Jung Woo-Sung 정우성 [Movies: “Hunt” + upcoming “A Man of Reason”, “12.12: The Day”]

[Guest kdramafanusa]

Source: http://magazine.movie.daum.net/w/magazine/read/detail.daum?thecutId=5103

Cold Eyes, and the art of casting



Quite often our first impression of a film, before we watch it or know anything about the story, is of the cast. We see 2-4 names on a film poster, or in the title of a news article, and we form an initial impression. Some names, or combinations of names, fill us with anticipation, while others do not.

At its most basic level, casting is the process of choosing which names will go on the poster. But good casting is a more complex art than it first appears to be. Both from an artistic point of view, and from a commercial point of view, effective casting is not just about convincing popular actors to appear in your film. It requires creativity, and a willingness to go against commonly accepted opinion.

The new crime procedural Cold Eyes 감시자들 is a good example of effective casting. By this I don’t mean that the names on the poster are the only reason behind the film’s commercial success. I mean that the images that these actors project in the film make for an interesting contrast with their previously established star images. In other words, Cold Eyes brings out something new in the stars.



Up until now, Seol Gyeong-gu has been a leading actor in 24 films, Jung Woo-sung has been the lead in 19, and Han Hyo-joo has been the lead in 7 films. Moviegoers have become quite familiar with seeing them up on the big screen, not to mention in television and advertisements. Then why is it that their appearance in this film feels so fresh?

Seol Gyung-gu is an actor who is known for his intensity. There is a fierce quality to his expression that has helped bring life to characters like the psychologically disturbed Yong-ho in Peppermint Candy, and the likable but flawed everyman Man-shik in Haeundae. But one also senses an emotional coldness in his acting, even in romantic roles like I Wish I Had a Wife and Lost in Love. This brings an interesting complexity to his characters. The role of Chief Hwang in Cold Eyes has a different quality. On the outside, he is highly professional and calculating, but in his interactions with Han Hyo-joo’s character an inner warmth and sympathy is revealed. Ultimately, this warmth is the heart of his character, which is why it’s so much more interesting to have a ‘cold’ actor like Seol Gyeong-gu play this role.



As for Jung Woo-sung, this is an actor who throughout his career has been cast in ‘good’ roles. This is not simply because he is good looking, but because he exudes warmth in his performances. It was no surprise to see him cast as ‘The Good’ in Kim Jee-woon’s The Good, the Bad, the Weird, and he was also well suited to play the caring and supportive partner in A Moment to Remember. But the character of James in Cold Eyes has ice in his heart. There is not a hint of warmth about him, and never once does Jung Woo-sung flash the smile which made him into a star. In the end, his acting skills proved to be up to the challenge of playing a very different sort of character, and the role has given new depth to his star image.

Good casting, of course, is also about the combination of different actors in a film. In this case, it makes for a nice symmetry to have a ‘cold’ actor playing a warm character, and a ‘warm’ actor playing a cold character. And then there is Han Hyo-joo, who in some ways is the most interesting casting choice of all.



It’s not that it was a big surprise to see her take on the role of a police detective. Less than a year ago, she played another highly trained professional (a paramedic) in Love 911. Nonetheless, there is a world of difference between the characters she played in those two films. Han Hyo-joo has almost always been cast in romantic roles, and the primary focus of those roles has been her charm and engaging personality. In Always, and also in Love 911, her characters ultimately pursue happiness and fulfillment through romantic relationships.

But in Cold Eyes there is never even a hint of romance, even with 2PM’s Junho. Her character’s strengths are her abilities: her concentration, her phenomenal memory, her ability to remain calm under pressure, and also her fighting skills. Furthermore, her character’s personality is not projected outward, as in her previous films. Instead, she is slightly reserved and self-contained. The ironic thing is that she ends up being much more charming playing this kind of reserved personality, than she does in films where the screenplay is designed to make her as charming as possible. (This is one of the timeless truths about star power: stars are much more attractive when they are not trying to be attractive)

At 119 minutes Cold Eyes is not short, but it kept me fascinated all the way to the end credits. This was partly because of the well structured plot (based on the Hong Kong film Eye In the Sky) and the overall quality of the direction, but it was mostly because the characters were so engaging. After watching the film, it may seem like the casting choices would be obvious. But when it was at the screenplay stage, the choices wouldn’t have been so clear. Fortunately, the filmmakers exhibited some creativity in casting, and the result is a very entertaining film.


Darcy Paquet

[Guest selena2013]

[Guest selena2013]

class="headline"‘Cold Eyes’ to be screened at ‘38th Toronto International Film Festival’

South Korean film ‘Cold Eyes’ will be screened at the upcoming ‘38th Toronto International Film Festival’.

