Another idol star turns actor
by javabeans
The prettiest pretty boy of DBSK, Jaejoong, is taking the plunge into acting.
He takes the lead in “Heaven’s Postman,” a joint Korea-Japan collaborative “telecinema” — to be produced simultaneously for television and cinema — directed by Lee Hyung-min, the PD of the drama series I’m Sorry, I Love You and writer Kitagawa Eriko of the Kimura Takuya vehicle A Million Stars Falling from the Sky.
The plot is said to be about a messenger between the present world and the afterworld, and will form the first part in what looks to be a series of stories. His female co-star has not yet been cast.
Because this project will be released in both Korea and Japan through various media — theater, television, DVD — the production company explained that they are taking care in considering Hallyu stars for their lead roles. Other Japanese writers involved in the project include Nakanozo Miho, Inoue Yumiko, Yokota Rie.
The project doesn’t have a definite release date, but is aiming for early 2009. I can’t say I’m totally with this “telecinema” idea, but you’ve got to hand it to them for being experimental with formats and distribution models.
Via Today Korea, JK News
Tags: DBSK, Jaejoong, telecinema project
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1 yetti
September 23, 2008 at 10:05 AM
omg...so pretty
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2 nozomi
September 23, 2008 at 10:08 AM
Kitagawa Eriko: I've watched most of the dramas shes written and if the PD of I'm sorry I love you is in-charge then I definitely will be watching this production. I just hope they do a good job...
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3 Ariya
September 23, 2008 at 10:23 AM
masaka, he is bad actor...
I saw him before in mini drama and he was so bad...
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4 reikonan
September 23, 2008 at 10:35 AM
i am a fan of dbsk and jaejoong is my favorite member for that matter but...
this is too much. they just released their fourth korean album which means they will do promotions, numerous concerts (probably next year...) and then he's going to do a drama at the same time. is he trying to kill himself? or maybe, we should all curse lsm for letting (or should it be pushing?)him to do this...
i know not many fangirls will share the same thoughts as i do but he is an average actor. a five minute music video - that he can pull off but a whole episode? hmmm. we gotta see that.
but still DBSK all the way.
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5 jen
September 23, 2008 at 11:02 AM
wow look at the people on board
(not even noticing DBSK)
LHM...KE .... a million stars falling from they sky is one of my fav japanese dramas, wonderfully acted and written
and i loved I'm sorry I love you
jae joong's acting has been... not inspiring..but we've seen worse XP
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6 kirara43
September 23, 2008 at 11:10 AM
Wow, so much going on for DBSK, so much attention to JaeJoong these days huh?
Well I'm guessing he won't have problems with the Japanese since he's been there for a while on TV, shows, concerts and singing of course. It will be interesting to see how his Japanese skills will be with acting since its a bit different from speaking Japanese on TV.
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7 belleza
September 23, 2008 at 12:06 PM
"Kitagawa Eriko: I’ve watched most of the dramas shes written and if the PD of I’m sorry I love you is in-charge then I definitely will be watching this production."
This is the most natural pairing. I have mixed feelings about Lee Hyung-min, but Eriko is one of the Queens of Romance. If it's anything like Beautiful Life, I'll be a puddle of tears.
"Other Japanese writers involved in the project include Nakanozo Miho, Inoue Yumiko, Yokota Rie."
Yokota Rie (Gokusen, 1 Litre) is mostly known for wacky comedies and romantic comedies. I'm not convinced that well-worn J-drama devices like pantomime-ish slapstick, visual non-sequitirs, absurdist characters, breaking 4th wall, and group call+response translate that well. Most of that is written in the script yes, but a lot of it is how the director cuts the sequence and how the actors execute the timing that makes it funny. The one serious drama she wrote was 1 Litre of Tears. If they task Rie to write a tearjerker, she might actually bring Choi Ji Woo to exhaustion.
Inoue Yumiko's (White Tower, Pandora, 14 Sai no Haha, Grave of the Fireflies, Gift ) not a good fit, because her blind spot (First Kiss, Engine) happens to be romance, aside from Good luck. It would be kind of a waste too, because her real meter is in making high brow material accessible and dramatically engaging, whether it's writing thrillers with strong speculative content and realpolitik idealogy, or adapting King Lear in the setting of a supermarket chain.
Kinda disappointed that Nojima Shinji (Bara no nai Hanaya, Pride) wasn't asked to join the troupe. He's as good a technician of emotional observation (especially when the subjects are unlikely meetings between loners and outsiders) and romantic fireworks as there is in Asian drama, and he's one of the few J-drama writers who can write dialogue after whimsical dialogue that resembles the casual, talky conventions within K-drama.
It's a really interesting concept, because the implicit message is that the okasans associate modern Korean trendies with the 90s Japanese romances. A lot of the pre/early-Golden Era storylines for J-dramas were a lot like the Korean romances of recent.
