Lee Byung Hun 이병헌 Byunghun Lee

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Thanks to @mistymorning for the English translation of Byunghun's message. If not mistaken the actors would also be the judges in the audition. If BH is one of the judges, the audition would be even more nerve-wrecking than it already is.  So, lots of luck to the potential new actors! 

 

Hello, I'm Lee Byung-Hun from BH Entertainment. Kakao M and Korea's biggest 6 agencies will hold Kakao M actor's audition. This is the first big audition, I'm looking forward to it too. Please all the people with potentials come forward, we're waiting for you. Don't hesitate and try! Hope to see you in BH.

 

Clip: BH Entertainment

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Another nice clip of BH at ANDAZ from Esquire. Posting along is a translated excerpt of Grazia q&a (clip posted earlier). Thanks to mistymorning for the gist.

 

Q: What is your main experiences in hotel and BH said he's too busy (filming & working?) to experience anything. He also mentioned that he would check out the spa/fitness facilities, while he's out for films or photos
 

Clip: Andaz Seoul Gangnam

 

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12/9 CHUSEOK greetings from BH Entertainment, thanks to mistymorning for the translation 

 

BH moon has risen with full of happiness. Wish all of you a warm and great Hangawi just like the bright moon.

 

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Big thanks to @mistymorning for the translation of LBH interview. From SBS special program (aired 9/1) highlighting martial arts Director Jung Doo Hong. Gratitude to alatus_deus for the clip.

 

Lee Byung Hun said, his friends thought it was BH who got hit by the car. He said no, but they said 'oh he looks just like you'. So BH realized.. we do look alike.

 

During the Hollywood filming, they call BH Byung because it is hard to pronounce his whole name, and call DH Doo. Maybe because they can't differentiate Asian faces, sometimes they call BH Doo and DH Byung. "So frustrating" (BH joking and laughing). In the film, it's hard to differentiate between two, especially during action scenes.

 

Narration saying, even though BH sounds disappointed, he actually posted look-alike photos on his SNS. 

 

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Wishing all friends and fans at Lee Byung Hun soompi thread 

Wish in Hangul by mistymorning 

 

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Photos: Miru AD #JMSolution

 

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Some BHEnt highlight and info from Kakao M for the upcoming actor's audition. Thanks to @mistymorning for the wonderful translation. 

 

Source: Kakao M

 

 

First KakaoM Actors' Audition - BH Entertainment Intro(duction) -

 

BH Entertainment CEO Son Seock Woo (SSW) - "When we first started this company, we were thinking of the keyword 'Happiness'" 

 

For actors/actresses' growth, the most important thing is to plan with care/time based on trust

 

Actor Lee Byung Hun - "I chose 'Mr Sunshine' by the recommendation from BH Entertainment CEO SSW"

 

Actor Jin Goo - SSW is the one who started my acting career. I owe him much in many things. He helped me out in the most important moments in my life. The reason I didn't give up on being actor is the trust I have in SSW

 

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Filmography of BH Entertainment actors/actresses

Lee Byung Hun, Han Jin Min, Kim Go Eun, Han Hyo Joo, Yoo Ji Tae, Go Soo, Jin Goo's works are listed

 

 

 

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Audition details

Age limit: Born between 2003 - 1984

If you pass it, you'll get contract with 1 agency

The audition is scheduled between Sept-9 ~ Oct-6

 

 

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We are all waiting ..  everyone is waiting.. 

 

Source: awesome_hyeminee (thanks to mistymorning for the translation)

 

The clip is exactly the same from Mr Sunshine 

 

Caption: No news about the release of The Man Standing Next - which we're waiting for so long - and no instagram posts from Byunghun naeuri. My heart yearns for BH 

 

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 Oh.. oh.. oh.. look at this  BH has never been on the cover of Marie Claire, has he? A very special edition indeed! 

 

Thanks to awesome_hyeminee on IG

 

Seems that it's a special BIFF issue featuring Chungmuro stars on the cover. It's most befitting that LBH is featured as he definitely highlights the BIFF as always.

 

Source: alatus_deus

 

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September 16, 2019

 

SONG Kang-ho and LEE Byung-hun to Take Flight in EMERGENCY DECLARATION 
Superstars Team Up for THE KING Director HAN Jae-rim’s New Project

 

by Pierce Conran KOFIC

 

 

Superstars SONG Kang-ho and LEE Byung-hun are set to team up for the fourth time in the upcoming aviation disaster drama Emergency Declaration (translated title) from The King (2017) director HAN Jae-rim. The project is described as a disaster film set on a plane.

 

One of Korea’s most beloved actors, SONG Kang-ho recently appeared in BONG Joon-ho’s PARASITE, which became the first Korean film to pick up the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival this year. He also featured in the period drama The King’s Letters this summer.

