[Movie 2015] Chronicles of a Blood Merchant 허삼관 매혈기 | Heading to Hawaii (HIFF Spring Showcase)

[andra30]

Heo Ok-ran (Ha Ji Won) bride-to-be


some movie location


JiWonderlandFB

[andra30]

Contemporary Chinese literature a hit in South Korea
excerpt from article

  The original story ( “Chronicle of a Blood Merchant.”) depicts Xu’s struggles with life in China in the 1950s. Now, the background will be transformed into the Korea peninsula with only South Korean actors and actresses involved. Ha Jung-woo himself plays the role of Xu, the poor blood merchant, while notable Korean actress Ha Ji-won will play the role of his wife.

    Ha’s adaptation will be the first film version of the novel that many other directors around the world have competed over the rights to for years. Yu’s first novel that was adapted into film, “To Live,” was directed by Zhang Yimou and won the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes in 1994.

    “The reason Ha Jung-woo chose to adapt the novel is because of its popularity among Korean readers,” said Jeon Hyung-Jun, a professor in the Chinese language and literature department at Seoul National University. “Ha also enjoys the way the work combines comedy and tragedy, and he is interested in the similarities between Chinese and South Korean cultures.”

http://www.szdaily.com/content/2014-07/08/content_9772021.htm

[andra30]

Ha Jung Woo’s Interview talks about Ha Ji Won and Chronicles of a Blood Merchant

Currently, Ha Jung Woo is filming his second directed full-length movie “Heosamgwan Maehyeolgi”, He’s not only the movie’s Director, but also the lead, played opposite with actress Ha Ji Won.He joked "Ha Ji Won was very in tune with me, maybe because I look very pitiful, therefore Ha Ji Won was very good to me,everyday I’m with a grateful heart to shooting"

According to Ha Jung Woo’s another interview, Chronicles of a Blood Merchant is expected to be release in Chinese New Year 2015 (February 19th)

http://chinese.yonhapnews.co.kr/allheadlines/2014/07/15/0200000000ACK20140715003000881.HTML?input=www.weibo.com

Thanks to VJH

from http://ladykate1023.tumblr.com

[czakhareina]

zoompi123 said:ernanianggraeni said:Ha jung woo mentioned ha ji won eonni again in his media interview.i hope any chingu will help to trans it in english.i trans it used google,jiwonie advised him how to eat sweet soup and liver soup (?) 河正宇谈到许三观中常是一家人围着吃热腾腾的饭菜，还有猪肝！河智苑特向他请教如何表演吃的香。河智苑出演是他亲自邀请还有李景荣赵振雄等。酬劳按市价。他按惯例导演主演酬劳分开拿。他很冷静地认为河正宇是新人导演，所以导演酬劳只拿了一点，也很冷静地认为河正宇是大牌演员，主演酬劳拿的还不少。

cr to 

[czakhareina]

EXCEPTS of HA JUNG WOO INTERVIEWStranslated by @zoompi123 from Ha JI Won Thread
Credit HJW Baidu

Translation of Ha Jung Woo's recent interview on Ha Ji Won.


When asked how his collaboration with Ha Ji Won is, he replied, "Very good. Luckily I look pitiful, so she treats me very well. All staff members match well with me. Everyday I carry a grateful heart when I go filming."
In Kundo, Ha Jung Woo showed that he is a gourmand by chewing a spring onion alone. He also said "Ha Ji Won always asks me to teach her", "There is a dumpling and pork liver eating scene in the movie, I am still thinking how to teach her."

Ha Jung Woo said that he personally invited Ha Ji Won to participate in CoaBM. "In Kundo, I ate a spring onion alone, and in CoaBM, we have prepared many scenes of eating steam hot food, there's also pork liver. However, Ha Ji Won consulted me on how to act well as a gourmand. I am still figuring how to tell her a method." Everyone laughed upon listening to this.



source: 
http://tvdaily.asiae.co.kr/read.php3?aid=1405414886731220008
http://joynews.inews24.com/php/news_view.php?g_menu=701100&g_serial=835785&rrf=nv

-----

Details about CoaBM that Ha Jung Woo revealed in his recent interviews.

