Hyun Bin does look really different...Much older and not as cute as his Sam Soon days....Great posts as always!

Hyun Bin is much improved! I like his new look, spiffy. I'm glad the drama will get all the filming done before it airs.

This is me going into fangirl mode: OMG Hyun Bin and Seo Do-young, YES!

Ok, now that's out of the way, may I say I'm relieved this drama is almost complete? I agree with what JB said about that being both a good and bad thing, but whenever I see a drama that's being aired while the next ep is still being filmed/edited, I feel extremely jittery. I really worry for the actors...much as I like a drama, seeing your fave actors collapsing/being extremely stressed is not exactly nice.

love Hyun Bin ...

^and Kim Min Joon!!!

I'm trying to reign in my anticipation for this one. I like the movie, and the drama with the same director puts me at ease. Then seeing all these hot namjas transforming to this extent (Seo included, saw some pics of him in a uniform, I'm still not completely sure it's him)....maybe it'll let us girls understand a bit about the allure of cosplay?!

On the flip side, I'm not in the mood for a testosterone overload. (but then if HB and KMJ rekindle a bit of their sizzle in Ireland, I can go the BL route and make up my own romance...)

and I really love the practice of 100% completed shoots before the airing. Yes, ratings is a big deal, but if it's truly good, then heck it. Why let the audience dictate what should happen?! I'm very iffy that the general public has a better vision than a team of professionals.

it's look so 90's

Another reason they might be going with a complete shoot is because they probably won't make dramatic changes to the script even if an audience wants it because the original story/the movie has become legendary in its fame. I have seen Friends listed in almost every newly edited Asian movies textbook as a must-see and as a representation of Korea cinema (New Wave Cinema) at its finest. Also, with Kwak Kyung-taek at the helm, considering this is his baby, I doubt it if he will be swayed much by ratings, so it wouldn't matter if he shot it concurrently with its airing or if he had it complete beforehand.

The cast looks good! Hyun Bin FTW! This will be a very different set of F4s. I do think Kwak Kyung-taek should use "Almost Paradise" ad nauseam, for irony's and meta-pop-commentary's sake.

hyun bin and kim min joon reunite! :) (they were both in ireland in 2004, right? with lee na young?) i am SO EXCITED for this.

Yeah, I feel more at ease when I'm watching a drama that has been pre-produced. Knowing that Friend will be drama-fied by the director of the original film inspires even more confidence.

But most importantly, HYUN BIN! Yum.

Hyun Bin is coming!!!! Woohoo and just in time, having seen 'The World They Live In' and 'Snow Queen' recently, am starting to get HB withdrawal. Aside from the eye candy factor am hoping/wanting to see HB's continued growth in his craft. Honestly, all fangirl aside, he really has improved (and impressed) with each series.

While 'Friends' seems to have a lot to live up - am looking forward to it. The fact that this series will be completed prior to airing, is actually a relief to hear. Risky? Perhaps. But then again the cast and crew (and audience) will not be subjected to filming on the run with inconsistent storylines &/or crazy a$%# schedules (*cough BOF cough*). Honestly cannot see how to film on the run (days prior or day of (WTF?) airing) can produce quality. Knee jerk reactions to audience feedback can be a very bad thing.

'Return of Ijimae' was such a quality series that I felt owed a lot to the fact that it was (near?) completed prior to airing. Here is hoping that 'Friends' can maintain the completed series 'quaility' standard. (Funny how Gourmet and Terrior are both on my (every increasing) stack of to-be-watched DVDs! But they'll have to wait till I finish my current KJK-fest of 'Capital Scandal' and 'Rough Cut')

And excuse me but is that really Mr Spring Waltz himself - Seo Do-young?

BTW only HB can make a shiny shiny blue suit still look hot..... :)

Sounds good. Atleast it won't suffer from a shoddy script later on.

Not the biggest fan of Hyun Bin tho.

Sarah, what films did Kwak Kyung-taek direct?

^ I think Typhoon (JDG) is another one.