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8 katwoman
September 23, 2008 at 12:20 PM
Kitagawa Eriko and Lee Hyung Min are a good combination. After watching A Million Stars Falling from the Sky, I automatically made comparisons to I'm Sorry, I Love You. Since I'm Sorry, I Love You was made after, I felt the PD must have followed the production style. Both were beautifully shot.
@belleza, I second the comment on Nojima Shinji. Bara no nai Hanaya was lovely. It would be great to see that sort of drama in kdramaland.
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9 juhina
September 23, 2008 at 12:20 PM
i love dbsk, and im a too crazy of a fan addicted freak when it comes to their singing and related stuff, but acting? im not so sure. ive seen the mini drama, and ide say its mediocre.. i would have loved for him to stick to singing, but i guess everyone has to expirement these days.. all the best to my lovely hero, and i hope it exceeds my expectations =)
though im thinking wont his schedule be a bit tight? with the 4th album coming out tomorrow, and the promotions and concerts.. hope he'll take care of himself.
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10 LOVIN IT.
September 23, 2008 at 12:48 PM
errrr. ill just wait and see how that turns out..
on the other handdddd.
seriously! how can something so bad for you be so good?
ramyunnnn :D at least i stopped eating shin ramyun which was the only type of ramyun i used to eat.. now i eat this ramyun which is supposed to be somewhat wellbeing and has no msg :) anyhows it still tastes great! if not better!
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11 marcel
September 23, 2008 at 1:46 PM
wow...that's a pretty face if ever saw one...as a girl it puts me to shame...DBSK are def the male pop icons of asia...
i really love jdorama so this sounds like an interesting project...'telecinema' does sound like a risky concept, but noteworthy for that reason...& interesting observations belleza...i'll have to brush up on my knowledge of japanese writers...
ooh...i recommend jang ramen which is soy miso flavor...deelicious!
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12 belleza
September 23, 2008 at 2:48 PM
"'telecinema’ does sound like a risky concept, but noteworthy for that reason…"
It kinda bothers me that there's casting a DBSK singer in this project, rather than casting regular Korean actors. DBSK's main audience in Japan are 40+ year old okasans(!!!), but the okasans don't necessarily associate Yunho or Ki Bum as an actor. Alas, cloning our Philosopher King (aka the Bae the Yong the Joon) is not yet a possibility. :(
Would also have loved for Asano Taeko (Last Friends, Love Generation, Nana) to join this project. He's another melodrama pro, and he's doing the next Getsu-9, Innocent Love, starring Horokita Maki.
"Bara no nai Hanaya was lovely. It would be great to see that sort of drama in kdramaland."
I think Bara's my favorite drama in the past 2 years (and Bara did enough to temporarily unseat Shingo's mate Kimura as #1 hearthrob of SMAP ;) .) Even the actors expressed in interviews that they were astounded by the quality of the script and couldn't wait to read the next week.
I think at various points, the writing gave me the same feeling I did watching Magnolia and American Beauty for the first time. The story seems like a charming romance with a twist in the absurd, but then it quietly evolves into a gargantuan Scarlet Letter. The scene when they rescued the boy, I remember my brain actually holding its breath and I just started crying involuntarily. Like I didn't really process what was going on, and yet at the same time it was one of the most beautiful sequences I've ever seen in anything I've ever watched.
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13 ohgeeze.
September 23, 2008 at 2:49 PM
Jae is absolutely the love of my life.
But he can't act to save his life.
Really? This is for real?
Like, SM already said so?
I thought it was just a rumor.
If anything, I thought it would've been Yoochun or something.
That'll be LOTS of work for the boy.
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14 Devi
September 23, 2008 at 2:59 PM
Everyone seems to be bashing JJ's acting skills, but you gotta remember people: those mini drama DBSK did came out like 3 years ago, and they only did it for fun. I don't think they really took it that seriously. It was just that LSM money-making machine working again. The only almost real movie they made (Heaven on Earth) was never aired, because they were afraid of fan backlash against the main actress (that's what I heard anyway). So it's been a while since they've done anything besides promote themselves musically. Who knows, he might surprise us.
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15 katwoman
September 23, 2008 at 4:57 PM
"I think Bara’s my favorite drama in the past 2 years (and Bara did enough to temporarily unseat Shingo’s mate Kimura as #1 hearthrob of SMAP )"
Maybe...but only because he was next to Yuko-chan and then Shun showed up :p. I doubt Shingo can stir the same wild passions as Kimura, at least not for me.
"Even the actors expressed in interviews that they were astounded by the quality of the script and couldn’t wait to read the next week."
I think they, too, were shocked at the turn of events,since they only received the script for the later episodes right before it was shot.