- They have completed 19 scenes out of 60 scenes of the entire film.
- The production fee is 7 billion won, which is quite a lot. Ha Jung Woo explained that its because there is a lack of films with a 1950-1960 setting, so they are spending a lot on the art and props.
- The cast members are recently addicted to ping pong. (not sure whether Jiwonnie is one of them). There is a ping pong table at the plastic shelter beside the hostel that they are staying. 


source: 
http://joynews.inews24.com/php/news_view.php?g_menu=701100&g_serial=835785&rrf=nv
http://www.sportsworldi.com/common/view.jsp?newsId=20140716004586

[czakhareina]

class="post-title h-main" style="font-style: normal; font-size: 3.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-weight: normal; clear: left; line-height: 1.1em; letter-spacing: -0.05em; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"Blood-Drenched Chinese Story to Finally Grace Big Screen … in Korea

A film about a man who spends his life trading blood for cash, based on a novel by one of China’s most celebrated writers, has finally begun shooting nearly 14 years after it was first announced. But it won’t be a Chinese film.

“Chronicle of a Blood Merchant,” based on the 1995 novel of the same name by best-selling Chinese writer Yu Hua, began in the year 2000 as a collaboration between Korean producer Ahn Dong-Kyu and iconoclastic Chinese director Jiang Wen.

The novel, published in 1995, tells a story of Xu Sanguan, a farmer who discovers selling blood as a shortcut to providing a better life for his family and becomes expert in gaming the system to squeeze every last yuan out of his veins. The story is mainly set in the 1950s and 1960s, when China weathered a terrible famine only to then be plunged into the turbulence of the Cultural Revolution.

Mr. Ahn, now the film’s co-executive producer,  told China Real Time that he flew to Beijing to meet with Mr. Yu after he read the novel’s Korean translation in 1999. He said he met Jiang Wen on Mr. Yu’s recommendation, and both decided to work together to make the novel a film.

“But Jiang Wen became officially unable to direct films due to a 7-year ban imposed on him for not getting permission from the Chinese government for the film he took to Cannes,” said Mr. Ahn, referring to Mr. Jiang’s “Devils on the Doorstep,” a film about Japanese soldiers invading a Chinese village during World War II that  won him the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival in 2000.

A spokesman for Mr. Jiang declined to comment. Now back in the good graces of China’s film censors, the director is currently preparing for a “https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6N6IW1k7Y4,” a 3D follow-up on 2010’s satirical hit “Let the Bullets Fly” that is expected to hit Chinese theaters in December.

Mr. Ahn said he later made inquiries unofficially to some Chinese regulators for producing the film in China, but was rebuffed. He decided to make it a pure Korean production instead, shifting the story to Korea after the Korean War. “Since Korea also experienced liberation, war and division, I found similarities in the sentiments of ‘Chronicle of a Blood Merchant,’” he said.

Mr. Ahn has tapped Ha Jung-woo, a Korean actor turned director, to helm the film and assembled cast of Korean film stars. The film, which bag shooting in June, is expected to be released by early next year

Yu Hua- Ismael Roldan

Contacted by China Real Time, Mr. Yu seemed lukewarm about the film’s journey across the Yellow Sea . “The Koreans are making it into a commercial film with huge investment,” said Mr. Yu, adding that he was unaware it had started shooting. “ I don’t have any expectations for it at all,” he added, saying he believed the story would be made into a Chinese film sooner or later.

It’s not the first run-in with China’s film censors for Mr. Yu, whose novels are larded with biting critiques of Chinese society. “To Live,” a film directed by famed Chinese director Zhang Yimou and based on Mr. Yu’s novel of the same name, was banned in China after a triumphant showing at Cannes in 1994.

News that “Chronicle of a Blood Merchant” is finally being made into a film has met with ambivalence in the Chinese film community, where excitement at the prospect of seeing the story on the big screen has been tempered by frustration that it had to be made abroad. “It’s a good news but also a sad, because China cannot make this film,” Han Kaichen, a Chinese film producer,wrote on his verified Weibo account.