 

LEE Byung-hun is known for both his major roles in Korea, which include KIM Jee-woon’s A Bittersweet Life (2005) and Inside Men (2015), and overseas, in Hollywood blockbusters such as G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and RED 2.

 

SONG and LEE previously shared the screen in PARK Chan-wook’s Joint Security Area /JSA (2000), and two films by KIM Jee-woon, The Good, The Bad, And The Weird (2008) and The Age of Shadows (2016).

 

Director HAN Jae-rim debuted in 2005 with Rules of Dating and went on the make The Show Must Go On (2007) and The Face Reader (2013), both with SONG, before making the prosecutor saga The King (2017).

 

Emergency Declaration is currently in pre-production and aiming to go before cameras early next year.

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September 19, 2019 

 

Marie Claire x Lee Byung Hun BIFF Special Edition: Moments that Move Me

 

Source: Marie Claire Korea

 

 

 

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Photos: Marie Claire Korea feat. Lee Byung Hun and Jeon Do Yeon

 

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20/9 Marie Claire photos posted by Byunghun today, his caption/tags: 
#100thAnniversaryOfKoreanCinema #BusanFilmFestival #MarieClaire

 

 

 

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Korean fans already getting their Marie Claire copy and sharing lots of awesome BH pics on IG.  It's a must buy, they say!

 

Photos: awesome_hyeminee

 

 

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September 19, 2019

 

Chuseok movie trends reflect changes in the times:

Harvest holiday period no longer dominated by historical drama genre

 

Source: INSIDE Korea JoongAng Daily

 

 

The Chuseok harvest holiday is one of the biggest local holidays that guarantees people at least three days of rest. Traditionally, it is a period where families gather together from all over the country. However, for the local box office, the holiday season means high ticket sales as those families spend some of their time together at the movie theater.

 

There were patterns that have repeated throughout the past two decades, one being that certain family-friendly genres have successively topped the box office during the Chuseok holidays.

 

But have these patterns held true? Do people still view the holiday period as a time for families to get together? With more and more people using the break to go abroad, there may no longer be a “family-friendly” genre for film distributors to prepare for next year’s holiday box office.

 

Certain types of genres dominate movie theaters over the Chuseok holidays. Above are a collection of characters from films that ranked number one in the holiday box office over the last 10 years. [EACH DISTRIBUTOR, JEON TAE-GYU]

Popular genres over the years

 

For nearly a decade since 2001, gangster mob action comedies, such as “My Wife is a Gangster” (2001) and the “Marrying the Mafia” franchise, were the popular Chuseok genre. The latter was especially a hit during the Chuseok holidays, with four out of five films being released in accordance with the period. The series reached its peak when it topped the holiday box office in the fourth installment titled “Unstoppable Family” in 2011 with 1.47 million moviegoers over the holidays.

 

However, after a decade the local audience began to lose interest in light-hearted comedies with shallow story lines and instead veered toward well-made historical dramas. “Masquerade” (2012) kick-started the genre’s popularity, drawing 2.8 million audience members to theaters over five days. Over the recent decade, six out of the 10 top films for the holiday box office were historical dramas.

 

Another pattern that resurfaces during this period is that middle-aged veteran actors that are well-recognized across age groups feature heavily in lead roles. For “Masquerade” it was actors Lee Byung-hun and Ryu Seung-ryong, while Lee Jung-jae and Song Kang-ho starred in “The Face Reader” (2013) and Song also in “The Age of Shadows” (2016). Lee Byung-hun, Kim Yoon-suk, and Park Hae-il starred in “The Fortress” and in last year’s “The Great Battle,” Jo In-sung and Park Sung-woong featured in lead roles.

 

All the cast from the above are big-name actors acclaimed for their impressive skills, making it evident the films released for the holidays are extra careful to plant at least one familiar face amongst their lead roles to attract family units. Song seem to be a representative example of an actor with the credibility that families can easily agree on.

 

End of an era?

 

Therefore, avid moviegoers might have been surprised to see this year’s line-up: All three films that were released one day prior to the beginning of the holidays - “The Bad Guys: Reign of Chaos,” “Tazza: One Eyed Jack” and “Cheer Up, Mr. Lee” - were either comedy or crime-action blockbusters. No historical drama films were released after four such films took the number one spots successively over the last four years.

 

“It’s probably a rebound from the relative lack of popularity of the genre over recent years,” said film critic Kim Hyung-suk. “Although ‘The Great Battle’ ranked number one, it didn’t receive as much attention as it expected and didn’t do so well in the overall ticket sales, and neither did ‘The Fortress’ from the year before.”