"The scene when they rescued the boy, I remember my brain actually holding its breath and I just started crying involuntarily. Like I didn’t really process what was going on, and yet at the same time it was one of the most beautiful sequences I’ve ever seen in anything I’ve ever watched."
It was absurd...the rescue plan and two grown men wearing those hoods...but somehow it was a beautiful, colorful sequence. It was shot slow-mo so you felt like you were there.
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16 hangook_sonya
September 23, 2008 at 5:22 PM
even though i would like him to stay with singing...
i will surely be one to watch his drama!
can't wait!
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17 ar
September 23, 2008 at 5:35 PM
Jaejoong is my favorite but I can't imagine him ACTING. Though he's beautiful- he has a cute-obedient-son aura rather one to grab your attention. And they're giving him the lead?! you can definitely see the words "cashing in on DBSK fame" as the subtitle of the movie. I wonder how he's going to be able to film it with the DBSK comeback (seriously why is it a comeback every time an artist releases album?).
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18 Jo
September 23, 2008 at 5:36 PM
EWWWWW
sorry...
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19 belleza
September 23, 2008 at 5:39 PM
@katwoman,
"It was absurd…the rescue plan and two grown men wearing those hoods…"
That's what I loved about the scene. It was both a silly and very violent scene, with them breaking like that. Just wildly incongruous. The director also anchors the schene by returning to Shingo's eyes, leering behind the mask. Is it fear? Is it repressed rage? Is it empathy? Is it a release? And what we know about him at that point definitely colors how we interpret his beatific countenance.
The absurd element is one thing I just loved about Bara. When the first time we see him wear the child's hood over his head alone, it's simultaneously a funny image with undertones of past trauma. The "blind but not blind" setup between Shingo and Yuko is so brilliantly observed throughout the first third of Bara. It's so intimate and whimsical yet uncomfortably naked and gilded with deception and guilt. It made me lean closer to the screen, just to observe all the pure acting and trills of intention between two characters, whose startling intimacy is built on a basic deception. It was like watching a workshop in Method.
"I think they, too, were shocked at the turn of events,since they only received the script for the later episodes right before it was shot."
Oh definitely. The PD had even stated in press that every week would have some kind of plot twist.
"but only because he was next to Yuko-chan and then Shun showed up :p. "
I love how her emotions swell from her suddenly in mid-sentence, from the chest rather than eyes, the panic visibly choking her thoughts. (LOVED the bridge scene in Pride. Kimataku + Yuko = HOT.) I felt she was underrated as an actress before she did Sidecar, because she got cast in the same kind of role again and again. But she plays that role better than almost everyone else.
Also loved how Tamayama Tetsuji just leaves a path of destruction in Bara. He's a world class bastard, yet the sheer wolflike nature of his performance in such wonderfully black/white contrast to Shingo is compelling. Even arresting.
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20 miumiu099
September 23, 2008 at 7:50 PM
noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo..not my Jaejoong~~~
hiks, i dont want him to be an actorrr..he's good at what he's doing right now.
please just continue to sing..
this is because i dont think japan-korea thingy will fly high.
i dont want to see him fails. nooooooooooo~~~
i love Jaejoong too much,ahhaha.
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21 querubin
September 23, 2008 at 8:51 PM
i thought jejung hadn't signed on yet? O.o
but OMG something to look forward too! <3
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22 angie
September 23, 2008 at 8:57 PM
the team looks so perfect to me! eriko kitagawa? love story (while some people called it boring) is my MOST rewatched drama and dont start me on sora kara furu ichioku no hoshi or beautiful life
the pd and writer is such a great pair, now if only they find the perfect actor who can really act
i read the plot somewhere and it looks interesting
somehow this reminds me of heavenly book store, not that it connected,
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23 sugarpunchdeb
September 23, 2008 at 10:09 PM
love dbsk... but i dont really love jae joong... but still, YAY! wanna see him act!! when the show is broadcast, pls review!! :D
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24 belleza
September 23, 2008 at 10:49 PM
"the pd and writer is such a great pair, now if only they find the perfect actor who can really act"
And that's the thing. If you're a hardcore SuJu fan, this is a great commercial and creative opportunity. If you're a J/K-drama fan, this may feel like a once-in-ever opportunity that feels wasted. Wouldn't you want So Ji Sub to act in a Kitagawa Eriko drama? Wouldn't you want Kim Myung Min to act in an Inoue Yumiko drama? Don't y'all think Chungmuro OWES him that?!? All the same, this is an awesome chance for Jaejoong to make a big splash.
Different strokes for different folks?