“I hope the adaption wins the Palm d’Or at Cannes and the Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars,” film critic Bi Chenggong wrote on his own Weibo feed. “It would be a slap to the face of this country’s censorship system.”

Despite the sensitivities surrounding the project, Mr. Ahn hopes this film can be released in China.  “This film that I am making has nothing that will violate the current Chinese censorship rules,” he said, describing the movie as a story about a generation past that had to overcome hardships. “Isn’t China living in an era where it’s possible to look back at its hard past as just a memory?”

– Lilian Lin. Twitter@LilianLinyigu | The Wall Street Journal - Asia | July  17 2014

[czakhareina]

Ha Jung-woo Talks About Directorial Ambitions
Source: The Chosun Ilbo


Ha Jung-woo will soon appear on screen in his latest film, "Kundo: Age of the Rampant," which is set to be released next week.
In the film, he plays a butcher who joins hands with thieves to steal from corrupt officials and gives to the poor.
Asked about the difficulty of the role, "It was difficult to ride a horse and do the action scenes," Ha said. "But the hardest part was shaving my head every morning and then spending three hours on my hair."
Ha has been highly sought after over the past two to three years. He was busy with starring in a couple of hit films such as "The Berlin File" and "The Terror Live" and made his directorial debut with "Fasten Your Seatbelt" last year.
He is now working on his new film "Chronicle of a Blood Merchant" and other film projects.
Ha says he is the kind of person who can't sit still and always has to be doing something. 
"After I finished filming 'Kundo,' I went to Hawaii in November and stayed there for six weeks," he said. "I tried hard not to draw or watch movies and instead just took it easy. But I realized that even resting takes effort."
Feeling recharged, the actor resolved to do "anything." Before returning home, he finished the script for "Chronicle of a Blood Merchant," in which he stars and directs.
"I have been acting since I was 20 something, and I thought I'm pretty comfortable with it," Ha said. "But when I started directing, I realized that it’s a totally different experience. It took so many years for me to call myself an actor with some recognition which came along the way, so I hope all my effort and future aspirations to be a great director will pay off one day."

[czakhareina]

class="entry_title" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 5px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 28px; letter-spacing: -1px; color: rgb(85, 85, 85);"This news is a lttle late, but it is an interesting interview on Ha JI Won in connection with Ha Jung Woo and CoaBM!
class="entry_title" style="font-size: 26px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 5px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 28px; letter-spacing: -1px; color: rgb(85, 85, 85);"Ha Ji Won’s Confession Towards Ha Jung Woo And Their Awards from PiFan

Through KBS’s Entertainment Tonight that broadcasted on July 14th Ha Ji Won made a serious confession. I think this confession will make so many guys broken-hearted, especially Oh Ji Ho.

That night on the interview, Ha Ji Won was asked about the actor that she really wants to work with. As we know before, there are so many actors who want to make Ha Ji Won as their partner, but on that show Ha Ji Won replied firmly that she wants to work together with Ha Jung Woo. Since a long time ago she really wants to act alongside with Ha Jung Woo.

It seemed that Ha Ji Won is very fascinated by his appearance on movies. Yeah..Ha Jung Woo is really genius actor indeed, i also admitted it, especially when he plays as an antagonist. I even put him on the same level with the senior actor, Choi Min Sik.

Ha Ji Won looked shy when the reporter was teasing her. He suggested her to made a video message to Ha Jung Woo and expressed that her wish, but then on the video she just said “안녕하세요. 잘 부탁드립니다” (Literally means: Hello, please do help me well. But it’s an expression of first time greeting usually from a junior to senior, sort of)

Actually the day before, July 13th, The 16th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (PiFan)’s representative announced that Ha Jung Woo and Ha Ji Won had been chosen for the Producer’s Choice Awards as the best movie actor and actress. Ha Jung Woo and Ha Ji Won will be the first actor and actress to get the awards, since Producers’s Choice Awards will be given for the first time in this year.

