strong series in the past two months… but is bargaining for more viewers really the way to go about it?

Ratings for his new trendy drama Cinderella Man have been low, and Kwon offered that if they rose above 20% (ha!), he’d personally ask co-star Yoon-ah’s girl pop group Girls Generation (SoShi) to make a cameo.

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On Wednesday, Cinderella Man premiered to a disappointing 9.3% rating, which dropped further to 6.7% on its second day. (It was up against Cain & Abel and I Hate You But Let’s Try Again, which both pulled in numbers in the 15%-19% range.)

I’ll always take the stance that ratings aren’t strictly indicative of a show’s quality, so I don’t think the numbers automatically say the show sucks. However, after seeing the first two episodes, I can see why the show received such a lukewarm response. Articles discussing the show’s first week point out the shaky quality, which range from complaints of Kwon Sang-woo’s muddy diction (”It requires subtitling!”) and exaggerated accent, as well as Yoon-ah’s acting and insufficient range of expression.

Personally, I didn’t think Cinderella Man was actually bad. It was okay. Inoffensive. It just… wasn’t very exciting.

SONG OF THE DAY

Biuret – “Dreams Come True.” Hm, maybe this song is too energetic for this post… Oh well. Just know that the drama ain’t anywhere near as upbeat as this fun song by Biuret, whose second album released a couple months ago. [ Download ]

CINDERELLA MAN Episodes 1-2 >>

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