News bites: October 4, 2014

by awcoconuts

• It may not have performed as well at the box office as the other maritime movies this year, Roaring Currents and Pirates, but Sea Fog has earned a distinction of its own; it’s been selected by the Korean Film Council to be South Korea’s entry in the Best Foreign Language Film category for the 87th Annual Academy Awards, which will be held on February 22, 2015. Each country can only register one film as an entrant, and Sea Fog beat out the likes of A Hard Day, Dohee, Han Gong-ju and six other critically acclaimed movies to become the film representing the nation in the category. While South Korea has submitted over 20 films for consideration since 1962, none of them has been nominated — an Oscar nomination alone would be a huge achievement, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed for Kim Yoon-seok, Yoochun, and the rest of the cast and crew. [Sports Chosun]
• Idol Yura (of Girls Day) and actors Yoo Min-kyu (Ghost Detective Cheo-yong) and Shin So-yool (Yoona’s Street) have been selected to head a new SBS Plus drama called Be Arrogant, which will be about three youths and the push-and-pull lovelines that connect them. Yura will play the ever-cheerful current girlfriend of Yoo Min-kyu; she’s honest with her feelings, but somewhat dependent and impulsive. Yoo will play the boyfriend and ex of Shin So-yool’s character, an homme fatale who will turn the hearts of the two women upside down. He’s immature and spineless, yet impossible to dislike. Shin is the girl who’s encountered all sorts of hardships and has worked for ten years as a clothing wholesaler. After six years of dating Yoo, she’s left with the conviction that money is more important than men. The story gets interesting when she begins working with Yura’s character, unaware that Yura is seeing her ex. All three will end up collaborating to operate and promote an online fashion mall, and in an attempt to bridge drama and reality, the site featured in the show, www.dodohara.com, will actually become a live shopping site when Be Arrogant begins airing on October 27. This could be a brilliant new marketing scheme, or the show could feel like one long infomercial. [SBS E]


Shin So-yool, Yoo Min-kyu, Yura

• More casting details are being released for Waiting For You, the film that Shim Eun-kyung (Miss Granny) signed up for in August. When the movie’s schedule got pushed back, she agreed to take on Cantabile Tomorrow in the interim, but she’s still attached to play a girl who loses her father to a serial killer and who is patiently plotting and awaiting her revenge. Yoon Je-moon (Three Days) is finalizing the details of an offer to appear as an investigator after the same man, while Kim Sung-oh (Age of Feeling) has confirmed he’ll play the heartless murderer. This will be writer Mo Hong-jin’s first directorial effort, and Waiting For You will begin filming at the end of the year when casting is complete. [Osen]
• Jo Sung-ha (King’s Family) is positively considering an offer to appear in Himalaya, the based-on-a-true-story film that Kim Myung-min and Lee Min-ki dropped after multiple delays late last year. We first heard of its revival in September, with a completely new cast: Hwang Jung-min (A New World) will play Uhm Hong-gil, who in 2005 led an expedition up Mt. Everest to recover the body of Park Mu-taek, a friend and hoobae who died on an expedition the year before. Jo Sung-ha has received an offer to play Uhm’s sunbae mountaineer, and he’s expected to accept after negotiating the details of the contract. Himalaya will begin filming (at long last!) at the end of November. [Star News]


Choi Woo-shik

• We’ve also gotten some more tidbits on the role given to Choi Woo-shik (Yong in Fated to Love You) in Pride and Prejudice — the fashion-obsessed prosecutor he’ll play has been on an elite, predetermined course his whole life, and he’s perfect marriage material. Born to a wealthy Gangnam family, he attended high school abroad, got his degree from Seoul National University, and trained as a military judicial officer. Although he’s content to follow the course set out for him when it comes to his career, he lives and dies by his passion for style and fashion; he is a true fashionista. Given the additional lead characters who will support the young genius prosecutor Choi Jin-hyuk, the stubborn female protagonist Baek Jin-hee, and the level-headed mentor Choi Min-soo, it feels even more like Pride and Prejudice is You’re All Surrounded set against a legal backdrop. The show will air after Records of a Night Watchman concludes in mid-October.[TV Report]
• MBN is really trying something new with its first drama series in two years, Tears of Heaven, which stars Park Ji-young (The Concubine) as a coldhearted mum who has abandoned her daughter, played by Hong Ah-reum (Into the Fire), more than once on her quest for success. Not only has it been given a brand new timeslot (6:20PM on Saturdays), but filming on the show began in the summer of 2013 and just wrapped (wha, it’s not a live-shoot!), meaning all of the crew’s attention is currently being placed on final edits. While I normally give network reps the side-eye when they keep touting the production quality of their shows, I’ll be on the lookout for this one — I want to know if the pre-planned story arc, additional preparation time for the actors, and the extra editing make a noticeable difference. Tears of Heaven debuts October 11 on MBN. [Maeil]


Lee Tae-hwan

• We’re also getting more info from the set of Pride and Prejudice: In a sudden move, Lee Tae-hwan, of actor group 5urprise (he’s groupmates with Seo Kang-joon) and of High School King of Savvy (he played Min-seok’s dense friend Tae-seok) has been cast as a lead in MBC’s upcoming Monday-Tuesday drama. (They’re calling it a lead, but I would venture it’s more of a supporting lead role.) He’ll play a taekwondo athlete and freshman detective; a flower boy with an innocent soul. It’s a big step forward for Lee, who just began acting professionally (High School King was his first acting appearance), and he said, “On one hand, I feel the burden of this great opportunity that’s been given to me, who just started out, and on the other, I have a desire to do a really good job.” Lee has been attending real trials and meeting with former investigators to prepare for the role. [SBS E]

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