Kwak Kyung-taek filmography:

3pm Bathhouse Paradise (1997)
Dr. K (1999)
Friend (2001)
Champion (2002)
Mutt Boy (2003)
Typhoon (2005)
A Love (2007)
Eye for an Eye (2008)

credit: wikipedia

It took me a few tries before I recognized Hyun Bin, the first time I saw those pictures. His look's growing on me now, though. :P

I haven't seen the film. I know it stars Jang Dong-gun, so is it good? (It seems like it, if they're making a drama adaptation.) I don't know if this drama will appeal to me, though. I'll probably just give it a shot for Binnie, but whatever. *shrug*

/pointless comment

I think in honor of this drama's nearing completion, I will re-watch MNIKSS and Snow Queen again.

Binnie ftw? Yes. I concur.

@ samsooki

you're such a hyun bin fanboy! LOL. nice to see a guy so interested in kpop...

anyhow, a drama completed before airing? what a novel idea..

Seo Do young and Hyun Bin together in a drama? YOU GOT MY VOTE! lol! Love both actors! especially Binnie! ;-)

I love my Hyun-ny! He has the most adorable smile--it's very unexpected with his serious face.

@19 cosmopolite -

fanboy? I guess so. But I have an excuse! I'm getting old. =) Ever since I joined the working world and got married, I feel a little bit like its all downhill from here (apologies to other old folks, but it's true, isn't it? hehe). I guess Binnie reminds me of youth and purity, perhaps, and the characters he has played sort of sparks a little reminiscing in terms of how I led my life. Finally, being married it would be less appropriate for me to say that Go Ara or Jeon Ji Hyun was my favorite, right?

We can all identify with parts of various characters in various dramas, we feel connected to them, sometimes by a sameness of spirit and/or circumstances. I've watched upwards of 20 k-dramas so far and maybe an equal number of k-movies, and there hasn't been too many characters that I've thought, hey, I see a little bit of me in that character, except a few of the HB roles. I guess that's why I like him so much.

But this upcoming role, I'm not sure if I can see myself wearing shiny blue suits like that. And, now that I've grown out my hair, HB decides to cut his short? What the heck, it took me months to grow out my hair....

In the first side pix HB looked like Jo In Sung, except the chin. I recognized him right away after looking at the chin :)

EEks!..Kim Min Joon became an ajjushi suddenly! NO to the hair!
Anyway..good luck Binnie..i hope this drama will work out fine. Nothing beats his hyung JDG in the movie. Good to see Seo Do Young too.

On the plus side, advance productions often give the overall series a more finished feel and tighter writing, because the cast and crew aren’t rushing to shoot one episode in the three days before it airs.

This works if the raw material is good ("Return of Iljimae") but cannot save a drama when the raw material is laughably bad ("Terroir"). Anyway, I'm crossing my fingers and I'll check it out strictly for Kim Min Joon... ;)

^ Jill4675, how did I know you were going to write that? :P

Terroir was [mostly] finished before airing? Are you kidding me??? o_O
Maybe, they should've waited to see the audience response on that one.

@ Jill - Yeah, the pama is awful, isn't it? But that's okay, Kim Min Joon's a chameleon, and his look just means he's really transforming into his character.
(I still haven't seen A Love.)

@ Samsooki
Add Ireland to your watch list, if you want to see HB & KMJ. I've been meaning to rewatch it...maybe, now's a good time.

Is that Kim Min Joon. He looks so different. To be frank. He didn't look himself at all. His cheek, his face structure, his complexion. Like other persons!

Wow! They sure don't look like themselves~ So different! Especially Kim Min-joon!!! Holy crap, I kept wondering if they'd replaced him because I just couldn't connect that guy in the pics with the Kim Min-joon in my head o____0 And Seo Do-young!!! I've missed him since Spring Waltz~ Unstoppable Wedding was too long for me to invest in.

I'm glad that they're completing the whole drama before airing. Besides, the cast and production crew hardly need any extra pressure... it's always sad when the result doesn't end up as good as it could due to lack of time and the like.

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to this drama! XD

@Samsooki: Ahahahahah! Time to get a haircut then? :P

KMJ looks so different. i think i like him more in this compared to his other drama series. He looks tougher despite less facial hair.

I like the film, but i find it a bit traggic and violent. I hope the producers will lessen it a bit. oh well, that's just my opinion.

@26, hjkomo -

Ireland? Read a brief synopsis (which was basically incomprehensible, however. who writes these summaries??), and I'm a little ambivalent. Reminds me of how I felt before watching Snow Queen. Still, I'd like to give it a shot if I have the time.

