The Bow (Movie - 2005)

Scene-stealing stunt stars thrive off-camera

Source | 2008/10/01 | 0 comments | Permalink |

'Growing up, I preferred the bad guys in action films who had spectacular falls to the good guys who beat them up'.

You think actress Lee Ji-ah played the violin herself in the new television drama "Beethoven Virus"? Fat chance. And those chef characters in "Gourmet" that prepared sushi with incredible dexterity? Not themselves, either.

It's a remarkable era of TV performance that we're living in today. The same actor who was a top surgeon in one drama becomes an eccentric orchestra conductor in his next show. Another actor who was a gangster in his previous gig turns into a chef who wields a blade for wholly different reasons.

As more and more dramas deal with professionals, actors and actresses are under increasing pressure to learn the necessary skills. And more often than not, they need expert help.

Enter the stunt guys.

The JoongAng Ilbo met with three individuals who have recently pulled off stunts in cooking, fighting and music. They told us the story of their liv...| More

"Rough Cut" Ready for September Release

Source | 2008/08/13 | 0 comments | Permalink |

Director JANG Hun, a new protégé of maverick auteur KIM Ki-duk, will see his feature debut "Rough Cut" released locally this September 11th. The US$ 1.5 million action-drama (Korean title: "A Movie is a Movie"), is the second film, not directed by KIM, to be produced by his production company KIM Ki-duk Film.

"Rough Cut" explores the slippery line between reality and fiction in film. It tells the story of an actor, Soo-ta, who begins to identify too well with the gangster role he is playing, disrupting the shoot. He ends up bringing a real gangster into the cast, Kang-pae, who has thespian ambitions – but the two strike a deal to use real violence during the action scenes instead of staged fights.

Soo-ta will be played by KANG Ji-hwan (from SIN Dong-il's "Host and Guest") while SO Ji-sub (from TV series "Sorry, I Love You") plays Kang-pae. Korean sales company Showbox Mediaplex has picked the film up. It is distributed locally by Studio 2.0. A trailer for the film was rece...| More

Yeonghwaneun Yeonghwada with SO Ji-sub pre-sold to Japan

Source | 2008/05/30 | 0 comments | Permalink |

Director JANG hoon's upcoming Yeonghwaneun Yeonghwada (English translation: film is film) has been pre-sold to Japan's Phonicanon at the Festival de Cannes market. The film stars SO Ji-sub who enjoys great popularity in Japan because of the hit television dramas "Something Happened in Bali" (Balieseo Saengin Il) and "Sorry, I Love You" (Mianhada, Saranghanda).

The KIM Ki-duk produced film's cast also includes KANG Ji-hwan. KANG's acting career consists of various television dramas and the acclaimed feature film debut of director SIN Dong-il "Host and Guest" (Bangmoonja) which was selected by various film festivals including Pusan International Film Festival and Berlin International Film Festival.

Like SO and KANG, director JANG's track record also lies mostly in television. In addition, he was KIM Ki-duk's assistant director on The Bow.

SO plays a gangster who meets KANG's character, a star actor who is tackling a gangster role. Filming is currently taking place and should e...| More

MoMa to screen works of award-winning director Kim Ki-duk

Source | 2008/04/22 | 0 comments | Permalink |

New Yorkers will be able to taste a series of artistic Korean movies made by director Kim Ki-duk from Wednesday (Apr. 23).

The Department of Film at New York's Museum of Modern Art, or MoMa, will hold a screening of the works of award-winning moviemaker Kim Ki-duk, 48, who has directed artistic yet controversial films since 1996.

During the exhibition at MoMa's Theater 1, co-organized by the Korean Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Korean Film Council, and supported by the Korean Film Archive in Seoul, movie lovers will be able to take in a total of 14 movies directed by Kim, which will include several features never before seen in the United States, according to MoMa.

Kim is a self-taught maverick filmmaker whose works have impressed international cinema industry with a focus on symbolism and his strong sense of motifs and intensity.

He was a former factory worker, soldier, seminarian and a street artist in France between 1992 and 1995 where he discovered cinema thro...| More

[Film Review] 'Comrades in Dreams'

Source | 2008/01/25 | 0 comments | Permalink |

German documentary shows images of a North Korean 'comrade projectionist'

Jan Creutzenberg (RhusHeesen)

It is the movie directors who shoot the pictures, but it is the projectionists who show them. They are the ones who give the films to the audience -- and thus secure an audience, a community of moviegoers. "Comrades in Dreams" shows us some of them, each one belonging to a very distinct culture of cinema.

Uli Gaulke, a German film-maker and projectionist himself, shot a moving documentary on four continents: Anup Jagdale continues a family tradition touring India with a mobile movie-tent; Penny Tefertiller runs a local cinema in Big Piney, Wyoming, a village contradicting its name; three young men -- Lassane, Luc and Zakaria -- try hard to fill their rented open-air theatre in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso; and "comrade projectionist" Han Yong-Sil is responsible for showing films in the communal cultural center of Chongsan-Ri, a town located in the Democratic Peop...| More