Ji Chang Wook 지창욱 - Upcoming Drama" "The Worst of Evil" (최악의 악) (Disney+) / Movie: "Hard Hit"/"Restricted Call" (발신제한)

[cherkell]

Cross-posted from the 'Five Fingers' Forum:

The SBS Drama Awards start airing at 8:50 PM on the 31 December, so there's still a few hours left to get your popcorn and comfy chairs properly arranged.  As far as I can see from the promos shown during the SBS Entertainment Awards last night, the following folks received nominations:

Best Actor:  Joo Ji Hoon and Ji Chang Wook
Best Actress:  Chae Si Ra
Best Guest/Special Appearance:  Jo Min Ki
Best Couple (Online Popularity Vote):  Joo Ji Hoon and Jin Se Yeon
Best Actor/Actress (Online Popularity Vote):  Joo Ji Hoon and Chae Si Ra
Best Special Planning Drama:  Five Fingers
Best OST:  Five Fingers

I plan on live-tweeting when the Red Carpet proceedings start at 7:20 PM KST/2:20 AM PST (yes, you read that right!) on the SBS Plus Channel or the SBS E! Channel (whichever one Showboom decides has the better bandwidth), and will pop in here with news and screencaps as time allows.  Let's hope at least one of these nominees brings home a Daesang!

FIVE FINGERS FIGHTING!!!

[cherkell]

It's 7 January 2013, and as promised, the Dance Version of the SPEED MV for "Sad Promise" has been released!  Take a look here:

Drats that we only get a few minutes with Changwook-ssi, and wish I was more impressed with the song... but it's something.  The full Drama Version should be released in a few more hours, so stay tuned!!

[cherkell]

And here's the Drama Version of SPEED's "Sad Promise."  You can tell that LOEN had a hand in this production because of the little NGs at the end of the video.  Pretty awesome in its production values, but given that lots of $$$ was spent, why not?

But wait, there's still even more!  An even larger Drama Version will be released on 9 January 2013 for the song "It's Over."  I believe it's close to 16 minutes in length and tells the full story in more detail.  Stay tuned!

[lhynne]

Love Ji Chang wook in uniform... looks great on him

[cherkell]

Little bits and pieces of the MV filming are starting to make the news reports.  In an interview with Changwook-ssi yesterday, he stated that the ending scene to the large-scale MV (for both the "Sad Promise" and "It's Over" songs together) took 100 takes in close to 7 hours to get enough footage to edit!!!  He and Park Bo Young spent way too much time out in the cold having to cry for hours on end.  And everyone thinks it's a piece of cake being an actor?  No wonder he had to go to the hospital for a bad cold shortly after wrapping the shoot!

Several netizen comments are comparing this MV as the "Korean version of 'Les Miserables'."  I can totally see that, since both reference such historical fights for freedom against oppressive dictatorial governments during their respective times.  And a rather fitting comment for My Precious as well, since he auditioned to enter the Music-Theatre Program at Dankook University singing "Suddenly" from Les Mis.  What a coincindence!!

Anyway, the full MV release has been pushed back to 15 January 2013 at 12:00 PM KST.  CAN'T.  WAIT. :x  :x  :x

[cherkell]

And the final piece of the puzzle -- the Drama Version of SPEED's "It's Over."  I double-dog dare you to watch this and not get all teary-eyed... because I couldn't. (

"Through the years, many remember that day.  Remember 5.18 in your hearts forever."

[cherkell]

Hmpf.  Been trying to post this for three days, but Soompi apparently doesn't want me to.  Let's see if this time it sticks...

On 31 January 2013, our Little Bachelor Warrior Chef Pianist was a presenter at the 2012 Seoul Music Awards sponsored by Sports Seoul Magazine.  This awards show is the fourth in the series of highly-regarded music award shows in the same vein as the Melon Awards, the MNet Awards and one other whose name escapes me at the moment.  Lots of nice photo wall pics from the event splashed all over the online sites!

 

 

 

 

      

       

       

 

And here's some video of the presenting he did with the Entertainment Editor of the Sports Seoul Weekly, giving the Daesang to B.A.P. for the Rookie of the Year Award:

Screencaps to follow shortly!!

[cherkell]

NEWS FLASH #1:  Changwook-ssi's next starring project will be a musical!!  The working title is called "On That Day" (or "The Days" depending on how you intrepret the Hangul) and the basic premise is the lives of the bodyguards that patrol the Blue House (where the Korean President and family lives), and concentrates on the events of one day when the President's daughter has mysteriously disappeared.  His character is one of the bodyguards named Ji Mu-yeong, and the show will play from 4 April through 30 June 2013 at the Grand Theatre in Seoul's Daehangno Theatre District.  Of course, details will be fleshed out as soon as they become more available!!

