Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Sung Joon, the Busiest of Bees


If you've been reading my blog a while, then you know I tend to talk about the same actors again and again. And Sung Joon is definitely an actor I've talked at least a few times before. He had a pretty awesome year last year. He was two leading drama roles, a leading single-episode drama role, a supporting and leading role in two movies, and even won an award for his stint in said single-episode drama role. Considering his first stint on Korean TV was a bit part in Personal Preference back in 2010, his career trajectory is pretty darn good.

He's not slowing down just yet! It's only March (or I guess already March. This year has flown by!) and he's already slated in two projects already, a movie and a drama. On top of that, the little talent show on jTBC, Miracle Korea, which is... an interesting show, to say the least.

Anyways, the movie is Horror Stories 2. Boo. I can't watch horror movies. This movie will be an omnibus which is basically when short movies are compiled together to form a somewhat cohesive story line. According to the ever so reliable AsianWiki, Sung Joon will play Dong-wook in the chapter entitled 'Cliff'' where he and friend played fellow newbie actor and model Lee Soo-hyuk encounter a life and death situation during a hike. So it's an adventure film? Yes? No.

The drama is The Gu Family Book starring Lee Seung-gi, Suzy of miss A, and Yoo Yeon-seok, among others. The story follows Choi Kang-chi (Lee) who is half human-half gumiho (fox spirit) as he struggles to live life as a human being. Suzy plays Dam Yeo-wool who is a young martial arts and archery master. Sung Joon plays Gon, Yeo-wool's body guard.

Both projects are pretty vague in terms of story line, but I'm telling you, I'll be more willing to watch the second. Definitely not the first. I'm a baby. I'm pretty sure I'll watch one or two episodes. If it's good enough, I'll watch it all. I watched Big partly Suzy (and Gong Yoo too, I guess, mostly) and I like her as an individual. Hopefully this Yeo-wool character will suit her fine. As for Seung-gi, well, he's a'ight. I'm not a big fan of him, especially acting wise. I don't know how I finished Shining Inheritance. I watched My Girlfriend is a Gumiho mostly for Shin Min-ah. He's not the most horrible, but he tends to exaggerated which I'm not too fond of.


Sung Joon's role is pretty questionable. If Yeo-wool is such a masterful martial artist, why does she need a body guard? In terms of drama ladder, where does that put him? I suppose the second lead is Yoo Yeon-seok, who I'm hoping is playing a decent character. There has been too many not so pleasant characters he has played. He plays them well, but the guy needs a good guy character. So does that make Sung Joon the third lead? And he has to have a one sided love for Suzy? No!

Apparently a lot of people are complaining on how Sung Joon, who's been giving great performances left and right, is left with a measly second (or gasp! third) lead. I think it's mostly for business purposes. Yoo Yeon-seok is an awesome actor, but he gets seconds all the time.Sung Joon has been playing multiple lead roles now, but he's not a household name. Seung-gi is the nation's lover brother. Everyone knows him. He might not be the most excellent of actors, but he sure is charming. And his name alone is expected to get a couple curious looks from the average viewer. So yeah. That's how things work.

Back to Sung Joon. It seems to me that the movie and the drama is overlapping in terms of production time. Gu starts in February (or so I've been told) and Horror starts in March. It makes somewhat of a sense since his roles aren't big. He's technically only playing one short and his role in Gu isn't that big. But still. Working on two projects simultaneously is deserving of an applause.

Horror Story 2 aiming for a June 2013 release and The Gu Family Book will premiere April 1st on MBC right after Horse Doctor which I haven't watched a single episode till this day. I've seen the behind the scenes so does that count?

4 comments:

  1. I didn't realized he was going to be in Gu Family Book, even if it does sound like a mediocre role. What I like most about all these choices he's making though, is that at the very least he's been getting a lot of diverse roles and acting experience alongside either veteran actors or actors with name recognizition. I think these next two projects will mean he's definitely not out there to be typecast - something I dread out of my favorite actors across the board. Still, would love to see him take on some more leading roles.

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    1. Diversity is definitely where he wins. But I think he tends to do better in angsty roles. Maybe it's his looks. I think that's what he (or his agency, mostly he) wants to achieve, to not be typecasted. He has yet to play a psycho or a criminal, which seems to be a must for Korean actors if they want to be considered a "real actor". Maybe that's what he should do next? Those roles don't come by often though.

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  2. I also like that Sung Joon is choosing very different roles, although I still feel that he could use a bit of improving in acting. I did love him in Shut Up and I didn't think he was bad in Can We Get Married?, but I still feel that he isn't quite there yet. But he is young and seeing him working on so many projects lately, surely promises good things to come. I am a little disappointed though that he's gotten such a minor role in Gu Family Book. I wouldn't want to catch a Third Lead Syndrome or anything.
    Oh, and I used to feel the same way about Lee Seung Gi's acting too. But I totally changed my mind when I watched Seung Gi in The King 2 Hearts, he acted so much better in there than in Shining Inheritance and MGIAG altogether.

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    1. He's getting so much experience. Apparently actors need a lot of those. Here's to hope for the best for his future!

      I haven't watched King2Hearts. Why can't these people just make movies? Dramas are so tiring. I probably won't watch it and just hope that Lee Seung-gi ups his game for this drama too. He's going against freakin' Yoo Yeon-seok, for goodness sake. And if there is a good actor among the young cast, it would be him.

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