Kim Moo-yeol (김무열)

By Chung Ah-young
Staff Reporter

The musical "Dreamgirls" won six awards at the 15th Korea Musical Awards held at KBS Hall in Seoul, Monday night.

The musical won in six categories ― Best Foreign Musical, Best Actress, Best Producer, Best Set Design, Best Stage Technician and Best Orchestrations.

For this year's awards, a total of 58 musicals competed in 18 categories. Among them, 38 were Korean productions.

"Dreamgirls", which opened in February at Charlotte Theater in southern Seoul, was a big commercial success with sold-out performances.

The musical, better known as the Hollywood hit film starring Beyonce Knowles and Jennifer Hudson, had its premiere here as a co-production of OD Musical Company head Shin Chun-soo and American producer John F. Breglio.

With such devices as LED panels and glamorous...More

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 "a...More

By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter

The economic crisis is chilling the winter weather, but South Korea's first stock market movie "The Scam" is expected to turn the temperature up a notch.

A hotel ballroom was crowded with over 300 reporters in Seoul Tuesday for the appearance of top Korean talent, including hallyu star Park Yong-ha. He plays the role of a jobless, self-taught trader who hits the jackpot. But little did he know he disrupted a big stock market scam led by a gangster trying to reinvent himself as a financial mogul (Park Hee-soon).

"I mostly played suave roles in melodramas, so I was drawn to my disheveled, desperate character. Also, the script was so gripping, despite my zero ...More

After the success of recent Korean films like "Tazza: The High Rollers" ("The War Of Flower"), which centered around intricately executed money scams, there was little doubt that one about working the stock market would soon follow.

"The Scam", the debut film from director Lee Ho-jae-I about an unemployed slacker trying to plunder 600 billion won from the stock market, was announced for a nationwide Feb. 12 release at a press conference yesterday at the Sofitel Ambassador in Seoul. The Showbox release features Hallyu star Park Yong-ha, plus Kim Min-jeong, Park Hee-soon and former musical actor Kim Moo-yeol.

Kim Min-jeong, better known for playing archetypal feminine heroines, here plays an ice-cold business woman. Kim Moo-yeol, known for playing criminals on television and the silver screen, revisits this role, this time playing a reformed gangster trying to run a legit...More