 

“[Right now] audiences are growing tired of the genre,” said another film critic Oh Dong-jin. “Historical fictions tend to see and reflect the world from a different perspective but people feel that the world is already in disarray. They don’t want to reflect upon their history. I believe film organizers quickly caught on to the public sentiment and released more lightweight comedies, like ‘Cheer Up, Mr. Lee’ as a result.”

 

Oh continued to say that heading to the movies over the Chuseok holiday is no longer a way for families to spend some quality time together.

 

“The media continues to portray Chuseok that way but that is simply no longer the case,” said the critic. “People have become individualized and [their tastes] are more diverse than before due to an increase of one-person households and OTT (Over The Top) platforms such as Watcha and Netflix. The majority of people regard the period merely as rest days instead of Chuseok holidays, which is why I believe that it is up to economical or political conditions to affect the box office [instead of the Chuseok holidays]. Categorizing films in accordance with the holidays is pointless now.”

 

However, Kim still said that the holidays still hold some power over box office success. “If word-of-mouth gets around that the film is fun to watch, then they instantly draw attention and often generate huge box office success if it strikes a chord with the audience,” said Kim.

 

According to statistics, over 5.6 million people have seen local films throughout this year’s holidays, which is actually a surge from a few years back. In 2012, only about 3.5 million people saw such films during the same period.

 

In other words, a lot of people still visit the theaters during the holidays, but no longer as family units. While the holidays still hold power over ticket sales, it seems that film distributors are betting differently this year as moviegoers’ preferences no longer unify into one trending genre.

 

Although another “Tazza” series ranked second for this year, drawing 1.67 million people to the screens, there was quite a gap between the top film and the second, which was dominated by actor Ma Dong-seok’s blockbuster “The Bad Guys: Reign of Chaos” which sold 2.7 million tickets. “Cheer Up, Mr. Lee,” on the other hand, only sold 857,000 tickets although it was promoted as a “comedy to be seen with families in Chuseok holidays.”

 

Nonetheless, Kim reasoned that people’s avoidance of historical dramas was not due to the genre itself as it covers a wide spectrum of topics. “To sum it up, it’s not a problem of the genre itself, but we need to go into more detail to see what kind of entertainment the film has in store for the people. For instance, we can’t say that ‘The Fortress’ and ‘Rampant,’ where zombies run wild [in the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910)], are of the same genre. They are a completely different set of works.”

 

BY LEE JAE-LIM [lee.jaelim@joongang.co.kr]

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September 21, 2019

 

September Male Advertisement Model Brand Reputation Rankings Revealed

Source: Soompi by E. Cha

The Korean Business Research Institute has announced this month’s brand reputation rankings for male advertisement models!

 

The rankings were determined through an analysis of consumer behavior, using big data collected from August 19 to September 20. The Korean Business Research Institute evaluated the participation, communication, media, and social values of 50 male advertisement models in order to calculate each star’s total brand reputation index for September.

 

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Celebrity chef Baek Jong Won topped this month’s list with a brand reputation index of 1,053,325. High-ranking phrases in his keyword analysis included “YouTube,” “alley restaurant,” and “recipe,” while his highest-ranking related terms included “release,” “get angry,” and “start.” Baek Jong Won’s positivity-negativity analysis also revealed a score of 81.29 percent positive reactions.

 

Actor Lee Seo Jin came in at a close second with a brand reputation index of 956,858, marking a staggering 434.84 percent increase in his score since July (the last time the rankings were calculated).

 

Finally, fellow actor Ha Jung Woo rose to third place in the rankings after enjoying a 138.20 percent rise in his score since July. The star scored a total brand reputation index of 674,732 for September.

 

 

Check out this month’s top 30 below!

 

1. Baek Jong Won
2. Lee Seo Jin
3. Ha Jung Woo
4. Son Heung Min
5. Jung Hae In
6. Ma Dong Seok
7. Yoo Jae Suk
8. Park Bo Gum
9. Lee Jung Jae
10. Kang Daniel
11. ASTRO’s Cha Eun Woo
12. Gong Yoo
13. Ryu Jun Yeol
14. Jo Jung Suk
15. Won Bin
16. Park Seo Joon
17. Lee Byung Hun
18. Yeo Jin Goo
19. Lee Sang Min
20. Kang Ho Dong
21. Kim Min Jae
22. Jung Woo Sung
23. Lee Si Eon
24. Seo Jang Hoon
25. Hyun Bin
26. Park Ji Sung
27. Super Junior’s Kim Heechul
28. Jo Se Ho
29. Lee Dong Wook
30. Jun Hyun Moo

Source (1)

 

Art by OH YU

 

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September 19, 2019

 

From Ma Dong-seok to Lee Jong-hyuk, Stars Go to Hollywood

 

Source: SportsSeoul via HanCinema.net

 

Korean actors are going to Hollywood.

