News on Ji-Woo
February 26, 2006
Tabloid targets skating on thin iceCredit goes to: Mainichi Daily News
Snaring a large chunk of the inches available in Japan's wild weeklies during the week from Feb. 20 to 24 was South Korean stunner
Choi Ji-Woo.The star of the maudlin "Winter Sonata," which sparked Japan's brief love affair with all things Korean a couple of years ago made a quick trip back to the Land of the Rising Sun to promote her new TV series, which many of the weeklies were pleased to note had been a dismal flop in her homeland.
That didn't stop hacks and snaps in their droves from turning out to cover Choi's brief media conference during her whirlwind trip.
Japan's Turin Olympians came in for a considerable basting, particularly as they had failed to pick up a single medal between them, at least until the weeklies had all gone into print. That didn't stop the huge swathe of cheesecake shots of figure skaters Miko Ando, Shizuka Arakawa and Fumie Suguri. (By Ryann Connell)
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February 28, 2006
Credit goes to: the Electric New Paper
Back to the boxBig money, popularity of TV luring Korean stars back to the small screenBy Chang May Choon WHEN Korean movie star Jang Dong Gun was in town recently, his die-hard female fans had only one question.
When will he return to TV?
Instead of just two hours in the cinema, they want to watch 20 episodes of him in the privacy of their homes.
Such is the enduring appeal of Korean melodramas.
This realisation is fast hitting many TV A-listers who have crossed over to movies in the past two years.
The celluloid leap spelt glamour and big bucks and was a natural progression in showbiz.
But now it seems TV land is where the won is.
Furthermore, Korean movies seem to be on the decline among audiences in Asian countries like Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore.
Take Taiwan for instance.
Choi Ji Woo (far left in black jacket) has also joined the bandwagon of movie stars doing drama serials. Ye Jin (waving) has bagged a record-breaking fee of 25 million won per episode in a new drama
While viewers still happily lap up the latest Korean drama serials brought in by cable channels at sky-rocketing prices, the demand for the latest Korean movies is waning, reported United Evening News.
Bae Yong Joon's April Snow took a beating with dismal box-office earnings of NT2 million ($100,000), despite a much-hyped up promotional tour in Taipei.
In Singapore, the movie grossed only $270,000, much less than the $428,000 figure for his previous film, Untold Scandal, in 2004.
Likewise, Dong Gun's greatly-hyped movie Typhoon cost a record-breaking 15 billion won ($24m) but was two million admissions short of breaking even.
As a result, many top-billed actors are returning to the medium that pushed them to fame in the first place.
SHAKE UP TV SCENE
Lee Young Ae, for example, made her TV comeback with the wildly popular Jewel In The Palace. The serial was exported as far as Egypt last year.
Since then, top stars such as Yong Joon, Lee Byung Hun, Kwon Sang Woo,
Choi Ji Woo, Son Ye Jin and Kim Hee Seon have also announced that their new projects will be drama serials.
Whether it's a coincidence or calculated move, their return is expected to shake up the Korean TV scene as fans wait with bated breath for the big melodrama heroes.
Besides, TV money is as good as what movies can offer.
A recent study by the Korean Film Council showed that earnings of top movie stars have gone up 2.4 times from an average of 200 million won to 480 million won in the past five years.
In TV land, however, A-listers are reportedly paid 10 times more now as compared to in 1998. That's when Korea's three terrestrial stations struck a deal to cap artiste earnings at 2 million won per episode.
Two years ago, Young Ae made history by commanding 10 million won per episode for the 70-part Jewel In The Palace. It earned her a whopping 700 million won, not including the royalties from ongoing sales of the serial overseas.
No wonder her male counterparts have been eager to dive back into TV.
No one seems to have done it better than Korea's biggest pop star Yong Joon.
Next month he will fly to Jeju to embark on the filming of The Four Gods, which is said to be the most expensive TV serial in Korea's history.
After headlining two movies, he is now set to play the great Korean King Gwanggaeto who conquered Manchuria.
EXPENSIVE SERIA
The historical serial cost a staggering 43 billion won to produce, reported Sports Chosun.