The Toronto International Film Festival is one of the top 4 international film festivals in the world alongside Cannes, Venice, and Berlin, and is the largest scale film festival in the whole of North America. The festival is expected to draw an attendance of up to 400,000 moviegoers.

This year’s festival will be held from September 5th – 15th, and ‘Cold Eyes’ will be screened in the festival’s Gala Presentations. The Gala Presentations ranks as the festival’s biggest and most important segment.

Meanwhile, ‘American Dreams in China’, ‘The Art of the Steal’, ‘August: Osage County’, and ‘Rush’ are the other films besides ‘Cold Eyes’ to be screened in the Gala Presentations.

‘Cold Eyes’ will become the 3rd South Korean film to make it to the Gala Presentations of the Toronto International Film Festival, after ‘The Housemaid’ (2010) and ‘The Good, The Bad, The Weird’ (2008).

The Asia programmer for the festival had made a visit to South Korea recently to catch a VIP screening of ‘Cold Eyes’ and was left feeling mightily impressed. He stated that that the film was really interesting, and was full of tension and thrills from start to finish. He concluded by saying that it was a film that was definitely worth a second view in the cinemas.

With ‘Cold Eyes’ confirmed for the festival, directors Jo Eui Seok and Kim Byung Suh, as well as actors Sol Kyung Gu, Jung Woo Sung, Han Hyo Joo and 2PM’s Junho will be stepping onto the red carpet at Toronto. This will be Jung Woo Sung’s second time in Toronto, after ‘The Good, The Bad, The Weird’. Jung Woo Sung received loud cheers the last time he was in Toronto, that were definitely on a par with those enjoyed by Hollywood stars. The 2nd appearance of Jung Woo Sung is thus likely to grab the attention of moviegoers all over the world once more.

By: Lee Zhao Tam

http://ph.omg.yahoo.com/news/cold-eyes-to-be-screened-at-38th-toronto-074200735.html

[Guest selena2013]

3fce2935eb659f2db2edf08e0d3bcefb

[Guest selena2013]

class="tit_detail"‘Cold Eyes’ finally exceeds 5 million audiences…The 4th Korean movie in 2013 to do so

Movie ‘Cold Eyes’ will go past 5 million audiences in July 27th after releasing the movie for 25 days.

In 26th, ‘Cold Eyes’ gathered 70 thousand audiences to have accumulated audiences of 4.93 million. Considering the fact that the movie is still able to assemble 80 thousand people in a day, ‘Cold Eyes’ is definitely expected to break thorugh the record of 5 million audiences.

The break through of ‘Cold Eyes’ is 4th after ‘Present from 7th Room’ ‘The Berlin File’ and ‘Secretly Greatly.’ The movie itself had 1 million audiences in just 4 days, 2 million in 7 days, 3 million in 11 days, 3.5 million in 12 days, and 4.5 million in 3 weeks.

Cold Eyes’ was about a new topic of ‘Professional Surveilant’ and the strong delicate stories made the movie more attractive. Actors with diverse charms cooperated each other to make a well balanced movie.

Meanwhile ‘RED2: The Legend’ was able to become number 1 in the daily chart of box office and ‘The Wolverine’ to get 2nd place.

http://www.kofan.com/?p=8916

[Guest selena2013]

Three images of JUNG WOO SUNG from his L'Officiel Hommes cover shoot. (29 July 2013)

[Guest selena2013]

class="articletitle"Jung Woo Sung And Choi Jin Hyuk Collaborate

Although they will co-star in a new film, Jung Woo Sung recently directed Choi Jin Hyuk in another short film.

This year will see two film collaborations between actors Jung Woo Sung and Choi Jin Hyuk

The actors will be co-stars in the film "God's Trick," which begins filming in August. But that won't be the first time they work together. Jung Woo Sung has already directed Choi Jin Hyuk in a short fantasy film for a branded project

"God's Trick," the film about a professional chess player who makes a comeback also stars Lee Bum Soo, Kim In Kwon and Ahn Sung Ki. Jung Woo Sung is the chess player and Choi Jin Hyuk assists his enemy.

Both Jung Woo Sung, whose film "Cold Eyes" has sold five million tickets at the box office and Choi Jin Hyuk who played the mountain spirit Wol Ryung in the recent hit drama "Gu Family Book" are very much in demand at the moment. So any project that involves both of them is sure to draw attention.

http://www.kpopstarz.com/articles/36274/20130731/jung-woo-sung-and-choi-jin-hyuk-collaborate.htm

[Guest selena2013]

:x :x

[myownsecretmind]

Hi all,I know this little bit silly but Jung Woo Sung now has a new instagram account. 
Please support him by following him, if you have any. Here's his instagram account: instagram.com/tojws 
I think he recently had a vacation on New Zealand, seeing the photos posted there and his answer to some of his fans. Cheers!