 

With the start of Lee Byung-hun's appearance in "G.I. Joe" in 2009, "Terminator Genisys" in 2015 and "The Magnificent Seven" in 2016 opening the gates for Korean actors to Hollywood, many Korean actors have been going there. Above all, it is meaningful that actors credited for their acting skills are knocking on the doors of Hollywood, and not just Hallyu stars like Lee Byung-hun and Rain with world-class fan bases in Asia.

 

Lee Jong-hyuk has confirmed a role in the Bourne film series' spin-off drama "Treadstone". His role is strictly private, but it seems like a key role that increases tension in the drama. It is even more particular, because he was chosen more for his acting skills, rather than his popularity or reputation.

 

Han Hyo-joo is also in "Treadstone". She plays the role of So-yoon, a woman who finds out the secret to her past and has to make a choice for her family. "Treadstone" will be broadcast in October on USA Network.

 

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Ma Dong-seok is by far the most interesting actor that's going to Hollywood. He's starring in the Marvel Cinematic Universe's latest, "The Eternals", which comes out in November next year in North America. It is especially anticipated, because this movie is the latest by Marvel Studios in the transition to phase 4 after phase 3, which was "Avengers: Endgame". Ma Dong-seok plays Gilgamesh and gets to show off all his strength. Ma Dong-seok has been going back and forth between America and the UK for "The Eternals", which is the newest film by MCU, a worldwide famous company.

 

Gang Dong-won resided in L.A., USA for the filming of the American natural disaster movie "Tsunami LA" and Lee Honey signed an agent and management contract with William Morris Endeavor (WME) and Artist International Group, getting ready to move onto Hollywood.

 

Youn Yuh-jung and Han Ye-ri also knock the doors to Hollywood, as they both star in the movie "Minari", a story about a Korean family. "Minari" is produced by Plan B Entertainment, Brad Pitt's production company, and Steven Yeun, who is also well known in Korea, takes on the leading role.

 

The atmosphere in the United States contributed a lot to this Hollywood movement. "Crazy Rich Asians", a movie starring only Asian actors, came in 6th place in the rom-com category last year, causing a stir, and MCU's featuring of Asian heroes shows that a multicultural movement is underway. An industry source said, "It's only natural that the demand for actors from various countries increases along with the change in contents. Out of all Asian actors, Korean actors have delicate acting skills to become the center of the Hallyu Wave, and the Korean market is also very competitive".

 

Hollywood is a place every actor dreams of. An agency stated, "There are actors like Ma Dong-seok and Claudia Kim who have excellent English speaking skills, but those who don't have been learning English very hard. Even top stars work their way into auditions to get a chance to go to Hollywood".

 

 

Photos: awesome_hyeminee

 

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September 24, 2019

South Korea’s Kakao Corp moves into local film industry

 

BY JEAN NOH Screen

 

Kakao M Corp, the entertainment division of South Korean tech giant Kakao Corp, has entered the film industry by acquiring majority stakes in local production houses Moonlight Film and Sanai Pictures.

 

Kakao operates Korea’s leading mobile messaging service KakaoTalk, as well as the Daum web portal, streaming platforms for TV, music and webtoons, shopping services and navigation apps. 

 

Moonlight Film and Sanai Pictures, which often collaborate, are known for films such as the recent Ryu Jun-yeol-starrer Money, Yoon Jong-bin’s Cannes thriller The Spy Gone North, Kim Sung-soo’s cult favourite Asura: The City Of Madness and hit crime comedy A Violent Prosecutor, starring Hwang Jung-min and Gang Dong-won.

 

Kakao M stated it expects these acquisitions to “expand its business horizons” to film production from making TV drama and digital shorts series.

 

Kakao M’s drama series include mystery thriller Children Of Nobody, which aired on major local terrestrial broadcaster MBC. It is also currently adapting popular webtoons such as Dead Man Letter from the Daum Webtoon platform.

 

These activities are likely to be combined with its talent management acquisitions from earlier this year, including BH Entertainment, which works with Lee Byung-hun (Red 2) and Kim Go-eun (Eungyo), and Management Soop, which manages Gong Yoo (Train To Busan).

 

Full article: Kakao jumps into filmmaking industry (related mention only)

 

On the acting side, moreover, Kakao acquired a number of star-studded agencies earlier this year, such as Management Soop, which manages Gong Yoo and Suzy, and BH Entertainment, involving Lee Byung-hun and Kim Go-eun.

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More photos from Marie Claire

 

 

 

 

 

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Thanks to the highlight at PlanetBH0712, YT clips from the ANDAZ Grand Opening