News bites: January 17, 2015

by awcoconuts

• Moon Chae-won (Good Doctor) and Lee Seung-gi (You’re All Surrounded) were recently on an entertainment program promoting their upcoming movie, Today’s Love. The reporter noted that Moon was quite a natural at swearing in the film, to which she responded candidly, “There aren’t people who don’t curse at all; people just swear to varying extents: often, sometimes and rarely.” When asked if she practiced cussing, Moon admitted, “Practice…? My lips just remembered.” Seung-gi rebutted her first comment, joking, “I’ve never cursed in my life!” [Xports News]
• Cha Ye-ryun (She’s So Lovable) is working on a pan-Asian career: She’s wrapping up promotional duties for The Tenor Lirico Spinto, a joint Korean-Japanese film that was recently released, and she’s been cast as the lead in a Chinese psychological thriller titled Extra Grace. There’ll be no rest for Cha, as cameras for the movie begin rolling at the end of this month. [MBN Star]
• Yay for Lee Shi-un (Modern Farmer), who has been cast as the bestie of Choi Woo-shik (Fated To Love You) in tvN’s upcoming Monday-Tuesday drama, Ho-gu’s Love. He’ll play the creator of a hit manhwa, who makes achieving the holy trinity of webtoons (#1 in hits, comments and reviews) look easy, but in reality he works himself to the bone to achieve success and is suffering from his own genius. Like Ho-gu (Choi), he knows nothing about love–and I’m already anticipating their hijinks and bro chemistry. Ho-gu’s Love airs February 9. [My Daily]



• Kim Woo-bin (Heirs) has kicked off his second series of Asia fan meetings: He hit Shenzhen, China earlier today, and will be moving on to Beijing, Shanghai, and cities in Thailand, Taiwan and Indonesia. He’s on tour to express gratitude to his international fans; he’s said that he’s thankful for their (our) continued love and support, even when he couldn’t meet with them (us) due to his work filming Twenty and Con Artists. The tour’s sold out, but domestic fans will have another opportunity to greet His Long-leggedness–he’s also planning a fan meeting in Seoul upon his return. [My Daily]
• That movie that cast Kwon Sang-woo (Temptation) as an amateur (but geeeeenius) private investigator is making the news rounds again. You know, this one? And this one? Perhaps the PR team is just playing the game to ensure the movie is fresh in people’s minds, but with an award-winning script and an interesting premise (Kwon partners with a veteran detective, played by Sung Dong-il, to solve a murder mystery) I hadn’t forgotten about it! Private Investigator *should* begin filming in the next couple of months for a release by the end of the year. [Joongang]
• Jo Yeo-jung (Haeundae Lovers) has confirmed she’ll play the lead in SBS’s new weekend drama, Divorce Lawyer in Love. The screenplay won a contest last September and sounds lighthearted and fizzy: Jo will play a bulldozer of a divorce lawyer who treats her office manager (the job’s been offered to Yeon Woo-jin, but talks are ongoing) poorly; she later gets her license revoked due to misconduct while her former office manager becomes an attorney in his own right. They hate each other with a passion, but as it goes in dramaland, they’ll fall madly in love. [Ten Asia]



• KBS Drama Specials are coming back with a slightly different format; after previously being canceled at the end of last year due to opposition from KBS’s directors’ association, the station and their PDs appear to have worked out the kinks. While many of the previous specials had been single episodes extending over an hour, the new specials will follow a similar format to KBS show Spy; they won’t air back-to-back like Spy does, but will be kept to shorter, 50-minute episodes and will no longer be confined to a single airing. KBS has 15 drama specials planned to air in 2015, and four of those will air in the first half of the year. Kim Sae-ron (High School: Love On) will appear in the first of these drama specials, which will cover some weighty subject material: comfort women (women who were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese army). The two-episoder will air February 28 and March 1 (the latter being the March 1st Movement national holiday). [Star News, Osen]
• Sad, sad news: Choi Jin-hyuk (Pride and Prejudice) is heading to the army very soon. We’d heard he might enlist early last year, but he seemed determined to make his mark as an actor before beginning military service, filming three dramas (also Emergency Couple and Fated to Love You) in 2014. At a recent pre-finale celebration for Pride and Prejudice, Choi joked, “Everyone from the staff to the sunbaes to the young hoobaes on this show kept telling me, ‘Enlist already.'” He confirmed his intent to fulfill his military obligation immediately after the show’s conclusion and he expressed his gratitude to the crew and cast, telling them, “Because of you I’ll have warm thoughts to help me weather the cold winters.” (Awww!) [My Daily]

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