Nam Joo-hyuk up for reunion with Weightlifting Fairy Lee Sung-kyung
by girlfriday
Is it even a reunion if they’re from the same agency? Cheese in the Trap co-stars Lee Sung-kyung and Nam Joo-hyuk are up for a potential reunion in the upcoming MBC youth sports drama Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-ju, the story inspired by the life of Olympic gold medalist weightlifter Jang Mi-ran. No one’s been confirmed for the series yet, but Lee Sung-kyung is up for the lead role of a shy, awkward girl who’s only known weightlifting her entire life, and now Nam Joo-hyuk has been offered a starring role as a swimmer.
The fall Wednesday-Thursday series is a college campus coming-of-age story focusing on athletes and the struggles they face in pursuing their dreams. The central character, the titular Kim Bok-ju, is a naturally gifted weightlifter who stands up for injustice whenever she sees it. She’s got a fragile heart underneath the strong exterior though, and the drama is about her sweet and innocent first love.
I’m not sure, but as far as I can tell, Nam Joo-hyuk’s role isn’t the male lead, since the casting stories about the heroine described her first love as a doctor at a weight clinic. Nam, meanwhile, is considering a role as the heroine’s classmate at school, a geeeeeenius swimmer who encounters misfortune—a character type he should be familiar with, since he basically played the high school version in Who Are You—School 2015.
I actually think he fits the role better than Lee Sung-kyung fits hers, despite the fact that he’s less promising as an actor. I just can’t get over the physicality needed to be a national weightlifter, and how I want someone who looks like Jang Mi-ran to represent her in this drama. Is that really too much to ask for?
Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-ju comes from the writer of Oh My Ghostess and High School King of Savvy, and the PD of A Daughter Just Like You. It premieres in November.
Via Osen
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1 w
July 1, 2016 at 2:12 AM
i hope LSK declines, as much as i like her it'd be better if she could headline a different show. i'm confused about NJH though, i read somewhere else that he was going to be the lead ??
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gureum
July 1, 2016 at 7:19 AM
Just because a different guy plays her first love doesn't mean he is the main lead. She could fall in love with someone else in the drama, so NJH has a chance at being the main!
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2 Bùi Quốc Khánh
July 1, 2016 at 3:19 AM
Nam Joo Hyuk not fits this role. They should cast someone is athlete who can acting.
Nam Joo Hyuk too slim. I'm not sure about his body, he looks good in magazine but so terrible in School 2015 (swimming scene)
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Bùi Quốc Khánh
July 1, 2016 at 3:19 AM
If they can't. Drop this drama and choose Mermaid's Prince, please.
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Sisi
July 1, 2016 at 3:37 AM
I think Sung-hoon will fit this role better. He is an actor who was actually a swimmer. He is one of So Ji-sub's friends (the other one is Henry) in Oh My Lady.
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kanz
July 1, 2016 at 4:05 AM
I agree. They should cast bulkier actors like Sung Hoon or even Seo In Guk (he also plays swimmer in No Breathing) and maybe So Ji Sub as their swimming coach?
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Alessar
July 1, 2016 at 6:31 AM
Sung Hoon is currently killing it in Five Children, the popular weekend drama. He is putting all his comedy chops on display and wow he is good.
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Bùi Quốc Khánh
July 1, 2016 at 8:00 AM
Sung Hoon so sexy in Five Children. Wish have a shower scene or shirtless scene. (Maybe will have if rating hit to 40% like Wang's Family?)
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Alessar
July 1, 2016 at 6:51 PM
Oh you... missed the scene of him naked in the bathtub holding a glass of wine and taking pictures to get Sweet Pumpkin's attention?
Or you know you could just watch Noble My Love because practically the first thing they do in that show in the first episode is pull the covers off his manly, heaving chest to cement viewers' attention.
But yeah the Kim Brothers should definitely take off their shirts and have an Ab-Off.
3 Thanos
July 1, 2016 at 3:24 AM
This drama looks really bad
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windsun33
July 1, 2016 at 12:24 PM
I will check it out because I am a fan of disaster shows, and this one looks like a total disaster...
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4 Rayon
July 1, 2016 at 4:02 AM
Ah yes.. Now it all makes sense.. Its a drama for the yg kids. smh.
"how I want someone who looks like Jang Mi-ran to represent her in this drama. Is that really too much to ask for?"NOT AT ALL.
But, seriously, i really hope MBC have a reality check before finalizing the casting. Don't try to advertise it as an inspirational story when you guys aren't even trying.
