Hong Sisters back with their sixth drama

125 March 14, 2010March 14, 2010

by javabeans

The Hong sisters writing team — Hong Jung-eun, Hong Mi-ran — are coming back with another drama series! The intense popularity of their last series, You’re Beautiful, means there’ll be a lot of anticipation for their follow-up — and while nobody’s infallible, these two writers have a solid track record in the romantic-comedy genre (they’re five for five with hits like My Girl and Hong Gil Dong).

Now they’ve cast singer-actor Lee Seung-gi, who’s coming off a huge series himself in last year’s Brilliant Legacy. He’ll play the “extremely immature” (and somewhat cowardly) lead in their new drama.

The series is called My Girlfriend is a Gumiho and is described as a fantasy-melodrama. A “gumiho” is a legendary fox with nine tails that is frequently found in Korean folklore and horror tales. The main character meets a gumiho and fears getting his liver taken by her (the gumiho eats human livers), and winds up falling for her. The Hong sisters’ brand is strong on spirited comic scenarios, so even though they describe this as the most melodramatic of their projects, you can expect that the melo aspect will be more quirky than conventional.

The writers explained, “Western countries have Dracula. In Korea, our classic ghost is the gumiho, and we prepared our story around that. …The gumiho carries meaning of shaking a person’s resolve. The main character’s friends all say how great he must feel to have such a beautiful girlfriend, but he can’t reveal to them that she’s a gumiho.” Fearing for his own safety, he ends up doing all sorts of things to “protect” his liver from her. The gumiho character is extraordinarily beautiful, and will be cast with an actress in her early 20s. Lee’s casting is in the final stages as the producers finalize contract details.

The Hong sisters explained that this idea kept coming to them when they found themselves facing difficulties while writing You’re Beautiful. The drama will begin shooting in May, and plans to air in the summer (tentatively July or August).

Via Newsen, Star News

125

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1 jackieee

March 14, 2010 at 6:42 PM

SOO excited! I'm really wondering who the lead actress is going to be... any guesses???

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2 lsk4020

March 14, 2010 at 6:47 PM

I LOVE the Hong sisters' dramas and I LOVE Lee Seung Gi (though he's not exactly the strongest actor out there (and he carries the stigma of being yet another pop-star-turned-actor...but hey, more room for growth, right?). I'm excited for this one!!! Thanks for sharing! =]

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3 langdon813

March 14, 2010 at 6:49 PM

I'm in. Doesn't even matter what it's about. You had me at Hong Sisters. :-D

Which reminds me...must get to DGCH!

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4 yen_nguyen

March 14, 2010 at 6:53 PM

LSK's acting is a bit... (to me).

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5 dandy

March 14, 2010 at 6:55 PM

I've heard somewhere that Go Hye Sun is being considered as the leading lady. Is that right ?

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6 jen

March 14, 2010 at 6:55 PM

eek im excited! i hope it does well

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7 saranga

March 14, 2010 at 6:57 PM

haha are they sort of playing off the current vampire craze? at any rate, this seems super interesting. knowing that this is coming from the hong sisters, i can already kind of envision what it might be like. and although i didn't like brilliant legacy because i strongly disliked the two leads, lee seungi has recently grown on me through strong heart and i like him better. i'd be interested to see him in this.

no idea who they might consider for the female lead..... but why does im joo eun run through my head? just her face

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8 hpn88

March 14, 2010 at 7:02 PM

This sounds adorable mostly because I can totes see LSG as a bumbling cowardly lead :)

I think the casting of the female lead is going to be key with this. She has to be able to play snarky evil, like UEE did in YAB. there were rumors of Sandara Park playing the girl, but those might just be rumors and I don't think she has the chops to do it.

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9 Kender

March 14, 2010 at 7:03 PM

Okay, this sounds amazing. I loved LSG in Brilliant Legacy, and I always enjoy dramas by the Hong ladies, so I'm super excited. :3

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10 holey moley

March 14, 2010 at 7:09 PM

i also heard about this...
also with the sandara park rumor....
i love hong sister's dramas (i've watched dgch, yb, my girl, want to watch hgd and fantasy couple)...but lee seung gi..(i like bl but i don't know....)
i also like sandara and thinks she's quite a good actress (based from what i saw from return of iljimae) but....i dont know....

just i dont know

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11 Kim

March 14, 2010 at 7:09 PM

I'm incredibly excited about this upcoming project. However, I also feel hesitant towards Lee Seung Gi. Although he did a pretty good job in Brilliant Legacy, there aren't a lot of projects to draw his acting ability from. I really hope they cast a good female lead although none really comes to mind.

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12 Honeychichi

March 14, 2010 at 7:10 PM

i'm so exciteeed!!! i wish they will cast LEE MIN JUNG.....they look good in the cf photos, she is super pretty and of course awesome acting skill

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13 Alyssia

March 14, 2010 at 7:10 PM

OMG LSG I love him!!!!!!!!! How does he do it all??? Getting his masters, being in 1d2n, strong heart, singing promotions.... no wonder he has no love life... ....... He is one of the few singer turn actor that has alot of potential. He is really talented. He have so many careers to fall back on if one fails. But he's excelling in all of them.

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14 irugnotmis

March 14, 2010 at 7:26 PM

that's great news!

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15 ripgal

March 14, 2010 at 7:27 PM

Oh this is great great news!

Lee Seung Gi may not be a great actor or anything, but he's a newbie, and if you've seen him in Brilliant Legacy, you will agree with me that he's improved leaps and bounds from his previous drama with Goo Hye Sun. I thought he carried himself very well in Brilliant Legacy altho his character wasn't a great one to side with.

The Hong Sisters may not always be consistent with their writing. But the magic is that they always always manage to make their stars hit it big with their dramas. Just look at the amount of actors which have benefited from acting in their dramas. Jae Hee, Han Chae Young, LDH, LDW, LJK, HYS, HGD, SYR, JGS, PSH, JYW...etc. They're all huge stars on their own right now. And plus LSG's already Korea's darling and the guarantee of 40% ratings (haha, they always tease him! :P), I have a good feeling that this drama will do well.

I've heard rumors that it's either Sandara Park or Shin Se Kyung (young Chun Myung in QSD) as female lead.

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16 lalala

March 14, 2010 at 7:31 PM

i heard that Shin Se Kyung will be playing the female lead.

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17 Javabeans

March 14, 2010 at 7:31 PM

LOL @ ripgal -- did you mean KJH instead of HGD? Hehehe. To be fair, Kang Ji-hwan IS Hong Gil-dong...

On the flipside of your comment, I like that the Hongs take chances on unknowns and lesser-knowns, choosing to go with actors who are appropriate rather than going for the big names.

If it's indeed Shin Se-kyung, then (1) yay, and (2) it's not yet confirmed. Either this is only a rumor, or sources are leaking info before it's official. (I think it's often a case of strategic leaks, so it could be true.)