kdrama and kpop

He also said that Speed Racer was a great way to make his name internationally, but that his main interest was to work with the Wachowski brothers. Rain's next film will be the Wachowski brothers produced Ninja Assassin. Rain also talked about his singing career and that he will release a new album in October.

Rain set his first steps in acting alongside SONG Hye-gyo in the popular television drama Full House. He made his silver screen debut in Park Chan-wook's I'm a Cyborg, but That's Ok. Since then, he has been filming in Hollywood. He also features back-to-back in Time's "100 of the most influential people" annual cover story.

Yi Ch'ang-ho (KOFIC)

Source : KOFIC
http://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/KOFIC/Channel/

SEOUL, Sept. 5 (Yonhap) -- The latest South Korean blockbuster is to be screened next week at the international film festival in Toronto, according to the festival's website.

"The Good The Bad The Weird" will premier next Friday and Saturday at the 33rd Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), which opened on Thursday for a ten-day run, the website said. The film was selected to be part of a non-competitive gala section.

Reportedly the nation's highest budget film, "The Good The Bad The Weird" is one of few Korean films to clinch both critical acclaim and commercial success at a time when the country's movie industry is on a downward trend.

South Korean director Kim Ji-woon's tribute to spaghetti westerns is set in 1930s Manchuria and depicts three men hunting for hidden treasure.

TIFF, North America's leading film festival, will screen 312 films from 64 countries, including independent South Korean filmmaker Noh Young-seok's debut film, "Daytime Drinking."

"Tireless Mountain," directed by Korean-American Kim So-young, and Korean-Canadian director Helen Lee's "Hers at Last," a sublime drama about two women on the streets of Seoul, will also be introduced at the festival, the website said.

Credits: ygkim@yna.co.kr, image courtesy MyDaily via empas.com
http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/culturesports/2008/09/05/99/0701000000AEN20080905002300315F.HTML

Actor Song Seung-hun, who made his name as a gentle, romantic lead in melodramas before he was drafted into the military, has changed. He has come back after a five-year hiatus as a tough guy, playing a man who joins the mafia to avenge his father in MBC drama "East of Eden." Watching him rage and burn while chasing the man who killed his father on a motorcycle, viewers have praised him for his true-to-life emotional acting.

After 14 years in the entertainment world, Song is still mostly recognized for his looks rather than his acting. "I know I'm known thanks to my looks rather than anything else," he said. "But I no longer care for that."

Having made his debut as a model for blue jeans in 1995, he rose to stardom overnight with his role in MBC sitcom "Three Guys and Three Girls." "I started acting unprepared without thinking much about it," he said. "So I still sometimes feel I'm dreaming when so many fans show their love for me."

Gently prodded about the scandal surrounding his attempt to dodge the draft, the 32-year-old says, "It was one of the most regrettable things in my life. In the military I often thought about the importance of being humble and taking things as they come."

But his fans remained loyal -- he got boxes of letters every week, totaling tens of thousands by the time he was discharged after two years.

Song, like Bae Yong-joon, is more popular in Japan than in Korea -- thousands of Japanese fans came to see him when he was discharged. "I’m happy and at the same time it's a lot of pressure when Japanese fans come to Korea to study because of me," he says.

Now he tries to think and act simply, taking advice from director Yoon Suk-ho of "Autumn in My Heart", the drama that made his name in Japan. Yoon "told me that I shouldn't try to look cool or handsome when I'm acting. The most important thing, he said, is to act sincerely and truthfully. I think I can do that now."

Credits: englishnews@chosun.com
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200809/200809050018.html