The actors, Ha Jung Woo and Ha Ji Won, are chosen to get that honor due to their movies this year. Ha Jung Woo was so amazing and brilliant on “Nameless Gangster” and “Love Fiction”, meanwhile Ha Ji Won appeared really passionate and impressive on “Korea” (As One). With their perfect acting skill they brought their movies succesfully to the market. They also always bring the  different fantastic genres movies to Bucheon Film Festival..

Besides them, Min Hyo Rin (Sunny, Five Million Dollar Man, Gone With The Wind) and  Lee Je Hoon (The Front Line, An Introduction To Architecture) also get the awards from PiFan, they’re chosen through the street poll that taken from Bucheon citizen in June.

The 16th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival will be held for ten days, start on July 19th until 29th. The four actors, Ha Jung Woo, Ha Ji Won, Min Hyo Rin, and Lee Je Hoon will attend the opening ceremony on July 19th to receive the award and meet the Bucheon fans…and maybe on that event Ha Ji Won and Ha Jung Woo may talk about their future project together. The thought of Ha Jung Woo and Ha Ji Won acting together on the same movie??? Wow..i think it will be really awesome.

[info and images sources: 1, 2]

Credit Blossom | kdramachoa.com | July 15 2014

[czakhareina]

Chinese literature a big hit in South Korea

• Xinhua 
• 2014-06-28

• The extraordinary life of Xu Sanguan, a famous Chinese fictional character who sells his blood over the years to support his family, will soon be adapted into a film in South Korea.

  South Korea's popular actor Ha Jung-woo recently announced that he is to direct and star in a film adaptation of a renowned Chinese author Yu Hua's 1995 novel Xu Sanguan Mai Xue Ji, which translates to Chronicle of a Blood Merchant.

  The novel depicts Xu Sanguan's struggle with life in China in the 1950s. The story has been translated to the Korean peninsula in the film adaptation, however, with only South Korean actors involved. Ha Jung-woo himself plays the role of Xu Sanguan, the poor blood merchant, while actor Ha Ji-won, plays the role of his wife.

  It is the first film adaptation of the novel that many other directors around the world have been competing to dramatize for years. Yu Hua's first novel to be adapted to film, entitled To Live, was directed by Zhang Yimou and won the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes in 1994.

  "Ha Jung-woo chose to adapt the novel due to its popularity among Korean readers. The director also favors the work's combination of comedy and tragedy and is interested in the similarity between Chinese and South Korean culture," said Jeon Hyung-jun, professor of the Chinese language and literature department at Seoul National University.

  The Korean edition of the novel Chronicle of a Blood Merchant was among 100 must-read books listed by South Korea's Joongang Daily. The story was also adapted as a Korean opera early in 2003. By now, most of Yu Hua's work has been translated into Korean and has a huge following.

  "Yu Hua's novels are popular in South Korea because of its focus on China's reality," said Ahn Chang-hyun, professor of the Culture & Contents Department of Hanyang University. In the past, most Korean people were more interested in China's ancient culture, preferring to read historical fiction such as Records of the Three Kingdoms or Journey to the West, but now they are eager to read contemporary Chinese literature to discover more about Chinese people's current thoughts and lives.

  The books of Yu Hua, Mo Yan, Su Tong and other famous Chinese contemporary writers now frequently appear on Korean publishers' list and are sold in most bookstores there.

  "For many years, we were focusing on the classical and very literary novels written by Chinese authors. It was not an easy job to contact the Chinese publishers and authors, however, over the past three or four years, we discovered that many things are developing right now," said Michelle Nam, executive director of South Korea's largest general trade publisher Minumsa Publishing Group.

  Minumsa has published Chinese writer Han Shaogong's novel A Dictionary of Ma Qiao and collected stories by the Chinese Writers' Association, including Mo Yan's Frog and other Chinese contemporary literary works over recent years, all of which have received a positive response from Korean readers, young and old.

  The novel A Dictionary of Ma Qiao is written in the form of a dictionary, collecting 115 "articles" on fictitious Maqiao village life from the perspective of a young student sent to the countryside during the cultural revolution.

  Minumsa said that the novel is unique because it deals with human nature, which is also the theme of the story Frog.

  "Mo Yan's Frog is a story about the one-child policy in China, which is very moving and humane," said Nam.