Actually me feeling upset is not ultimately because of the casting, but the fact that they make it seem like being fat is socially wrong. It angers me.
And to add,casting someone whose not even remotely near to the real persona to play as jang mi ran is not a wise choice. Also it will be hard for lee sung kyung herself to put weight in a healthy way within that short duration. Her own health is even more important than risking it this way. And not to mention to undergo proper training to learn the ethics of the said sport cause ultimately it is a youth sports drama,isnt it?.
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5 kanz
July 1, 2016 at 4:08 AM
If it was a drama about another sport, say badminton or table tennis or chess, I'd believe the casting decision. But the drama is about weightlifter and swimmer, why they cast thin models-turned-actors?
I just don't understand it.. They should go looking for actors with athletic history or at the very least looks convincing to portray the roles.
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6 nomi
July 1, 2016 at 4:14 AM
It's going to be awful, like a parody of Jang Mi Ran. In my opinion it would have been better to do a movie with an actress like kim Min Young.
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7 Mandy
July 1, 2016 at 4:39 AM
I have some inexplicable fondness for Nam Joo-hyuk so tbh, I'd be very happy if he does this. I do think it's the lead role though and the doctor might just be the female lead's first love. I can't take LSK's overacting sometimes but she was quite bearable in IOIL so if she signs up, I hope both hold their own.
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8 Harem
July 1, 2016 at 5:04 AM
I believe lee guk joo fit the role better. Since when jang mi ran is a skinny hot model? Korean industry should get out from their overused pretty n flower boy actors/ess.
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thejackal
July 1, 2016 at 5:06 AM
Lee Guk Joo can't act, he's a comedian not an actress.
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9 fab
July 1, 2016 at 5:50 AM
Kim Bok-ju sounds like an inspirational person, why aren't they trying to honour by at least casting good actors? It's not that damn hard to find them. Honestly afraid of what they'd do with the script now.
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windsun33
July 1, 2016 at 12:26 PM
Apparently in Korea you have to weigh 90 pounds, and be hot and sexy to be a weight lifter.
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10 nooziewoozie
July 1, 2016 at 6:06 AM
I think Nam Joo-hyuk is adorably limited in range and I would have given this drama a chance despite him, but Lee Sung-kyung's potential casting is really, really bothering me.
See, I'm a fat person. Not even an athletic fat person, or a fat person who eats organic leafy greens all the time, or whatever else fat people are trying to be to justify their existence in the world nowadays. Just, you know, fat. And when you're a fat person, or even just outside the narrow spectrum of what is considered attractive, you spend your entire life shoveling out background radiation that tells you over and over and over again that grand adventures and sweeping love stories and epic battles and all the other things that make up great stories--well, those aren't for you. That message is as insidious as it is ubiquitous. You start learning when you're tiny and watching Jasmine zip away into the night on a magic carpet; you keep learning that while watching Ariel flip her fins and pose dramatically on picturesque rocks; and that lesson gets reinforced over and over again. These stories are not for you. You learn while watching all kinds of media and reading all kinds of books--American media, Indian media, Korean media. These stories are not for you.
Occasionally, there will be a book or a movie or a show where bodies like yours aren't treated like a joke or like they're repulsive. Suddenly, you think, maybe these stories are for me, after all. Maybe I can stop the exhaustive, draining work of self-affirmation for one Goddamned minute and drop my guard and trust that the ugly girl or the fat girl or whatever girl will not be a punchline. But then casting like this is a thing, and you get reminded. These stories? Not for you. That kind of positive visibility? Not for you. Never, ever for you.
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Chandler
July 1, 2016 at 8:27 AM
+100000
"These stories? Not for you. That kind of positive visibility? Not for you. Never, ever for you." - This is pretty much what they're reminding Jang Mi-ran of...with a drama that is supposedly in her honor. What a joke.
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11 juniper
July 1, 2016 at 8:23 AM
This drama is everything wrong with kdrama and it hasn't even aired yet. Waste an interesting topic as a hook for the usual trendy rom com shenanigans? Check. Reduce a woman's Olympic gold medal-winning skill and athleticism into a female lead's cute little ~quirk? Check. Pick a model to play a champion power lifter and prove to the subject that Korea still hasn't accepted her or her body type, despite her accomplishments? Check. Roll all of this up into a ball of forgettable, inane, lazy storytelling that says nothing about anything, pretty faces and poor acting, and product placement (hey, maybe it'll be athletic equipment this time!), for an end product no one will remember after it's aired? We'll see, but I'm not holding my breath.
