Im Joo-hwan and Rie in MBC special drama
by javabeans
Tamra the Island‘s Im Joo-hwan has a drama series coming up (campus series What’s Up), but first he’ll be seen in an MBC special drama called Hyunhaetan Marriage War [현해탄 결혼전쟁]. He’ll star with Rie (full name Akiba Rie), a Misuda (Global Talk Show) panelist from Japan.
The story is about a typical Korean man and a Japanese woman who fall in love while working together on a Korea-Japan joint project, but face family opposition to their marriage. Hyunhaetan is the name of the strait between Japan and Korea; hence the title, which is a metaphor for the couple’s struggles.
Im plays the son to Baek Il-sub (cuddly Papa Song of Sol Pharmacy). Rie takes the role of a graduate student in biology, and is Im’s laboratory sunbae. They fall in love as they work on their collaborative project, but both fathers put up strong opposition. (Rie’s father will be played by Hakuryu, a veteran Japanese actor who has appeared in several Korean projects, such as IRIS, Insadong Scandal, and The Good, The Bad, The Weird.) Despite the couple’s obstacles, they press on and marry anyway.
This sounds similar to another drama, 2004’s Friends (not to be confused with the movie Friend or its spinoff drama Friend, Our Legend). The four-episode Friends had a similar Korean man/Japanese woman romance between Won Bin and Fukada Kyoko (who made a gorgeous couple). I liked it, although it was a lightweight; it had the opportunity to be meaningful but just played around on the surface and was therefore a rather shallow affair, though pleasant to look at. (In it, the two meet over a brief weekend in Hong Kong, then keep in touch as penpals when they return to their respective countries. They continue with their own lives but the connection remains strong, but he comes from a particularly traditional Korean family that wants him to marry a nice Korean girl. Over the years, she learns Korean and gets a job that brings her to Korea, where they meet again. Hm. I should really write Friends up one of these days.)
In any case: Hyunhaetan Marriage War held its script reading on January 22, and began shooting on January 24. The production will film in Seoul, Busan, and Fukuoka. It airs on MBC on March 1 and 2.
Via Nanum News
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Tags: Friends, Im Joo-hwan, Rie
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1 Icarusfalls
January 27, 2010 at 3:32 PM
Umm.. I loved Friends... I can't wait to see this. I hope its gets subbed!!
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2
January 27, 2010 at 3:50 PM
Why does he look like a giant in the last photo?
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3 A.
January 27, 2010 at 3:51 PM
Oh ho ho, 2010 is definitely spoiling us. Another opportunity to see Im Joohwan on screen - good to see that Tamra the Island became a sort of bridge for him onto more projects. Go Team Park Kyu!!
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4 mimilavender
January 27, 2010 at 3:52 PM
I LOVED Friends, don't ask me why... Ok! Won Bin! Whenever I feel a 'Won Bin fever'
I skim through the episodes - it's lighthearted, and it ends well, despite all the obstacles. Fukada Kyoko - I just love her, she's really cute. Seeing them makes me happy.
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5 eshhur
January 27, 2010 at 3:53 PM
this looks like fun! :)
the two of them standing next to each other is really cute.
I'm loving the height difference! :D
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6 Kender
January 27, 2010 at 4:02 PM
BAHAHAHA, I love how tall IJH is!
They look cute together, although the backgrounds make them look like bad school portraits. (Why does she get two outfits, though? Surely IJH is good-looking enough to warrant a wardrobe change, too. :P)
Friends was darling, even if Won Bin's Japanese made me cringe. (Apparently Kyoko's Korean had the same effect on my Korean friend, although I didn't know enough Korean at the time to be bothered by it.) It'd be nice to see a recap up here. :)
I hope this drama is a little meatier than Friends, though. IJH is so good at the angst (there's a reason there are so many members of Team Park Gyu!), I'd love to see him do something really serious. Or hilarious. He's good at comedy too, come to think of it..
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7 nabi
January 27, 2010 at 4:09 PM
@ Anonymous: I think he's standing closer to the camera.
@ Kender: It's difficult to explain, but for some reason I'm liking that bad school portrait concept a lot. And the way he's dressed makes him look a bit nerdy.. and I really like that too lol.
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8 siopao lala
January 27, 2010 at 4:09 PM
yay! i get too see more of ijh! :D
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9 saryKIM
January 27, 2010 at 4:13 PM
Nice! I watched Friends when it first came out, and I really really liked it. I was a freshman in high school, and the story was really cute without being too angsty. I'd love to see you do a short Friends recap, if you ever decide to write one up. But I'm always intrigued by joint Korea-Japan productions, so I might watch this when it comes out. (Is this Korea-Japan produced? Or just Korea? Kinda confused, since Rie was a Misuda panelist.)
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10
January 27, 2010 at 4:32 PM
TEAM PARK KYU from HKG....where's @langdon??