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25 Kirara
September 24, 2008 at 3:59 AM
:x I'm a jae fan, but I'm also a huge j/k dorama fan, so this seems like a collaboration opp. that WOULD benefit from a more experienced actor. And Jae himself has said a lot of times that what he really wants to do is sing (apparently, that's why he never appeared on Korean variety shows pre2006). The only reason I see him taking a project like this would be either to gain more exposure or because SM/AVEX pressure him into it. Bah, but who knows, maybe he's suddenly been bitten by the acting bug?
LOL if the PDs really want a prettyboy Hallyu star to cash in on the popularity, shouldn't they be angling for Lee Jun Ki instead? Even though he really does best in action rather than romance roles IMO, he at least has the experience ^^;
sidenote: I thought the casting hasn't been confirmed? I mean YTN just reported that Jae was one of the choices right?
@belleza: xD; who said anything at all about Suju? Jae's from DBSK.
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26 anna
September 24, 2008 at 4:46 AM
He's my favorite pretty boy, but his acting is terrible ..at least from what I've seen him in so far. It's shudder worthy. I actually feel awkward watching him act. He's so wooden.. I hope he's training hard for this role then.
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27 Shika
September 24, 2008 at 10:05 AM
Jae is not pretty. He's beautiful. If he accepts, it's good exposure for him and DBSK and maybe he can pick up some acting skills. For some it's a skill that has to be forged onto them.
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28 bebo
September 24, 2008 at 10:14 AM
if it's confirmed that jaejoong has been casted to be in this project...isn't it obvious that they didn't pick him for his acting??? the dude (and the whole group) has some seriously crazy fans from all over the world which equates to...cha-ching!
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29 belleza
September 24, 2008 at 11:30 AM
"@belleza: xD; who said anything at all about Suju? Jae’s from DBSK."
Ah, my bad. SM should just form a boyband call LOLZ and see if anybody can find them on Google.
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30 Anna
September 24, 2008 at 11:47 AM
'His female co-star has not yet been cast.'
Becasue he's playing both roles?
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31 belleza
September 24, 2008 at 4:12 PM
"Becasue he’s playing both roles?"
That's hot.
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32 Mei
September 24, 2008 at 9:00 PM
Go for it Jaejoong!! What does it hurt to try if this is all true. Even if it doesn't work out it will give him more experience and he can learn from it. Less talented boy bands have gained popularity by becoming bad actors in bad dramas-for example Hana Kimi both versions. But no matter how bad the acting or script was, the drama was still liked by many. And yes I admit I'm one of them. Good luck Jaejoong!!
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33 wintergal
September 25, 2008 at 1:56 AM
I'm not sure whether I should have high expectations for this, even if there's a really good PD and scriptwriter and well... Jaejoong. I love DBSK a lot, and I actually don't really mind their acting in their mini dramas. But for a telecinema, which will run for around hundred minutes (i think)? But I guess I'll just see how the movie's like when it is released~
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34 cross
September 25, 2008 at 9:29 AM
Woh, is that real?
I was so excited.....
I will definitely watch the telecinema when it release....
the mini drama that TVXQ acted...actually I think is suitable for that kind of mini drama.....the drama actually is some sort of funny.....not so formal......so i think the way they acted actually is suitable....
sure Jae will gain some experience if he took part in this telecinema.....
and this will help him in his acting career....
Ja....Jae Joong....Ganbatte.....itsumo sobani iruyo!!!
PS: Jae...take care!!!!
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35 katy rose.
September 25, 2008 at 4:22 PM
fingers crossed that jaejoong is up to it. i mean. imo, his acting is kind of ehhh. but who knows. maybe he'll magically pull Amazing Acting Talent out of his ass or something.
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36 Bored..
September 26, 2008 at 4:11 AM
Bleh....I am sorry but he can't
act for god's sake. I hope he does well tho :D
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37 Xiu
September 27, 2008 at 9:28 PM
I know JJ can do it ^^~! We have seen him act before ;D~ This isn't his first time, but the first time he has to do it seriously. I wonder if his role will be funny/goofy because he is great at acting like that ^^! But a crying/depress/giddy JJ I don't know XD~!! We have about one more year so let's see ;D!
I hope in this drama or movie won't have a kissing scene with JJ kissing another girl >T!
HWAITING!
LOL~ 'Because he plays both role' XDDD~ SMART~!
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38 miumiu099
October 22, 2008 at 3:29 AM
noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo~~
im so not ready to see him kiss han hyo joo.
noooooooooooo!!!! andwe!!!!!!!!!!
please just stick to what you do best jaejoong, singing..pleaseeeeeeeeee
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39 miumiu099
October 22, 2008 at 3:29 AM
noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo~~
im so not ready to see him kiss han hyo joo.
noooooooooooo!!!! andwe!!!!!!!!!!
please just stick to what you do best jaejoong, singing..pleaseeeeeeeeee
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40 marinafrisca
October 23, 2008 at 9:39 AM
let's just wait n see first ^^ i think jaejoong will do well :p
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