I am slightly disappointed that we won't be seeing him on our small screens any time soon, but his first love is the musical stage (he auditioned to get into Dankook University with a rendition from "Les Miserables").  I majored in Music Education/Theatre myself and I cannot fault him for this choice.  There will be other dramas later on.  But for now, let's give him all our support!!  JIBAEUNIM HWAITING!!  :x :x :x

[cherkell]

NEWS FLASH #2:  As mentioned up-page, two Fan Meetings have been scheduled by EMI Japan for 23 February (Tokyo) and 24 February (Osaka), and His Hotness has been diligently practicing both his singing and his Nihongo to converse better with the attendees.  The demand was so great for tickets that over the 3 days that requests for lottery placements were taken, it totally crashed the Pia.co.jp servers!  So by seeing that pent-up demand, EMI decided to unprecedentially add a second matinee show for the 23 February performance in Tokyo.  THAT PERFORMANCE SOLD OUT IN 10 MINUTES, and set a new record over there for a fan meeting's ticket sales!!!

DayRock representatives will definitely be there in force, so I expect some great pictures and stories to come back for me to report here with them.  But in the meantime, chukahaeyo Changwook-ssi on your upcoming events!!

[lhynne]

@Cherkell... it's a shame that he chose to do a musical instead but that's just me and I envy the fans in Korea who would be able to watch him live in action... if only I'm in Korea too   =((

[cherkell]

Well, this is getting more and more interesting!  The actors have been finalized for "The Days" (looks like that's going to be the final title), and as is pretty much the status quo with all musicals, a rotating cast will be in place.  The poster shoot was held earlier today, and no other than Yoo Joon Sang (recently seen in "My Husband Got A Family" on KBS) and Oh Man Seok (MANZZANG!!!) will rotate the lead roles during its run!!  That's some heavy hitters My Precious will be standing along side on stage, so I can see why he jumped at the project without hesitation!  Changwook-ssi's character plays Jang Mu-yeong, the head of the Assistant Bodyguards and is written to be somewhat of a 'question authority' and 'free spirit'  type of guy; the main character and his used to be best friends until *something* happened to antagonize their relationship.  Anyway, JCW will be featured in the "Cast A" alongside Yoo Joon Sang's character:



The Cast A & B combined (from left to right): Gang Tae Eul, Oh Man Seok, Yoo Jung Sang, Ji Chang Wook, Kim San Ho.

DAMN DAMN DAMN.  How much for a ticket to Seoul these days (opening empty wallet…)?

[lhynne]

@Cherkell... I kept asking myself the same question and I've got the answer by looking at my wallet  =((

[cherkell]

설날 잘 보내세요! 올해 행복하고 건강 할 희망!!!  Happy Lunar New Year to those who celebrate -- I wish you all health, happiness and prosperity for 2013, the Year of the Snake!! :x

And since it is Seollal over in Korea, BTS shots are leaking out slowly due to the holiday shutdown.  We should be seeing more once everyone returns from their ancestral visits on 13 February or so.  More like this, I hope!!



And the production company has decided that Chang-wook's V-line was the best out of the cast (OF COURSE!), so his profile is the one featured in the first posters for the show (see my new avatar for the example).

If anyone wants to follow the production on Twitter, you can link to them at @MusicalTheDays, with the website hosted by PlayDB:  Musical The Days.  Other earth-shattering news I'll post on my Twitter as well.  CAN'T.  WAIT.

[cherkell]

Not-Official-Press-Release picture sent out by the online news portals earlier today (pretty much all taken from their Nate.com biographies), but the Press Conference is scheduled for 14 February somewhere in the Daehangno Theatre District:



1st row (left to right):  Yoo Jun Sang, Oh Man Seok, Choi Jae Woong, Ji Chang Wook, Kang Tae Eul
2nd row (left to right):  Kim Jung Hwa, Bang Jin Hui, Kim San Ho, Baek Jeong Pyo
Not pictured:  Seo Hyeon Cheol, Yoon Ju Jin

Argh.  I wish the reporters would stop calling My Precious "Hallyu's Most Promising Star."  I think he'd punch a wall hearing that... X(

Tickets go on sale 20 February at 1:00 PM KST.  More pictures and a narrative coming soon!

[cherkell]

Unless you've been under a rock for the past few months, you all probably know that Changwook-ssi participated in his first Fan Meetings in Japan on 23 and 24 February 2013, sponsored by his music label EMI Japan and called "First Touch with Ji Chang Wook."  I've been slowly looking through all the news reports and photos sent to me by my chingu overseas, and I will put up the best of them as soon as I get back to my MBP later tonight.