Building the movie's set in Jeju alone cost 13 million won, but its makers are expected to profit from producing merchandise and selling the show to some 90 countries.
When he met the press recently, Yong Joon said: 'I feel both enthusiastic and afraid because it is a fascinating role any actor would want to play.'
He had earlier said he was attracted by the charisma of his character and the 'tantalising plot and massive scale of the drama'.
His decision to return to TV may have nothing to do with the waning of Korean movies because he announced his plans in April last year while still filming April Snow.
Not to be outdone, Yong Joon's April Snow co-star Ye Jin has also returned to TV with a big bang. She bagged a record-breaking fee of 25 million won per episode in a new role.
In April, she will romance Gam Woo Sung in the serial, Alone In Love - her first since shooting to fame in the 2003 series Summer Scent.
Also expected to make a strong comeback is A Bittersweet Life star Byung Hun, who will appear in the upcoming romance serial, Cruel Love, to be filmed in France.
This marks his second TV comeback in his 15-year acting career, after the big hit All In in 2003.
JAPANESE DRAMA
As for his co-star
Ji Woo in the movie, Everybody Has Secrets, her latest TV project is the Japanese drama, Rondo, which is currently showing in Japan and will be shown later in Korea.
Hee Seon and Sang Woo, who crossed to the big screen after playing lovers in the drama, Sad Love Story, have also announced their return to TV in the second half of the year.
To further spice up her comeback, the beautiful Hee Seon, who was last seen in the Hong Kong film, The Myth, got her Hong Kong co-star Jackie Chan to promise a cameo in her next project.
She is slated to star in a new romance drama that reportedly cost 10 billion won to make and has location shoots in Venice and Japan.
Perhaps the only star bucking the trend is Dong Gun, who is still busy jetsetting the world to plug his Chen Kaige movie, The Promise.
Now on a break, he has yet to confirm his next project. His last drama was All About Eve in 2000.
Speculation is rife that Korea's most bankable movie star will eventually return to TV, after failing to make another box office miracle with his movie Typhoon.
And it will probably be a matter of dollars and cents that will bring Dong Gun back into the waiting arms of his couch potato fans.
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March 01, 2006
Credit goes to Mathaba.net
Japan's blondes vanish as women turn to dark sideBy Isabel ReynoldsTOKYO (Reuters) - It's a case of the vanishing blondes.
Ten years ago, a stroll through central Tokyo could leave travellers wondering what country they were in as they watched a parade of tanned, fair-haired women walking tall in precarious platform shoes.
Now fashion has moved on and hairdressers say bleached blonde tresses are going the way of fake tans, although a dark brown tint still seems more popular than natural black.
The only fair-haired women to be seen on the covers of Japanese fashion magazines nowadays are foreign models.
Even Ayumi Hamasaki, the Japanese pop world's answer to Madonna, has dyed her trademark platinum locks sleek black to stay ahead of the curve.
"What's seen as attractive now is to look well groomed and cute," said hairdresser Yuko Shimizu of the afloat-f salon in Tokyo's trendy Aoyama district. "People want natural-looking shiny hair, whereas dyeing it blonde tends to damage it."
Neighbouring countries are providing inspiration, with popular actresses Zhang Ziyi of China and
Choi Ji-woo of South Korea often seen showing off their glossy dark hair in TV commercials that emphasise their Asian identity.
Japanese women of a certain age have long tinted their tresses to cover the grey.
Light-coloured hair was popular because it was believed to make the face appear brighter and to be easier to coordinate with Western-style fashions, hairdressers say.
Admiration for European hair made even mousy brown tones a more desirable option than black, while younger Japanese of both sexes sought to express individuality with a palette of colours.
While brassy blonde is out, hairdressers say few fashion-conscious Japanese women are prepared to go completely natural, since many feel poker-straight black hair is unflattering.
"Black hair simply doesn't suit Japanese women any more, because their complexions are fairer than they used to be," said Kenichi Uehara, a veteran stylist at the Double salon in Harajuku, an area popular with young people.
"Magazines put forward the idea of black hair, but women aren't actually taking it up," he added. "The idea is to find a colour that's not too light but not too dark."
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.