News bites: February 6, 2016

by awcoconuts

Lee Jun-hyuk, Yoon Seung-ah

• Lee Jun-hyuk (Bluebird’s House) and Yoon Seung-ah (I Need Romance 3) are confirmed as the leads for the short drama Birth of a Mrs. The drama is garnering interest from those prepping for marriage, as it aims to blow the lid off of what wedding planning is really like. Lee is the MD of a clothing company, while Yoon is a contract employee at an animation center with aspirations of becoming an animator. Based on an eponymous webtoon, the show will be helmed by Lee Jung-hoon (Wonderful Mama), consist of ten episodes of ten minutes each, and air on SBS Plus. [Joongang]
• Director Park Chan-wook will helm the film adaptation of Genocidal Organ, an award-winning Japanese sci-fi novel from Project Itoh. The story is set in the future in a time when Sarajevo is completely wiped out due to a nuclear explosion and genocide is rampant, and the movie will bring the search for an American in possession of the titular genocidal organ to the screen. It sounds dark, gritty, and right up Park’s alley. [Star News]


Lee Mi-sook, Shin Sung-rok

• Lee Mi-sook (Rosy Lovers) has been cast as the ex-sister-in-law of the male lead (Jo Jung-seok is being courted) in Jealousy Incarnate. Lee’s character is a former hotshot journalist who gets no respect among announcers and who finds that men don’t take her seriously in the newsroom. She gets bounced around between departments and ultimately gets assigned to the weather team. Jo and Gong Hyo-jin aren’t confirmed yet, but if they take the roles (please!), Lee will play a mentor to Gong’s weathercaster. From the writer of Miss Korea and Pasta and the director of What’s With This Family, the Monday-Tuesday drama will air on KBS in July. [Sports Chosun]
• They just keep adding more must-watch actors to this film: Shin Sung-rok (King’s Face) joins The Prison, which stars Kim Rae-won (Punch) as a prosecutor who lands himself behind bars in an attempt to connect with jailed kingpin Han Seok-kyu. The contract details haven’t been finalized yet, but Shin is close to signing on to play a petty criminal in the same penitentiary. A loner at the correctional facility, Shin will distance himself from Han and his network. The Prison begins filming this month for a release before the end of the year. [Star News]


Ryu Seung-beom, Chansung

• Ryu Seung-beom (Intimate Enemies) may be coming back in the upcoming project from director Kim Ki-duk, The Net. If he accepts, Ryu would play a North Korean fisherman in the film about North-South relations, and The Net hopes for a release before the end of the year. [Joongang]
• JTBC’s new Fri-Sat drama, Ms. Temper and Nam Jung-ki, has added Chansung (of 2PM) as the younger brother of the male lead (Yoon Sang-hyun). A lively and vivacious unemployed little brother, he’ll catch people off-guard with occasional moments of gravity. The show that pits a timid Yoon against a hot-tempered Lee Yo-won (and that has added Answer Me 1988 alums Kim Sun-young and Yoo Jae-myung) will air after the conclusion of Madam Antoine in March. [Star News]


Kim Dong-joon, Henry

• Allegations are swirling that KBS’s upcoming show, Neighborhood Lawyer Jo Deul-ho, was plagiarized from a script that took top prize at a 2015 SBS scriptwriting contest. The prizewinning script was for a show called Thousand-Won Lawyer, and its writer, Choi Soo-jin, has accused Neighborhood Lawyer writer Lee Hyang-hee of poaching from her work. While the KBS show is based on a webtoon by Hatchling, Choi isn’t accusing the webtoon creator of stealing — she’s asking Lee, who adapted the webtoon for the small screen, to explain the similarities in sentence structure and plotlines. The story is still developing, but in the meantime, Kim Dong-joon (of ZE:A) has joined the show as the son of a man who’s wrongfully imprisoned (that sounds familiar), and he’ll seek the help of Jo (Park Shin-yang) to free his father. He’s a rough-around-the-edges hoodlum, but in front of Jo, he’ll turn into a docile lamb. Barring legal complications, the show should air in March on KBS on Mondays and Tuesdays. [Osen, No Cut News]
• Aww, this casting sounds perfect: Henry (of SuJu, Oh My Venus) has joined the Chinese version of Noonas Over Flowers as the luggage boy. The cast will embark on a trip to Peru in mid-February, and the second season will air on March 5 on East TV. [TV Report]

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