Friday, 8 February 2008

Korean stars' hits and misses

In the world of entertainment, a role could either make or break you. Stars such as Yoon Eun-hye, Rain, Han Ye-seul and Kim Ah-joong became big movie/drama stars after being the second (or third) choice for a role!

Left to right: Yoon Eun-hye, Rain and Han ye-seul were replacement
actors who made it big


Here's a look at who did what, in which show, and what happened:

Yoon Eun-hye

Made it big through her tomboy role in Coffee Prince. Initially, Kim Ah-joong was the favourite for the role.

However, an exclusive contract with a shampoo company prevented Kim Ah-joong from cutting her hair short. Thus, the role went to Yoon Eun-hye, who had no problems lopping her locks off for the character.

Han Ye-Seul

The actress played Jo Anna in Fantastic Couple/ Couple or Trouble, which became a hit in Korea. However, she wasn't the first choice for the role; producers wanted Uhm Jung-hwa, but Uhm had to turn down the offer because of her busy schedule. She was preparing for the release of her 9th album.

However, Han Ye-seul missed out on a golden opportunity too when she turned down the Jung Ryu-won's role in My Lovely Sam-soon.

Rain

He wasn't the first choice for the Lee Yeong-jae character in Full House but persevered to get the role.

Initially,the producers offered it to Jung Woo-sung, and then to Lee Jeong-jae when Jung declined the offer. Lee also turned down the role because he had to prepare for his film Typhoon. Since the Energizer Bunny was continuously asking about the role, he eventually got it.

Cho Seung-woo

He perfectly portrayed an autistic 20-year-old in the film Marathon. The role only went to him after Shin Ha-gyoon turned down the role because he was busy shooting a movie. Second choice Park Hae-il didn't want to portray an autistic man so he rejected the role too.

Kim Ah-joong

Believe it or not, Kim Ah-joong wasn't the first choice for 200 Pounds Beauty. Many names were dropped, such as Ko So-young, Kim Hee-sun, Lee Na-young and Soo-ae but the actresses all felt uneasy portraying a character who undergoes a complete plastic makeover.

Kim Ah-joong got the role because she wasn't reluctant to play a plastic beauty.

Other stars who have missed out on golden opportunities include Cha In-pyo, who turned down Shiri, The Foul King, The Host, Friend, Kick the Moon, My Wife is a Gangster and My Boss, My Hero and Kim Hee-sun who rejected Autumn in my Heart, All In, Winter Sonata, Lovers in Paris, Phoenix and Sorry, I Love You.

Source & Pics credit: Naver News with translations @ HanCinema

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11 Comments:

Anonymous said...

that thing with Kim AhJoong and Yoon Eun Hye is not true.. every production people in CP denied that they ever offered the role to KAJ..

being a CP fanatic, i know that they really just wanted YEH.. and its unfair for YEH to say that they offered the role also to KAJ when they really didnt..

hmmm..

Anonymous said...

http://www.segye.com/Articles/News/Politics/Article.asp?aid=20070914001611&ctg1=01&ctg2=00&subctg1=01&subctg2=00&cid=0101010100000&dataid=200709141129000047

Yoon Eun Hye expressed her thoughts on the controversial "Kim Ah Jong replacement" issue regarding the casting process of 'Coffee Prince'.

Cable channel StoryON's program 'Cover Story', which will be televising a special on 'Replacement Stars' on the 13th of Sept, had originally included a major segment on Yoon Eun Hye, before they changed their minds and decided to cut it out, due to the controversy it had caused. Yoon Eun Hye, through her manager, spoke out about her take on this issue.

Yoon Eun Hye also expressed that she had only come to hear of the supposed 'Yoon Eun Hye is Kim Ah Jong's replacement' scandal through a friend, when it started to make the headlines from the 12th.

On that same day, Coffee Prince's Lee YoonJung PD had personally phoned her and told her "its far from the truth, I never offered the role to Kim Ah Jong so please dont be misunderstood over this." Yoon Eun Hye further revealed that throughout the phone conversation, both Lee PD and herself were consoling each other, telling each other "lets not think much more of this" and ended the conversation on a happy note.

Yoon Eun Hye's manager Park GeunSoo also expressed his thoughts by saying "I was worried that YEH would be hurt by this matter, but she was fine about all this and was actually the one who was comforting me, telling me not to worry."

Coffee Prince's Lee YoonJung PD and script writer Lee JungAh had even spoken up, revealing that "at the time,Kim Ah Joong might have received the synopsis, but honestly speaking, we sent the synopsis to a number of other actresses as well. Moreover, Yoon Eun Hye was not casted as Kim Ah Joong's substitute."

Anonymous said...

kim heesun missed out on a lot

Anonymous said...

who cares! anyone would've been better than eun hye! she's overrated and fugly!

Orchid said...

i am glad Rain kept asking about the Full House role because that was his big break! :-)

Unknown said...

hmmm thats strange, i read somewhere that KAJ had been offered and accepted the role before having to back out due to contract issues. mebbe its the producers backtracking to cover their tails

Anonymous said...

It makes sense. Kim Ah Joong has a deal with Panthene. If she is going to advertise for them, surely they will not allow her to chop off her long hair.

Anonymous said...

http://www.segye.com/Service5/ShellView.asp?TreeID=1052&PCode=0001&DataID=200709141129000047

Kim Ah Joong's reps explained that "we received the synopsis but were unable to make a decision due to the CF agreements but it wasnt as if Kim Ah Joong had received it before Yoon Eun Hye and accepted the role, then reversed her decision so that Yoon Eun Hye could be her stand in. So in saying that Yoon Eun Hye is Kim Ah Joongs 'substitute' is highly inappropriate"

Jung Ryeo Won was among those actresses who has also received the Coffee Prince synopsis, but she didn't consider it because she felt that the role wasn't suited for her. She also said that now she regrets not considering this great role, but she also added that Yoon Eun Hye did an amazing job as EunChan and that she was perfect for this role.

Anonymous said...

Yoon Eun Hye: her manager is funny. Why would she feel stressful about this news? & why is it even a controversy in the 1st place? Being 1st or 2nd cast by a director is not in the least embarrassing. (e.g. Leo/Kate Winslet "Titanic"). All that matters is the movie/drama's success.
Rain: yep, I'm glad these 2 other actors turned down the main role due to conflicting schedules.
200lbs Beauty: I'm afraid I'm one of the few who didn't enjoyed this movie. I decided to watch it cuz I heard that KAJ won the best actress award & the movie received the best picture or smthg. But I stopped two thirds of the way cuz i was really bored w/the story plot. Anyway, it's funny to hear the reasons why some actresses refused to play the main role

Anonymous said...

this article is insightful. considering how big each of them made it respectively with the projects

thanks for this ; )

Pully said...

Doesn't really matter. What is done is done.

 

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