The film industry is already preparing for next year. Many renowned filmmakers have returned to Korea to produce movies about war and sequels to hit movies.
Director
Im Kwon-taek will produce his 101st movie "Scooping Up The Moonlight". Directors
Kim Tae-yong and Im Sang-soo will produce remakes of "Late Autumn" by
Lee Man-hee and "The Housemaid" of Kim Ki-young, respectively. Films about war will also be introduced to mark the 60th anniversary of the Korean War.
◇The return of maestros
"Scooping Up The Moonlight", which will be produced under the auspices of the Jeonju City government, is
Im Kwon-taek's first film to be shot with digital cameras. It is a story about seventh-grade public servant Jong-ho, who wants to become a fifth-grade official. To achieve his dream, he takes charge of the traditional Korean paper "hanji" at the municipal government and becomes completely mesmerized by it. Jong-ho is played by actor
Park Joong-hoon, who will appear in a Lim production for the first time. Actress
Kang Soo-yeon will work together with Lim for the first time since her appearance in the 1989 movie "Come Come Come Upward".
Actress Yoon Jung-hee, who was one of the top three actresses of the 1960s along with Moon Hee and Nam Jung-im, will make a comeback for the first time after her 1994 movie "Two Flags". She will appear in
Lee Chang-dong's new movie "Poem". It is a story about a 60-something woman who raises her teenage granddaughter and receives basic living subsidies. One day she signs up for a literature class and begins to write her own poems for the first time. The movie is slated to open in early May.
◇War movies
Four films about war will open next year. They will deal with diverse subjects, including student soldiers and maritime clashes between South and North Korea. The majority of them will be large-scale productions costing more than 10 billion won.
Director
Lee Jae-han's "Into The Gunfire", which is to open in June, is about a 12-hour battle that was held between 71 student soldiers and the North Korean Army at the end of the Nakdong River battle during the Korean war. Actors
kwon Sang-woo and T.O.P. (
Choi Seung-hyeon) of the music group Big Bang will play student soldiers. Actor Cha Weung-won will appear as a North Korean commander, while actor
Kim Seung-woo will play a South Korean commander. It is a blockbuster production that will cost 15 billion won to produce and market.
Director Lim Yeo-bin, who produced "Terrorist" in 1995, will this time produce "The Red Muffler 2", which will be a sequel to late Shin Sang-ok's movie "The Red Muffler". The grandson from the original production will appear as an Air Force pilot. The production cost have reached 8 billion won, and the movie is scheduled to open in October on National Army Day.
The second Yeonpyeong Clash of 2002 will be reenacted in the 3D film "We Are Beautiful" (tentative title) and "Yeonpyeong Maritime Clash". The former will be produced by director
Kwak Gyeong-taek, who produced ...
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Ji Seong and Seong Yoo-ri are in the new SBS Wednesday Thursday drama, "Swallow the Sun".
The filming in LA has been finished and on the way back to Korea, 4 staff members are found to have symptoms of the Swine Flu! This has become the emergency issue regarding the staff members.
The airing of the episodes have not been changed, however, they are taking precautions in health for all members of the drama staff.
The 4 staff with the flu symptoms will be treated in the hospital for a week....More
By Han Sang-hee
Staff Reporter
Which will it be _ teenage love and friendship, or the real, yet humorous lives of ruthless lawyers? Television fans will now have the chance to explore the two different worlds with the new dramas "Friends, Our Story" on MBC and
"The Partner" on KBS2.
With heartthrobs
Hyeon Bin and
Kim Min-joon as the attractive, yet troubled protagonists, "Friends, Our Story" is the drama version of the mega-hit film
"Friend" (2001). The sequel will offer the same dramatic plots revolving around teenage friends and move on to their love lives and other untold stories that were absent in the movie. In the film, top Korean actor
Jang Dong-gun played the part of
Hyeon Bin, and
Yoo Oh-seong appeared as Kim.
The movie-turned-drama was made possible after
Kwak Gyeong-taek, the director of the film and now the drama, decided to bring the popular plot back, this time to television screens.
"While I was thi...
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Han Sang-hee
Staff Reporter
Amid the ongoing search for catchy, stylish, attractive ideas for local dramas, many drama-makers have turned to themes that have already been seen to be popular. Movie-based dramas are no longer new, but the race for the best-made remake is expected to get more competitive with
"IRIS",
"Tazza" (working title), "Friends: The Unfinished Tale" (working title) and "Beat".
The 1999 movie "
Shiri" was a steppingstone for Korean cinema, being considered the first blockbuster movie that captivated local movie fans with its distinctive plot and action scenes. Now the hit movie that depicted the lives of secret agents is coming back to television screens as
"IRIS". In order to bring movie-like elements onto the smaller screen, the drama will be written and produced by Taewon Entertainment and
Kang Je-gyu Film, both famous movie agencies here, and will boast a budget of 20 billion won. Korean heartthrob
Lee Byeong-Heon (
"All In", 2003) will appear as the mysterious secret agent, his first drama in five years, along with pop group...
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By Hwang Jin-hwan (Intern)
Will a TV drama version of the blockbuster
"Friend" be as thrilling as the original movie?
Avid fans certainly hope so. The mega-hit, which garnered a record-high 8.2 million ticket sales in 2001, will be remade as a 16-episode TV series titled "Friend: the Untold Story", said to be aired in the first half of 2009.
"I have decided to direct the drama with untold episodes added to the original movie. The scenario is in the process of being written", said Kwak Kyung-taek, who catapulted into stardom as the film director and scenario writer.
"All the episodes will be shot in Busan, just like the original film", Kwak said, refusing to reveal which TV broadcaster will show it.
Kim Min-joon, 32, who starred in Kwak's 2007 film "a Love", will replace ...
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