Lee Na-young (이나영)

Pretty boys overtake the screen... this fall is the season for them

2008/07/03 | Source | Permalink |

After the female-dominated last year and after this summer filled with men, it will be the season for pretty boys.

The faces are brilliant.

Kang Dong-won, who had stayed inactive after "M", will come back with "The War of Flower" Director Choi Dong-hoon's "Jeon Woo-chi". He is the first of the pretty boys, and will play a character who is born again into modern times after being trapped in a picture due to his wasteful life.

People look forward to Kang Dong-won's special comedy, which he showed in "Too Beautiful to Lie" and "M", and how it will tie in with his innocent appearance.

"Jeon Woo-chi" will air early next year, but it is already popular due to the union of Director Choi Dong-hoon, Kang Dong-won, Kim Yoon-seok, and Im Soo-jeong....| More

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Korean Movies to Shine at Int'l Film Fests

2008/06/30 | Source | Permalink |

By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter

South Korean movies continue to make their way around the globe to vie for prizes and reach a wider audience. Some notable trips to international film festivals include feted director Kim Ki-duk's latest work "Dream", the anticipated summer blockbuster "The Good, the Bad, the Weird", which received rave reviews at the Festival de Cannes in May, and creative animations and documentaries.

"Dream" (Bimong) by celebrated director Kim Ki-duk will contend for the Golden Shell at the 56th San Sebastian International Film Festival running Sept. 18-27, the festival announced recently (http://www.sansebastianfestival.com). It is the only Asian film in the competition pool against five other works. It is Kim's third work after "3-Iron" and "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... And Spring" to appear at the event. Kim has won the award for Best Director at Venice ("3-Iron") and Berlin ("Samaritan Girl" - "Samaria"), while "Breath" competed at Cannes.

Starring top...| More

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KIM Ki-duk's "Dream" to compete in San Sebastian

2008/06/26 | Source | Permalink |

"Dream" (Korean title: "Bimong"), the fifteenth film by director KIM Ki-duk, has been selected to compete at the 56th San Sebastian International Film Festival, to be held from September 18-27.

The film, which stars Japanese heartthrob ODAGIRI Joe and Korean actress LEE Na-young, centers around a man who experiences a startlingly realistic dream about a car accident, and later discovers that the accident occurred in real life.

KIM's previous films have premiered at Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Locarno, Karlovy Vary and Moscow, but this will be the first time for him to compete at the prestigious Spanish festival. Other Korean films that have competed at San Sebastian in recent years include BONG Joon-ho's "Memories of Murder" (2003), SONG Il-gon's "Spider Forest" (2004), HEO Jin-ho's "April Snow" (2005), LIM Sang-soo's "The Old Garden", and KIM Mi-jeong's "Shadows in the Palace" (2007).

In 2003, KIM's Spring, "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... And Spring" screened out of competiti...| More

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Various origins of female stars… 'Miss Korea' group falters

2008/03/13 | Source | Permalink |

On a breezy spring day in March 2008, the entertainment investigation team of Sports Khan sensed an emergency. The argument between female stars about their influence has become fierce, almost to the point of battle. Accordingly, under the supervision of Detective Choi, the entertainment investigation team had a briefing on the 'Map of Various Powerful Female Stars'. A record of the questions and answers from the briefing are provided.

Detective Choi: As you all know, we've gathered here to discuss the toppling balance of the influence of top female celebrities. Firstly, the 'super model' group has almost taken over the 'Miss Korea' group and has become the 'big sister' of the entertainment industry. Also, the new 'internet beauty' group is extended its boundaries. Contrary to these changes, the 'horror story' group is still steadily on the top.

Chairman Oh: Surprising. 'Super models' are not only tall but are growing in power? What is their weapon? Sushi knives? Wooden sticks?
...| More

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[Special Report] Is there a limit to the stars' guarantees?

2008/02/28 | Source | Permalink |

Recently, the Minister of Culture and Arts, Yoo In-Chun's private property was revealed to be over 14 billion-won. Some said that he had gained too much wealth, but he thinks otherwise. He said, "These are all from my 30 years of acting career. Some may think I have too much private wealth, but look at Bae Yong-joon".

How much would the stars be paid? Recently, the guarantees of the Korean Waves stars' moved to around 50 million-won (~$US 50,000) for every drama episodes. The following article investigated the skyrocketing increases in the stars' guarantees.

At this very moment, the guarantees in the film industry remained relatively constant since 2005~2006. Even though, the stars get paid few billion-wons for every film, it's relatively slow increase compare to the geometric progression in the guarantees of the Korean Waves stars.

On top of that, as the Korean film industry had few downturns and the reduction in the production fees came about, some sensible actors reduced ...| More

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