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windsun33
July 1, 2016 at 12:29 PM
Thanks for airing most of my thoughts so I don't have to type so much. This show is pure pandering of the worst sort. On the other hand I am looking forward to it just to read all the comments condemning just how bad it is. This could end up being even worse than Heirs.
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juniper
July 1, 2016 at 1:07 PM
lol that is true. The last time I hate watched a drama was D-Day, but this might bring me to do it again.
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12 Chandler
July 1, 2016 at 8:39 AM
Damn. If this writer was making this drama under tvN with the OMG, High School King of Savvy PD attached, we probably would have ended up with a wonderfully-cast ensemble. What a shame.
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13 purpleowl
July 1, 2016 at 10:17 AM
I've been sticking with "If you have nothing nice to say don't say anything at all" with this drama.
But now I have to say something. What? How? And why does this casting director hate me?
I don't think an encouraging, realistic story based on Jang Mi Ran's life is too much to ask. But if we're going off of the information so far, the creative team seems to think it's downright impossible.
What a shame. It had the potential to be my favorite drama this year. I don't mind the romcom demands. I just wanted an lead actress who looked more like an average woman, not even necessarily a weightlifter. Goodbye to that hope.
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Steph
July 3, 2016 at 12:34 AM
looking like an "average woman" would also be stupid, though. if they're going for realism, an average woman, which i'm guessing is supposed to mean overweight, cannot do anything even close to what lifters can do. if they ever want to go for realism, it has to be a weightlifter/serious athlete or bust.
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14 frabbycrabsis loves KBS Drama Specials
July 1, 2016 at 11:22 AM
All I have to say is what everyone else is saying. What kind of casting choice is Lee Sung-kyung? For one thing, the lead should have a stronger, fuller, toned body. How am I supposed to enjoy this drama if my weightlifter looks like her ribs will snap if I hug her? Doesn't that oppose everything this drama will represent? What is with 2016 and ridiculous casting? The Ahjusshi Drama crisis, the Beautiful Mind crisis, and now this?!
Drama Gods... did I offend you somehow?
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Steph
July 3, 2016 at 12:37 AM
i lowkey hate all the "skinny people are so fragile i could crush them" nonsense a lot of people tend to spew and i'm not even skinny.
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15 sfgirl
July 1, 2016 at 10:07 PM
Ummm I was on my Instagram and had a sense of dejavu. This insta account called "allkdrama" (followed by about 500k people) has taken this article and posted it verbatim without credit to dramabeans!
https://instagram.com/p/BHWFEV6g46z/
I recently started following this account and I see some other posts also ripped from DB (post on first stills from moonlight drawn by clouds) What the heck!
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mary
July 1, 2016 at 11:44 PM
>:(
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16 yhang
July 2, 2016 at 10:00 AM
Did you saw LSK's arms? And they actually want to cast her as a weightlifter? Nope, dramaland. Stop being ridiculous.
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brian
July 2, 2016 at 11:27 AM
Yeah I see her scrawny tiny delicate arms. There's nothing that seems remotely like "weightlifter" and her body.
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17 Lktvn
August 14, 2016 at 11:27 PM
Im lee sung kyung fans.but i think its too hurry for her to be main lead.weightlifter ?her face n body not match at all
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18 Nei
March 1, 2017 at 11:48 PM
After all these casting comments...it turns out that LSK and NJH are the best options for the Drama...and those names that were mentioned before the drama started will actually look old for the story...
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19 pak ganern
March 22, 2017 at 7:40 PM
Some of the comments here judged the said actors and actress way too fast. Now that the drama has ended, if you haven't watched it yet, watch it and see to it if what you said about them at first are right. Just saying, no hate ☺️?
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20 Drama Kween
April 13, 2017 at 5:23 PM
So, to those who judged this drama waaay too soon, have you seen it now? WFKBJ is probably one the best dramas ever produced, not just in South Korea, but in the whole world. I mean, seriously. And the cast is perfect, every single one of the cast members!
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21 Tina
May 13, 2017 at 8:48 AM
Those who judged too soon, those who badmouthed all the way before.. I really hope you have watched it.. And return to this page to correct yourself. Never once, the so called kim bok joo aka lee sung kyung in the drama dress in gown or any sexy femimine apparel, never. But, still she is lovely and warm for her personality..
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