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11 Kender
January 27, 2010 at 4:44 PM
@7 nabi
Haha, he does look nerdy.. And can I just take this moment to say how much I dislike turtlenecks? Especially slouchy ones like his. Some people can pull it off decently, but I've never been enamoured of them. It makes him look like he has rolls of flab on his neck, and I know that's not true. :(
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12 ALYN
January 27, 2010 at 4:58 PM
Oooh! Could this year get any better? So many Joo-hwan goodies for us members of Team Park Kyu :D
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13 elisa
January 27, 2010 at 5:00 PM
LOL im ju hwan looks huge in the last pic, the girl must be so short hahahaha! then again he's so tall...
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14 all4movies
January 27, 2010 at 5:04 PM
She looks a lot older than him. There a lot more attractive japanese actresses that could have played this role. Too bad, I like Im.
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15 pabo ceo reom
January 27, 2010 at 5:04 PM
I saw Rie's picture and I was like..."wait a minute...that looks like the MIsuda girl" lol.
And please feel free to do a Friends write up....I would love to read it :)
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16 ...m@M
January 27, 2010 at 5:08 PM
hahah how tall is Im Joo-Rwan bad photo shoot there.
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17 Porcelain
January 27, 2010 at 5:41 PM
Aw... I hope you write about Friends! It was my guilty pleasure... I remember it created a lot of buzz when it first air... there was a lot of comments that Kyoko-chan was fat! But she is still adorable... and ooh la la Won Bin... eye candy forever...
Like to see how this drama works out...
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18 Sherry
January 27, 2010 at 5:47 PM
He is 1.86m tall !
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19 Bee
January 27, 2010 at 5:49 PM
Whoa!!!! another drooling moment for me to see Im Ju Hwan in a special drama. how exciting. i cant wait for this. I'll surely watch this.
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20 Molly
January 27, 2010 at 5:56 PM
Looks interesting! What language do joint-projects usually use?
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21 Celest
January 27, 2010 at 6:08 PM
Friends came out in 2004? Wow, time flies by. But I really liked friends. I became a huge fan of Won Bin after that but I hope this series won't be as similar. Though I am glad that Im Joo Hwan is getting another project! I'm so glad that he's finally getting more lead roles.
@6 kender, Now that you mention it, the title does sort of suggest that this could be a lot more angstier than Friends since you're right, IJH is very good at doing angst...though he's very good at being comedic too! lol! Must be my inner Team Park Kyu speaking!
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22 Celest
January 27, 2010 at 6:13 PM
@20 Molly,
Well since I don't see any other Japanese station working on this, just MBC, a majority of the dialogue might be in korean (though I could be wrong). Though in Friends, the scenes went back and forth from Japan to Korea so the Japanese and Korean were pretty balanced out there. But if this drama does have scenes of Japan or maybe scenes of Rie's family speaking, the dialogue will probably be in Japanese, just to keep the culture flow.
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23 Z
January 27, 2010 at 6:43 PM
Im Joo-Hwan really does look like he could be Kim Bum's older brother! I thought that in his BOF cameo (does it count as a cameo if you're not famous yet?) and I think that every time I see a picture of him... it's uncanny... they should definitely get some kind of DNA test done on those boys.
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24 langdon813
January 27, 2010 at 7:05 PM
Here I am! TEAM PARK KYU!
Sorry...I had to step away from the laptop for a bit. Hate when that happens! ;-)
I'll take a quickie (drama) with Im Joo-hwan...thanks JB! :-D
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25 Annie
January 27, 2010 at 7:53 PM
I thought his head was small, but hers is even smaller!
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26 alert
January 27, 2010 at 9:35 PM
Friends is where I fell really, really hard for Won Bin. And his smile. *Need to rewatch*
Looking forward for this drama and IJH!
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27 ar
January 27, 2010 at 9:47 PM
haha i remember friends. Glad to see there are also other ppl who remember it too. I can't believe it was only in 2004 when it came out. I keep getting the impression it came out earlier than that. those promotional pics don't look that great but the drama special seems cute.
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28 itsnicethat
January 28, 2010 at 1:44 AM
Yes javabeans do please do a write-up on 'Friends' (Won Bin + Fukada Kyoko). A few years back I'd loaned my 'Friends' DVD to my Japanese boss -- he told me he was so moved, he watched the whole thing in one single sitting even though his eyes were killing him. In his youth he'd married a Korean lady, sadly they later separated. I'll always remember what he told me afterwards: "Friends reminded me of why she is still, and probably will be forever, the one I love most." -- I know, right?
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29 Atsirk
January 28, 2010 at 3:24 AM
No offense. Im Joo-hwan looks way hotter...LOL
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30 yen_nguyen
January 28, 2010 at 6:22 AM
@7: I think he is really taller/ bigger than her. He is over 185 cm, she is under 165 cm, :D
Team Park Kyu here, too.
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31 GoongFan
January 28, 2010 at 8:54 AM
Friends is my all time favorite. Loved the lead couple................have to watch it again
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32 emmmalee
January 28, 2010 at 1:20 PM
i don't think rie is extremely beautiful. but no matters. it all works out with a hot main guy. :)
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33
January 28, 2010 at 4:18 PM
@langdon
I knew you wouldn't be toooo far from Team Park Kyu (I forgot that I'm ahead of you in term in time zone here in HKG ;) cingdoc
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34 Maggie Y
January 28, 2010 at 8:30 PM
LOL! My cousin looks like Im Joo Hawn.
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