Dramabeans » Yoo Ji-tae

Bae Soo-bin cast as Yoo Ji-tae’s leading man

javabeans — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 20:10:06 +0000

…in Yoo Ji-tae’s directorial feature, that is. As previously announced, Yoo is following his recent wedding to actress Kim Hyo-jin by diving back to work, now that his debut directorial feature has secured funding. He’s now locked Bae Soo-bin (49 Days, Dong Yi) in as the film’s leading man.

The project’s title has been tweaked to A Boy Dreams of Sansevieria; sansevieria is the name of a plant that colloquially goes by the names devil’s tongue, snake plant, and mother-in-law’s tongue. The story is a coming-of-age story about a young man who runs away from home and ends up traveling with a Filipina woman.

Bae Soo-bin plays the young man… and I hope there’s something else to that story, because as baby-faced as he is, he also totally looks his age (34). Not at all the kind of youth who’d be running away from home and coming of age. But Yoo Ji-tae has established a thoughtful, introspective directorial style with his previous four shorts, so I’m sure he knows what he’s about.

A Boy Dreams of Sansevieria will begin shooting in January.

Via Star News

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Yoo Ji-tae and Kim Hyo-jin’s wedding photos

javabeans — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 13:09:15 +0000

Eee, these may be my favorite wedding photos ever. (Pre-wedding photos, to be specific.) I just love the old-fashioned dress and styling here; vintage wedding photos are my favorite.

Actors Yoo Ji-tae (Oldboy, A Star’s Lover) and Kim Hyo-jin (Mary Stayed Out All Night) have been dating for years and are all set to tie the knot this Friday, at Seoul’s Silla Hotel. The couple recently posed for a wedding-themed photo spread for Bazaar’s November issue, where they rocked a modern look with fashion-forward wedding-wear. I love that this set of photos goes completely in the direction, down to the lighting and the treatment of the image to look old and vintage. Fabulous.

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Read the rest of Yoo Ji-tae and Kim Hyo-jin’s wedding photos (96 words)

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Post tags: Kim Hyo-jin, weddings, Yoo Ji-tae

Yoo Ji-tae’s directorial feature and wedding plans

javabeans — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 23:19:58 +0000

It’ll be a busy winter for actor Yoo Ji-tae (A Star’s Lover, Oldboy), whose feature directorial debut is about to start filming, just a month after his upcoming wedding to actress Kim Hyo-jin (Mary Stayed Out All Night), who’s pictured with him in this wedding-themed shoot for Harper’s Bazaar.

Yoo has been directing shorts for a number of years now, picking up awards and traveling the film festival circuit, and his first feature film, which he also wrote, has been in the works for a while. Now he’s found a major investor, Lotte Entertainment, and completed contracts with a distributor, which means his attention now turns to casting. Once that’s done, he’ll begin filming in January of next year.

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Read the rest of Yoo Ji-tae’s directorial feature and wedding plans (191 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2011. | Permalink | 47 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: directors, Kim Hyo-jin, Yoo Ji-tae

Yoo Ji-tae begins work on feature directorial debut

javabeans — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 20:21:00 +0000

It’s been a while since Yoo Ji-tae (Midnight FM, A Star’s Lover) announced his foray into directing features, but almost three years later, he’s ready to begin working on the project.

According to one source, Yoo is currently writing the screenplay, which is described as a human drama about the heartache and love of a female migrant laborer. He is also in talks with investors and production companies for possible backing. Yoo’s management confirmed the reports, but added that they couldn’t divulge additional details because the script is still in the working stages.

This will be his debut in terms of full-length feature films, but Yoo has already had modest success with his four shorts, all of which he wrote in addition to directing, and which have traveled the film-festival circuit. His debut short, 2003′s The Bike Boy, is about a boy with a crush on a girl who tries to impress her by riding a bicycle. His second, 2005′s How Do The Blind Dream, is about a blind acupuncturist who’s tired of peace and quiet. One day a young woman comes to him as a patient and shakes things up with her frankness and bold talk.

His third, Out Of My Intention, was about a middle-aged man out to track down an old love. His most recent, 2009′s Invitation, deals with the lack of communication in today’s materialistic modern age, the alienation felt by those who want to communicate but find themselves cut off from each other.

Based on his choices, he strikes me as a serious sort; I’m intrigued as to what he’ll have to say with his debut feature. He’s obviously not going for commercial appeal, but I can appreciate that; he’s got enough commercial success on the acting front.

Via DongA

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Real-time thriller Midnight FM’s new posters and trailer

javabeans — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 19:05:02 +0000

Here are additional posters and stills for thriller-action film Midnight FM, as well as a longer trailer than the one that was previously released.

The movie stars Su Ae as a late-night radio DJ, while Yoo Ji-tae, who has so often played gentle, quiet characters, transforms into a nutjob stalker. He kidnaps her family members and turns Su Ae’s last broadcast into a nightmarish cat-and-mouse game. Yoo explained that his goal was to appear like a real psycho, rather than looking like he was acting as one, and dove into the character.

