Yoon Kye-sang (Executioners) has announced his next project, which will be an omnibus film called Just A Little Closer [조금만 더 가까이] in which he’ll act without pay.

The film will weave together five vignettes and will be made with a relatively modest 100 million won budget ($86,000). Each storyline is a different kind of love story, with one being about a couple that reunites after breaking up and another featuring a gay couple. Directing is Kim Jong-kwan, who won an audience award at the Resfest digital film festival and screened at foreign short film festivals with his 2004 How to Operate a Polaroid Camera.

Yoon will take the role of a man who experiences a change of heart after reuniting with a former girlfriend. A rep from the film production team said, “Yoon Kye-sang and the other cast members readily agreed to act without pay because they agreed with the director who wants to focus on the quality of the film as a whole rather than thinking of commercial appeal.”

Shooting will begin at the end of November with the intention of being screened at Pusan International Film Festival and other prominent festivals. In addition to Yoon Kye-sang, also cast is singer-turned-actress Yozoh, who made her acting debut in the well-received small film Cafe Noir.

Via E Daily

RELATED POSTS

• Yoon Kye-sang still crazy about acting
• Yoon Kye-sang at Executioners press conference
• Stars collaborate on travel blog and book project
• Executioners set for fall release
• Interview from the cast of Triple

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2009. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Yoon Kye-sang, Yozoh

Y’all know I have much affection for actor and former idol star Yoon Kye-sang. That affection endures despite his role as one of the most irritating characters in the recent drama Triple, and I’m eager to see the new movie he has coming out (the prison drama Executioners), which looks great. Here’s an interview with him as he promotes the new film.

“Even now, I’m still crazy about acting. And I believe in myself.”

It’s been six years since Yoon Kye-sang began acting. In 2004’s Flying Boys, he stood with uncertain eyes, not knowing where he was supposed to go, and is now a 32-year-old young man acting in movies. In the wake of his idol glory, he has been quietly walking the path of an actor. There were people who threw stones, and others who spit at him. Praise was scant, and his path was strewn with thorns. All the while, Yoon Kye-sang was always growing within his roles. No, the roles he chose reflected Yoon Kye-sang’s feelings of that time.

After he was released from military service, we met him in Crazy for Love after he’d split from a long-time girlfriend. The movie Lovers for Six Years was also an autobiographical project.

Yoon Kye-sang was called a traitor for leaving G.O.D. before the sixth album; they went on to release a seventh before disbanding (unofficially; rumors periodically surface that they may make a comeback). Yoon recently said that he had ended a six-year romance as he headed into military service, as both parties got busier and they naturally drifted apart.

(...)
Read the rest of Yoon Kye-sang still crazy about acting (1,134 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2009. | Permalink | 28 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: interviews, Yoon Kye-sang

Korea’s first capital-punishment-themed film Executioners [집행자], which stars Yoon Kye-sang and Jo Jae-hyun as prison guards, has also turned its screenplay (lauded as taut and solidly written) into a novel, which was just released on October 23. The publication precedes the film’s release next month, and to commemorate the occasion, the film’s lead actors appeared at a fan-signing event on the 24th.

(...)
Read the rest of Executioners screenplay turned into novel (137 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2009. | Permalink | 18 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: books, Jo Jae-hyun, Yoon Kye-sang

On October 8, the 14th Pusan International Film Festival, or PIFF, opened in Busan. (Yes, the city takes a different official spelling than the film festival. Blame inconsistent Romanization.)

As the largest film festival in Korea, it drew a large list of attendees, as you can see from the long list of red-carpet walkers. It was definitely a star-studded opening night, and even included one familiar Hollywood face (Josh Hartnett).

This year’s PIFF features its largest lineup to date, screening 355 films from 70 countries, and closes on the 16th.

(...)
Read the rest of Opening red carpet at the 14th Pusan International Film Festival (241 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2009. | Permalink | 81 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Byun Jung-soo, Choi Jung-won, Eom Ji-won, film festivals, Go Eun-ah, Go Jun-hee, Ha Ji-won, Han Chae-young, Han Eun-jung, Han Hye-jin, Han Ji-hye, Han Ye-seul, Im Joo-hwan, Im Soo-jung, Jang Dong-gun, Jang Hyuk, Jeon Do-yeon, Jeon Hye-bin, Jo Jae-hyun, Jung Ryeo-won, Kang Ji-hwan, Kim Haneul, Kim Kang-woo, Kim Nam-gil, Kim So-yeon, Kim Yunjin, Lee Byung-heon, Lee Seon-kyun, Min Hyo-rin, Park Hee-soon, Seo Woo, So Ji-sub, Su Ae, Sung Yuri, Sunwoo Sun, Uhm Jung-hwa, Wang Seok-hyun, Yeh Ji-won, Yoo Hana, Yoo Sun, Yoon Kye-sang

October 6 saw the production press conference for Executioners [집행자], the new film starring Yoon Kye-sang and Jo Jae-hyun as prison guards on death row.

In the film, Yoon Kye-sang plays the role of a new guard who decides to take the job to earn some extra money, but is confronted with the unexpected emotional weight of killing a man for the first time in his life. As you may know, Yoon got his start in the industry as an idol star of the pop/R&B group G.O.D., and is one example of an idol star who has made a successful leap into acting. He addressed the topic of singers turning to acting at the press conference, saying that because of the baggage that comes with attempting a crossover, they end up working even harder.

(...)
Read the rest of Yoon Kye-sang at Executioners press conference (410 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2009. | Permalink | 13 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Cha Soo-yeon, Jo Jae-hyun, press conferences, Yoon Kye-sang

Three actors — Ji Jin-hee (The Man Who Can’t Get Married), Yoon Kye-sang (Triple), and Sunwoo Sun (Queen of Housewives) — have teamed up for something called the “it Travel” project, which consists of a travel book and DVD in which they showcase photos taken on their journeys and express their sentiments about the experience. It also includes recommended places of interest, travel tips, and behind-the-scenes stories. The book has yet to be published, but the trio have just opened a companion travel blog called “it Travel: Travel with Stars.”

(...)
Read the rest of Stars collaborate on travel blog and book project (102 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2009. | Permalink | 22 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Ji Jin-hee, star extracurricular activities, Sunwoo Sun, Yoon Kye-sang

For those of us who were disappointed to see Yoon Kye-sang rather wasted in the drama Triple, thankfully he is coming out with a new movie, and it looks more promising. Executioners [집행자] is a dramatic film that takes the look at two men who work on death row at a prison.

The film takes a look at capital punishment and condemned criminals, a topic not oft-explored in Korean cinema, and stars Yoon Kye-sang playing the newbie guard to Jo Jae-hyun’s (New Heart) veteran. Despite the grim subject, the film is said to tackle the conflict felt by these prison guards, who must prepare their inmates for death, with a provocative but poignant and even humorous touch.

(...)
Read the rest of Executioners set for fall release (155 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2009. | Permalink | 23 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Jo Jae-hyun, Yoon Kye-sang