  Not surprisingly, the sales of Frog rose dramatically after Mo won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2012, topping 12,000 copies.

  Chinese literature has gained more traction with South Korean fans after Mo won the Nobel Prize and Korean readers' tastes in Chinese literature have also diversified, Jeon Hyung-Jun added.

  "We are looking for more novels written by Mo Yan and Han Shaogong. We are also looking for good writers who write philosophical topics, history and humanities. We think there are many Chinese writers who can write these topics for the younger generation," said Nam.

  
  

  credit Want China Times | June 28 2014

[czakhareina]

Postscript from blog (Coffee/Cafe Car from Ha Jung Woo’s Fans)


Ice Cubes wrapped in a towel that can make Ha Ji Won to cool off~^^That Coffee/Café Car  added a lot of ice to Ha Ji Won’s Coffee !!Because Ha Ji Won is very precious~Ha Ji Won.Really.Wanted to make eye contact with you^^Walking very elegant~Looking at The Coffee/Café CarAnd went to eat^^
Source: Baidu Ha Ji Won | Picture from DC and Weibocredit VJH and ladykate1023 | tumblr
Additional Pics from the Food Support

[czakhareina]

Section TV, Sunday Section, 2014 Settlement of First Half Year 2features Ha Jung woo in Kundo and directing Chronicles of a Bloof Merchant

credit MBCEntertain | July 20 2014

[andra30]

Ha Ji Won's korean 1023 Fan Club Food Truck for Support CofBM 28.07.14




ACFB

[czakhareina]

andra30 said: Ha Ji Won's korean 1023 Fan Club Food Truck for Support CofBM 28.07.14



ACFB

[czakhareina]

Ha Ji Won fan support CoaBM  | 28 July 2014)posted Ha Ji Won fan cafe (1023) via @JacquelinQ  from Ha Ji Won soompi thread
Dinner 

Samgyetang Then the ice cream and cafe snacks 

[czakhareina]

Ha Ji Won 하지원 Support for CoaBM

credit Jiwon philippines | Youtube

[Guest bashful]

Ha Jung Woo want a great choice for the leading female role. This will be Ha Ji Won last project in Korea before going to the States. WOW she actually accepted the role!!!! I guess she would since she did mentioned she would like to pair up with Ha Jung Woo in a future project. Will be anticipating for it to release. : )

[czakhareina]

[uPDATE] Chronicle of a Blood Merchant

credits as posted

not to long ago Ha Ji Won and Ha Jung Woo went to Outback Steak House(Restaurant) together (HJW Baidu)".Info from DC Hajungwoo via drbigapple from page 45 of Ha Jung Woo soompi thread
August 5 2014


it seems the coabm filming be only be finished at september in his latest interviewhere is the link   :http://tenasia.hankyung.com/archives/293353   (source from ladykate twitter) via drbigapple from page 45 of Ha Jung Woo soompi thread
August 11 2014


On Monday Kang Dong Won and Kundo Director came to CoaBM Filming Set~ They met Ha Jung Woo and discussed about Kundo Box Office.Theywere suprised after Roaring Current release,Kundo box office immediately fell down and consoled at each other.Meanwhile CoaBM is currently filmed 37 scenes out of 60 scenes and expected to be release in January 2015.Source: http://osen.mt.co.kr/article/G1109930213credit to ladykate twitter via drbigapple from Ha jung woo soompi threadAugust 16 2014

[Guest spectators77]

czakhareina said:On Monday Kang Dong Won and Kundo Director came to CoaBM Filming Set~ They met Ha Jung Woo and discussed about Kundo Box Office.Theywere suprised after Roaring Current release,Kundo box office immediately fell down and consoled at each other.Meanwhile CoaBM is currently filmed 37 scenes out of 60 scenes and expected to be release in January 2015.Source: http://osen.mt.co.kr/article/G1109930213credit to ladykate twitter via drbigapple from Ha jung woo soompi threadAugust 16 2014

[Guest spectators77]

Just dropping by and i saw Food support.... 
Additional photo about the Food Support :-D 

[Guest spectators77]

ADD