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Read the rest of Real-time thriller Midnight FM’s new posters and trailer (171 words)

Su Ae and Yoo Ji-tae face off in Midnight FM

javabeans — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 22:40:17 +0000

The trailer is out for thriller movie Midnight FM (which I’d previously mentioned as Late Night FM), which pits Su Ae (Athena) against Yoo Ji-tae (A Star’s Lover) in a battle of wills.

In the movie, Su Ae is the DJ of a late-night radio show who gets a call while she’s on the air, from a mysterious man (Yoo Ji-tae) who turns out to be a psycho killer. Su Ae must keep her cool as he directs her in an impossible mission in order to save the lives of her kidnapped family.

Personally, I’m not too interested in the plot, but this might be a film that’s more interesting for the acting. (Or not, if they fall short. But I like Su Ae and Yoo Ji-tae, and think it’s quite possible they’ll be better than the plot.) On the upside, the movie looks great on a visual level.

Midnight FM will open in October.

Via TV Report

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Secret Love unveils provocative poster and release date

javabeans — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 14:07:59 +0000

Yoo Ji-tae‘s new movie Secret Love (finally!) has a premiere date: It’ll hit movie theaters on March 25. The film has also released a rather eye-catching new poster featuring Yoo with his co-star, Yoon Jin-seo.

I think this round of promotional images captures the theme of “cruel and secret love” a lot more vividly than the previous round, where the couple was shown in a rather innocent light. (Another example: the initial wedding photos released last summer.) This dualism fits with the movie’s plot, which casts Yoo Ji-tae in two roles; he portrays brothers with vastly disparate personalities who fall for the same woman.

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Read the rest of Secret Love unveils provocative poster and release date (146 words)

Yoo Ji-tae’s dual role in Secret Love

javabeans — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 15:27:12 +0000

One thing better than Yoo Ji-tae playing an intense romantic lead: Yoo Ji-tae playing TWO intense romantic leads. His next film, Secret Love [비밀애], stars him playing brothers. The younger character falls in love with his older brother’s wife (Yoon Jin-seo), but suffers an an accident and falls into a coma. When he awakens miraculously, the older brother discovers the truth of their goings-on, which causes the relationships to crumble.

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Read the rest of Yoo Ji-tae’s dual role in Secret Love (128 words)

Thriller casts Yoo Ji-tae as a psycho killer

javabeans — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 18:20:37 +0000

Yoo Ji-tae takes on a psychopathic villain for his next role, starring as the kidnapper-killer in the upcoming thriller film Late Night FM, which has cast Su Ae as the female lead. In it, she plays a perfectionist DJ of a nighttime live radio program who receives a call from the kidnapper of her relatives.

Yoo Ji-tae is the villian who has taken her family hostage, and orders her to continue with the program according to his demands; if she doesn’t, he threatens to kill them all. The film will begin shooting at the end of January.

The plot doesn’t sound all that novel — it sounds pretty garden-variety crime thriller to me — but I do like both Yoo Ji-tae and Su Ae, who are very solid actors. He’s has a lot of good-guy roles under his belt in recent years (A Star’s Lover, Hello Schoolgirl, Ditto, Hwang Jini), but then again, there’s Oldboy. I’d love to see his innocent face portraying a psycho.

Via OSEN

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A Star’s Lover is a hit in Japan

javabeans — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 03:13:28 +0000

SBS’s drama A Star’s Lover was not a hit in Korea, but (as expected) it’s doing well in Japan, thanks in no small part to Choi Ji-woo‘s immense popularity there.

A Star’s Lover was broadcast on Japanese satellite and cable channel WOWOW TV starting in May, and will follow that with a run on a major broadcast station beginning August 25, airing as a Monday-Tuesday series.

Such is the reaction among buyers and Japanese retail and DVD production outlets that A Star’s Lover is being called “a second Winter Sonata” — strong words, given how incredibly strong (and lasting) the impression was from that drama. In June, a concert was held featuring the series’ soundtrack and earned such huge response that additional promotional materials are in the pipeline, from novelizations of the drama, guidebooks, the soundtrack album, and even chocolates.

CEO Go Dae-hwa of the production company Olive Nine said, “Even we at the production company did not know that the drama would cause such a tremendous response in Japan.”

I admit I still haven’t finished the drama, and even with only two episodes left, I have no desire to see the ending (so… painfully… slow). However, I will agree that Choi Ji-woo and Yoo Ji-tae were gorgeous and had intense chemistry (amidst all the crying and wailing), the scenery was beautiful, and the first four episodes were touched with a little extra magic that I wished carried through to the end. But in any case, I’m happy to hear it’s doing so well; all underperforming dramas should get second chances elsewhere.

Via OSEN

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© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2009. | Permalink | 30 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: A Star's Lover, Choi Ji-woo, Yoo Ji-tae