Sassy princess meets smartypants scholar in SBS's My Sassy Girl

58 December 11, 2016December 11, 2016

Sassy princess meets smartypants scholar in SBS’s My Sassy Girl

by girlfriday

Here’s our first peek at SBS’s remake of My Sassy Girl, the youth fusion sageuk twist on the 2001 romantic-comedy classic. The drama remake stars Joo-won (Yong-pal) and Oh Yeon-seo (Come Back, Ajusshi) as a cold city scholar and a sassy princess in a Joseon-era version of the love story, and as expected, they look beautiful together in the stills.

The fully pre-produced drama comes from PD Oh Jin-seok (Yong-pal) and newbie writer Yoon Hyo-je, and is described as a light, cheerful fusion sageuk about youths and their love and ambition. Unlike the original My Sassy Girl where Cha Tae-hyun played a beta male who did anything he could to win over sassy girl Jeon Ji-hyun, Joo-won’s character is more of a classic dramaland hero, described as a prickly city scholar who holds himself in high regard. He’s so brilliant that people call him “Joseon’s national treasure” (which probably has a lot to do with his big ego).

Oh Yeon-seo plays a beautiful princess known for causing all manner of trouble in and out of the palace. She’s a quirky character, described as fearless and strange and cheerful all at once. She’s a troublemaker who jumps the palace wall and does as she pleases, but she’s also a very proactive young woman who puts up a fight against anything she deems unreasonable. Second leads will be played by Lee Jung-shin (Cinderella and the Four Knights) and Kim Yoon-hye (Vampire Detective).

Given how much they’ve changed the main characters in this remake, I’m curious to find out what elements of the original My Sassy Girl will actually be salvaged, because my hunch is that it will only share a name with the movie and pay homage to a few marquee scenes at most. I might prefer that, because I want this drama to stand on its own. The production has had its share of woes before filming even began, and still carries some negative associations from holding a highly publicized open audition for its leading lady, only to then drop the actress who earned the role and replace with her with a big-name star. It was not the best foot to start out on, but I hope that they can turn out a drama that’s good enough to make us forget the backstage drama and just fall in love with the story.

My Sassy Girl plans to air sometime in 2017 on SBS.