Joo-won headlines youth sageuk remake of My Sassy Girl

by girlfriday

Wait, what? The drama remake of My Sassy Girl — the 2001 movie starring Cha Tae-hyun and Jeon Ji-hyun — is a sageuk? Is it going to be called My Sassy Joseon Lady? Apparently we’re going to be up to our eyeballs in youth sageuk this year, because My Sassy Girl just cast Joo-won (Yong-pal) to headline the drama remake, which will be his last project before enlisting in the army. (Gah, don’t remind me! I guess I should just be happy he’s doing one last drama before going, but still!)

My Sassy Girl is a Korean rom-com classic, a campus romance about a cute, hapless boy who meets a gross but intriguing girl who kind of makes him her slave/boyfriend and always keeps him dangling on a hook. It’s an unconventional romance but utterly adorable. I’m still ragey about the fact that they’re making a sequel, My Sassy Girl 2, about Cha Tae-hyun’s character Gyun-woo getting dumped and meeting a NEW sassy girl. W.T.F. I refuse to even acknowledge that sequel’s existence, because it negates the ending of the beloved original, and I don’t know why anyone would do such a stupid, stupid thing.

ANYWAY, this drama remake has been in the works for a few years, so it doesn’t come out of nowhere. I’m just curious as to why they chose to do a sageuk version, since it’ll affect the basic story just by virtue of the time period. Still, at its core My Sassy Girl is a romance driven by two opposite personalities — she’s the beautiful but bossy alpha girl, while he’s the classic beta male — and could be translated into any setting pretty easily.

I do think it’s super cute that Joo-won will be playing Cha Tae-hyun’s character, since they were bros on 1 Night 2 Days for a little while. Joo-won would make an adorable Gyun-woo, except for the fact that he’s too handsome. They’re going to have to do an ugly duckling transformation on him (which he’s done for movies like Fashion King), otherwise I’d never buy him being the dorky guy who gets pushed around by a girl half his size. I’m sure he’ll be fantastic in the role, because when is Joo-won ever not fantastic? The real question is, where on earth are they going to find the actress to play Jeon Ji-hyun’s character? It’s the role that made her a superstar. Talk about a lot to live up to.

The drama will be co-produced by Raemong Raein (Sungkyunkwan Scandal) and Joo-won’s agency, Sim Entertainment. It doesn’t have a broadcaster yet, but it plans to be 100% pre-produced for a simultaneous broadcast in Korea, China, and Japan, and will begin shoots in July.

Via DongA

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