The Tokyo meetings on 23 February were held at the Iino Hall Theatre in Kasumigaseki.  With a seating capacity of 1,500, only one show was scheduled for 7:00 PM at first; it sold out in less than 10 minutes!!!  So the booking agency acting on behalf of EMI Japan opened up a matinee show for 2:00 PM -- and that show sold out in less than 5 minutes!!  Usually during these meet-and-greets, your handlers parade you out like a show pony for a few minutes while the fans take massive amounts of pictures and videos.  Then you are ordered to PUT THE CAMERAS AWAY FOR THE REST OF THE EVENT to let the professional photographers get what they need for news reports, press releases, etc.  But one hardy soul didn't listen to the instructions, and captured this awesome video of the beginning of the matinee session:

The show on 24 February was held at the Theatre Brava in Osaka (seating capacity 2,500). As with the Tokyo shows, this one also sold out in less than 10 minutes!!  As they did with the other shows, several games and other interactions with the fans were planned.  Here is His Hotness judging the best attendee's Hangul penmanship:



There was also reenactments of some of JCW's more memorable scenes from his dramas!  Here is a shot of some lucky girl getting to play the Bongi role  receiving her marriage proposal from Donghae (from "Smile Donghae"):



And, of course, he warbled his three OST songs from 'Warrior Baek Dong Soo,' 'Bachelor's Vegetable Store,' and 'Five Fingers':



Here's an interview with Innolife (the lead Japanese entertainment news portal) from after the event:

And another couple of fan-cams taken as well:

image

image


He stuck around a few days thereafter in Japan for press interviews and picture-takings.  Lots more to follow, so stay tuned!

[cherkell]

Hello again everyone!  I had to be away for awhile dealing with a death in the family and yet another job loss.  But I'm slowly coming back up for air, and realize that there's been some major movement with This Boy over the past few months.  I'll start the ball rolling by posting a little treatise I wrote up on Changwook-ssi's latest musical role as Mu-yeong in "The Days."  I banged this out in about two hours, so I hope it makes some sense:  Musical "The Days": An Overview

And then on 3-4 April 2013, His Travelness was invited back to Japan to participate in a "Meets Komago" event, which is a co-promotion between Korea and Japan that has been held over the past four years or so.  Various Korean 'talento' are invited to these gatherings, and fortunately there is a fair amount of pictures and videos from this event since it is used as a major tourist advertisement.  So let's get started, ne?

The poster for the event:



APOLOGIES FOR THE MISSING MEDIA -- WILL REPOST SHORTLY


Showbiz Korea was really nice to do up a little feature on his "Airport Style" as he headed off to Japan for these fan meetings.  You will find his segment starting at about 1:01 in this video.  (Sorry that I'm just way too busy to put up just a cut of his appearance.)

I'll backfill with more narrative and pictures as time allows in between Real Life Interjections.  Seeyas soon!  >-

[Guest shikii]

continue to keep us update ya

[cherkell]

shikii said: continue to keep us update ya

[cherkell]

MORE NEWS!!!  He's not even finished with one musical, and Changwook-ssi has already been casted for another!  And what a doozy, too -- one of the longest-running musicals:  "Jack the Ripper"  He will be one of the rotating leads playing the role of Daniel, the young man who will do anything to win over the love of his life.  And I mean ANYTHING!   BWAHAHAHAHA!!! *cough*



The other three leads jumping in and out of this role will be (from left to right):  Eon Ki-joon (who JCW worked with in "Hero" (MBC) back in 2009); Kim Da-hyeon (who worked with JCW in "Warrior Baek Dong Soo" as we referred to him as 'Creepy Painter Boy'); My Precious; and stalwart musical star Kim Jun Hyeon (who I can tell has never worked with JCW before).



He's received such awesome reviews in his Mu-yeong role in "The Days" that the producers looking to re-tool "Jack the Ripper" put him on the top of their list for the new cast.  Eom Gi-jun has sung the Daniel role in the past, so I figure the other three leads with consider him their sunbae during the run.  Let the promotion onslaught begin!



And a screencap from the promotional film just released this morning.  Rockin' that guyliner like no one's business!!! :x :x :x



Sucks that I leave Korea for home on 7 July, so I'll probably miss this run.  But pictures and video will be popping up, so stay tuned!

[cherkell]

CONGRATULATIONS to Uri Jibaeunim!!!  Little Warrior Bachelor Chef Pianist can now add the title of Award Winner after having captured the Daesang for "Best New Actor" at the 7th Annual Musical Awards held the evening of 3 June 2013!!!  He was up against some stiff competition too -- Jo Kwon for "Jesus Christ Superstar" and Im Siwon for "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" and some other people I can't remember right now since I've been awake since 2:00 AM to watch this live.  But cooler heads prevailed, and My Precious walked off with the statuette all by his lonesome!!

The Acceptance Speech!  And I still have no freakin' idea why the cameraman suddenly cut away to a shot of the crowd while he was still talking.  HOW RUDE!

During the broadcast, performances from each of the five musicals nominated for Best Musical of 2013 were featured.  Here's the presentation from "The Days" where he sang his show-stopping tune "Saranghaessjiman" ("I Loved")... and I think I squeeeeeeeed so loudly to wake the dead this morning:

More screencaps just in case you were too busy staring at The Pretty to notice...







Poor baby's been fighting a sore throat over the past week returning home after finishing his filming in Jeju-do for "Secret Love," so thank goodness his next performance isn't until 8 June... but it's a two-fer (matinee and evening performances).  Yikes!  So lots of best wishes for him to stay warm and get lots of rest... because he'd better be in fine voice for the shows I'm going to on 30 June!!! :X :X :X