Jo Deok-hyeon (조덕현)

'Scam' Is Smart Investment

Source | 2009/01/29 | 0 comments | Permalink |

By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter

The box office can be as difficult to predict as the stock market, and South Korean cinema in particularly is suffering amid the global financial crisis. "The Scam", the country's first stock market movie, will undoubtedly prove to be a smart investment. Unlike its scamming characters, newcomer director Lee Ho-jae-I invests the right way, with a solid, "inflation-free" script and the magic chemistry of a talented cast.

The crime drama draws in viewers without becoming too technical, as it is more about the human desire for wealth than financial matters. Losing tens of millions of won in the stock market can be only a click away on the Internet. "Click", and hopeless debtors head to the Han River.

Hallyu star Park Yong-ha (SBS's "On Air") sheds his sleek image to play Hyeon-su, a victim of such a fatal click. After losing everything, he spends five years glued to the computer screen as an unshaven, full-time "ant" (individual investor). He eventu...| More

Trainers make stars shine brighter

Source | 2007/02/17 | 0 comments | Permalink |

Recent movies out in theaters probably left you dumbfounded for a couple of good reasons. You gaped at Kwon Oh-joong's sleek kung fu moves. (Wasn't he the chubby dude in that silly sit-com about a gynecologist's family?) Your eyes opened wide when you found out Kim Ah-joong can sing. (She has a goddess-like figure and now she even sings?)
However stupefied, or scornful, you are, kudos to our celebrities who refuse to use understudies. But more kudos go out to the trainers who stayed behind the scenes coaching stars throughout the filming. Movieweek, a JoongAng film weekly, met with these hidden stars of recent films and the hidden-stars-to-be of blockbusters coming to theaters.

Kung fu master
Actor Kwon O-joong depended on Park Chan-dae, a kung fu master, for more than three months as he practiced his martial arts moves prior to the filming of the "Three Kims".
For up to five hours a day, five days a week, Mr. Park stayed with Kwon, transforming him into the heroic kung fu coach ...| More