[Guest selena2013]

Jeong Woo-seong, Lee Beom-soo, Lee Si-yeong in "God's Trick"

"God's Trick" starring Jeong Woo-seong has completed its extreme line up.

The cast has turned out to be Jeong Woo-seong, Lee Beom-soo, Lee Si-yeong, Ahn Seong-gi, Kim In-kwon, Choi Jin-hyeok and more. "God's Trick" is a noir movie about a man who loses everything when he enters a chess competition instead of his brother.

Jeong Woo-seong takes on the role of Tae-seok, a chess player who polishes his skills in prison. He is blind but has amazing chess playing skills and Ahn Seong-gi is the man who helps him. Kim In-kwon is in the role of the attention diverter and Ahn Kil-kang is a woodcutter who hides his past as a fraud chess player.

Lee Beom-soo is Sal-soo, the fraud Tae-seok determines to take revenge on and Lee Si-yeong is a former chess player. Choi Jin-hyeok is Sal-soo's right hand man.

The making of the movie starts this month and will be released next year.

http://www.hancinema.net/jeong-woo-seong-lee-beom-soo-lee-si-yeong-in-god-s-trick-59519.html

[Guest popcherrypop]

myownsecretmind said: Hi all,I know this little bit silly but Jung Woo Sung now has a new instagram account. 
Please support him by following him, if you have any. Here's his instagram account: instagram.com/tojws 
I think he recently had a vacation on New Zealand, seeing the photos posted there and his answer to some of his fans. Cheers!

[Guest mangetsu168]

Cold.Eyes.2013.720p.HDRip.H264

FILE SIZE : 500 MB
BIT RATE : 534 KbpsFRAME RATE : 23.976 fpsRESOLUTION : 1280 X 720RATIO : 16 : 9AUDIO : KOREA - AAC 2C 48KbpsSOURCE : 720p.HDRip.H264-HG8 part @ 70 MBJoint with HJsplit

http://lamtakah.blogspot.com/2013/08/cold-eyes-aka-stakeout-gamshijadeul.html

[adeleyam]

PurplePlan facebook
[LATEST] COLD EYES Singapore Promotional Tour Flight Details!

JUNG Woo Sung 郑雨盛, HAN Hyo Joo 韩孝珠 & Director CHO Ui Seok 赵义石
Date: 29 Aug (Thursday)
Arrival: 2:20PM via SQ 607

Lee Junho (from Korean boyband 2PM)
Date: 30 Aug (Friday)
Arrival: 12:20PM via SQ 635

[istanbullu_emine]

Jung Woo Sung and Sung Yuri 'well-made' the cleaning press conference 26 August 2013

more pics..http://sunshineemine.blogspot.com/2013/08/jung-woo-sung-and-sung-yuri-well-made.html

[Guest popcherrypop]

adeleyam said: PurplePlan facebook
[LATEST] COLD EYES Singapore Promotional Tour Flight Details!

JUNG Woo Sung 郑雨盛, HAN Hyo Joo 韩孝珠 & Director CHO Ui Seok 赵义石
Date: 29 Aug (Thursday)
Arrival: 2:20PM via SQ 607

Lee Junho (from Korean boyband 2PM)
Date: 30 Aug (Friday)
Arrival: 12:20PM via SQ 635

[adeleyam]

thatnortongirl said: adeleyam said: PurplePlan facebook
[LATEST] COLD EYES Singapore Promotional Tour Flight Details!

JUNG Woo Sung 郑雨盛, HAN Hyo Joo 韩孝珠 & Director CHO Ui Seok 赵义石
Date: 29 Aug (Thursday)
Arrival: 2:20PM via SQ 607

Lee Junho (from Korean boyband 2PM)
Date: 30 Aug (Friday)
Arrival: 12:20PM via SQ 635

[Guest popcherrypop]

adeleyam said: thatnortongirl said: adeleyam said: PurplePlan facebook
[LATEST] COLD EYES Singapore Promotional Tour Flight Details!

JUNG Woo Sung 郑雨盛, HAN Hyo Joo 韩孝珠 & Director CHO Ui Seok 赵义石
Date: 29 Aug (Thursday)
Arrival: 2:20PM via SQ 607

Lee Junho (from Korean boyband 2PM)
Date: 30 Aug (Friday)
Arrival: 12:20PM via SQ 635

[NakaiKana]

He's here ! So excited. Cant wait see him tomorrow.



credit https://www.facebook.com/PurplePlan

[Guest selena2013]

At Incheon airport before heading to Singapore

[NakaiKana]

Kept waving to get his attention but he didnt look my way. T.T Wish I could tell him how much I love his work and Padam Padam is my favorite kdrama. But it was nice seeing him ....he doesnt look any different but I think he's thinner in real life. Or did he lose weight? He seems tired too.