News bites: March 19, 2016

by awcoconuts

Kim So-eun, Lee Won-geun

• They should make for a very cute onscreen pair: Kim So-eun (Scholar Who Walks the Night) and Lee Won-geun (Sassy Go Go) are confirmed as the leads for Korean-Chinese web drama Dugeun Dugeun Spike 2. I wonder if her We Got Married hubby Song Jae-rim encouraged Kim to take the job, as he co-starred in the first season with Hwang Seung-un. Dugeun Dugeun Spike did well on Sohu.com, SohuTV, and various websites, prompting the production of a second season. [Sports Chosun]
• Waaaah, another 1987-er prepares to enlist: Joo-won passed a selective exam and has qualified to perform his military service at a special promotions unit of the Seoul police (others who served in the same unit: Jo Seung-woo, Ryu Soo-young, Lee Je-hoon). A source for the actor said he plans on selecting a final domestic movie or drama to film before entering basic training. [Sports Chosun]


Namgoong Min, Han Ye-ri

• He really attacked his last two psychotic bad guy roles with gusto, and now Namgoong Min (Remember — Son’s War, Girl Who Sees Smells) admits that the villainous roles took a toll on his psyche. He said recently, “I’m going to stop playing villains in dramas now. If I receive a proposal to play [such a role] in a film, where the actor has more freedom to express himself, I might give it a shot.” He’s trying his hand at directing next, and will be directing Light My Fire, a criminal investigative thriller movie starring Oh Jung-se, Park Hyo-joo, Lee Dong-hwi, and Park Jin-joo. [Maeil]
• Han Ye-ri (Six Flying Dragons) will work with a trio of award-winning directors on a film, but there’s a twist: Yang Ik-joon (Breathless), Yoon Jong-bin (Kundo) and Park Jung-beom (Alive) will be acting versus helming in Jang Ryul’s latest film. All three are known for having acting chops in addition to directorial skills. Han is reuniting with Jang (also referred to as Zhang Lu; they worked together on 2015’s Love And…) for Chunmong (which translates to “spring fantasy” or “happy dream”), in which she’ll play the love interest of the three very different men. Each is unique, and their only common denominator is their passionate love for Han’s character. They’ll compete with each other, but also empathize with and comfort one another, and the film will be filled with warm laughter and tears. [My Daily]


Shin Mina, Kim Jin-woo

• Shin Mina is also showing her loyalty to director Jang (she starred in his Gyeongju), and has agreed to cameo in the movie. The news articles refer to the film as Saminhaeng, meaning a track or destination for three men, but the premise sounds awfully similar to Chunmong. The movie will head into production soon and cameras will begin to roll before mid-year. [Star News, My Daily]
• Kim Jin-woo (Remember — Son’s War) has been cast as the lead in makeover web drama Mask. A chubby and unattractive girl picks up a mask on the street one day, and magically transforms into beautiful Anita, a member of a girl group. Kim is the owner/operator of a cafe and a famous pastry chef. He lost the love of his life, and he’ll find himself drawn to Anita, who is the spitting image of his former love. Prior to her transformation (this is a fantasy romance drama) Anita had admired patissier Kim from afar. Mask begins filming at the end of March, and the format and site are still TBD. [Xports News]


Woohyun, Yoon Tae-young

• Infinite’s Woohyun (Hi School: Love On) has been cast as the lead in Mongdang Campus Olympics, a film adaptation of a popular webtoon. Yoon Tae-young (Neighborhood Hero) is also involved, and filming began on March 10 in Gangwon Province. [My Daily]
• Chinese production companies had already snapped up the rights to Sweet 18 and Full House, and now they’ve added two more. Jo Sung-hee, who penned She Was Pretty, has been hired to write the Chinese remake, for which Dilraba is being courted to star. The Chinese edition of Coffee Prince is also coming out soon; it will star Yang Le and Xu Lu, be directed by Kang Shin-hyo (Heirs), and will begin filming in April in Beijing. [TV Report, My Daily]
• There were rumors for a hot second that Lee Byung-heon and Ha Ji-won were being courted for a John Woo film starring Fukuyama Masaharu, but Variety has the update that Zhang Hanyu and Stephy Qi Wei have landed those roles instead. Fukuyama is a detective chasing Zhang, a framed fugitive. A remake of a 1976 Japanese film called Hot Pursuit (itself based on a Japanese novel), the movie will be called Manhunt and will be partially backed by funds from SM Entertainment. [TV Report, Variety]

Lee Byung-heon, Ha Ji-won

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