Right now, we have Dal Ja Spring to finish, then Hong Gil Dong to start and finish, Snow Queen to finish (last 4 episodes), and then I'm waiting for the June 23rd release of Two Outs, Bottom of the 9th Inning (yay, YA Entertainment changed the English title so that it makes sense!).

@28, Vis -

Haircut? This took months! No way! HB might have gotten a hair cut for his new role, but I'm still in 2005 - 2008, trying to catch up with all the series that everyone else has seen.

Maybe next year, if and when we get to the new series, "Friend, Our Legend" (친구, 우리들의 전설), then I'll think about a new shorter style. :)

Samsooki:

Being a new drama fan is so much hardwork, trying to find a series that is good and one that you will like can be tiring, I only started watching dramas a few months back and so im trying to juggle RL and drama watching at the same time.

As for hairstyles, I don't get how people take care of their hair when its long, I have the Lee Junki hairstyle but it is annoying to take care of, not to mention I have to get up early to style it since my natural hair is wavy not straight. maybe I should just do a Junpyo and get a perm....

And Hyun Bin looks better with his hair long, the short hair make him look like he's part of some gang.

@31, KOK -

I agree about how hard it is to juggle dramas and the reality of our lives, especially given the fact that most folks are way ahead in terms of their knowledge-base. I was talking with a few dramabeans denizens, and I told them that I feel a little bad because I can't take part in any of the re-cap threads because I don't want to get spoilers since we are so far behind everyone, that we have to catch up first. There's just not enough time to do everything. And then, on dramabeans,com, people talk about this guy and that guy and this girl and that girl, and I only get about a third of the references. I'm like that guy in the Saturday Night Live skit who is always about 10 minutes behind in every conversation. Hard to catch up, hard to watch things "live" (or nearly contemporaneously) online as well, since sitting at the computer makes for less comfortable viewing, and attaching the computer to the flatscreen takes a bit of work.

***

I have to admit that longer hair does take longer to style. When it was short, it was all of 30 secs, but now it takes upwards of 4-5 mins. But it's worth it. hehe!

Junki hair is pretty dramatic, I am sure it takes a while to create that kind of style. Let me know what products you use and how you style, I wanna know what you do and how it turns out.

@Samsooki

Your telling me? Im trying to talk to people and they'll randomly name drop actors i haven't heard of before, sometimes the actors are from dramas i've watched but alot of the names are too similar so I get confused. And yeah I know what you mean about people talking about this actor or that actress being good for this role and what not, wiki has come to my help many a times on this. As for drama help this blog has been a saviour, so many people claim every drama is good and I was getting annoyed at how wrong they were but the ratings here have really helped. Tho I watch japanese/ Taiwanese dramas aswell so maybe im making it harder on myself.

As for my hair, I don't know how they do it, so much straightening, mousse, hair spray usage isn't good for my hair at all, I wanted the long Lee junki look but its way too annoying so I cut my hair shorter now. The thing is my hair is wavy so it takes longer to do straight hairstyles, I think Im gonna go for a more wavy hairstyle next, like hyun bin...

@33, KOK -

I know this only because I saw it briefly on television, but there are professional products and processes (i.e., Liscio) to straighten hair that tend to be a little bit on the pricey side, but in terms of time and energy and peace of mind, it might be worth it.

If you are going with a shorter look now, you might be able to recreate looks with Paul Mitchell products - but talk with a pro hair person at a good salon (a lot of times, they will sit down with you and talk for free).

Binnie can sport any hairdo to me. He's simply and dimply so good looking. Sultry Kim Min Joon was messy and awesome in 'Damo'. Darn! he's so underated!.

@KOK..guys with long hair are cool..just not too long ala BYJ..
Philip Lee is *OMG!* sexy!

Hyun Bin & Seo Do-young: I TOTALLY LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!! Can't wait to see this drama!

I love Hyun Bin any way he comes... Long hair or short. Prefer it slightly longer than it seems in this new film. That suit must go.....

I have watched HB a lot, and his acting has improved immensely and he seems so easy with whatever character he has now. Hope he continues and becomes a good actor instead of an idol type.

Director did TYPHOON..? Great film. Wonderful film. I have watched it many times and it never gets old. It has been onTV cable channel here in California several times.

Great film.

Peg

WOW! finally there's something i could watch with Seo Do-young on it.
hope there'll be lots of him in the drama.

can't wait. Very Juicy Casts.

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