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Post by 𝔰𝔢𝔞𝔫𝔪𝔞𝔠𝔩𝔞𝔦𝔯 on Feb 19, 2023 21:45:09 GMT -5
Choi Soojong(Known for Dae Jo Young, Wang Guhn) has been cast as Kang Gamchan en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gang_Gam-chan I have a feeling Choi Soojong will return to play Kang Gamchan My prediction was on point lol
Good work! I'll be happy to see him again, but now I fear for the ratings... I can't believe it's already been 10 years since King's Dream...
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Post by ajk on Feb 20, 2023 15:23:58 GMT -5
BOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
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Post by truth on Feb 20, 2023 16:02:04 GMT -5
I've said this before, but the traditional historical actor pool is very limited. Not many actors want to be in this type of historical hence the reason you see the same faces over and over again. (Fusion Romance "historical" is where the money is at) Reasons why CSJ was chosen. 1. All of his historicals have been successful except King's Dream. 2. It is a good way to draw the older generation who are used to his historicals from the past. 3. He is known as the "King of Ratings" in Korea : Almost every drama that he's in equals instant high ratings. Not just historicals like EWG and Dae Jo Young, but even in contemporary setting dramas. Highest rating for his last drama My Only One in 2019 was 49.4%. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Only_One_(TV_series)This means almost half of South Korean population tuned in to see his drama in 2019. This happened in the modern day of Internet where you can easily watch a drama you missed on the Internet. Most Korean drama ratings don't go over 10% these days. It was a no-brainer for KBS to choose him again.
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Post by sageuk on Feb 20, 2023 17:08:20 GMT -5
Uh huh. Gang Gamchan played by Choi Soojong.
Whatever.
He’ll probably get top billing over whoever plays Hyeonjong. Then again, Gang Gamchan is the one doing all the work while his king sits.
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Post by truth on Feb 20, 2023 17:31:00 GMT -5
He’ll probably get top billing over whoever plays Hyeonjong. Then again, Gang Gamchan is the one doing all the work while his king sits. There was a rumor 2 months ago that the main character was going to be changed from Hyeonjong to Kang Gamchan. I think the rumor might be true with CSJ being cast as Kang Gamchan, which makes sense since the general public isn't really used to Hyeonjong's name. You probably wouldn't have heard of Hyeonjong unless you are a history buff, but most Koreans probably heard of Kang Gamchan's name as much as they've heard of YSS and King Sejong.
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Post by MTR on Feb 20, 2023 17:47:57 GMT -5
its a great role for Choi . I wonder how much we will see of Empress Cheonchu in this one ?.
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Post by sageuk on Feb 20, 2023 17:50:32 GMT -5
I’m expecting one of these options:
-she gets mentioned -she appears for maybe one or two episodes before being deposed -flashback sequence
I think it depends on how it starts. The Khitans’ pretext for war was that Gang Jo killing Mokjong and installing Hyeonjong.
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Post by truth on Feb 20, 2023 17:53:22 GMT -5
-she appears for maybe one or two episodes before being deposed I think it will most likely be this. I heard that the drama will begin with Kang Jo's coup.
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Post by ajk on Feb 21, 2023 1:22:28 GMT -5
...It was a no-brainer for KBS to choose him again. Oh absolutely yes, I remember our talking about CSJ, and the things you say all make sense so I can see why they did it. And of course he hasn't been in a new historical in quite a while--most people aren't rewatching series online like we do here--so it will be a big deal for a lot of people in the domestic audience. Fair enough. But I still don't like it for two reasons. One is the usual reason, I think these historical figures should stand out as individuals and not just as a bunch of characters to be played by the same guy. Acting in historicals may not appeal to everybody, but they went out and found a new guy to play Lee Bangwon and wow what a terrific job he did. Maybe this role is more demanding, more scenes outdoors on battlefields, or whatever...but it's too bad there won't be an opportunity for someone new as a lead to get this role. And two, if the writer is the same writer who did LBKT...that series absolutely loved to build up the hyper-dramatic one-on-one confrontations. And I've always found CSJ about as intimidating as a bunny rabbit, with those doe eyes and mild face he has. He just isn't the charismatic alpha-male type who I imagine a lot of these characters being in real history and who butted heads successfully with other alpha males. Maybe the confrontation side of LBKT was more the director's doing than the writer's doing...whatever, let's just say CSJ was a much better fit as Wang Guhn than he was as Dae Joyoung or Jang Bogo. The one thing that might help it work is that there are some similarities between Gamchan and Wang Guhn, in the sense of they both came from successful families and were more white-collar types instead of gaining power from being badass butt-kicking physically dominant warriors. If he does as well here as he's done as Wang Guhn then it will be okay. Actually if he weren't too old for the part, he'd be an interesting choice to play Hyeonjong. Too bad.
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Post by truth on Feb 21, 2023 14:18:29 GMT -5
...It was a no-brainer for KBS to choose him again. But I still don't like it for two reasons. One is the usual reason, I think these historical figures should stand out as individuals and not just as a bunch of characters to be played by the same guy. Acting in historicals may not appeal to everybody, but they went out and found a new guy to play Lee Bangwon and wow what a terrific job he did. Maybe this role is more demanding, more scenes outdoors on battlefields, or whatever...but it's too bad there won't be an opportunity for someone new as a lead to get this role. New guy was probably picked for LBW because CSJ doesn't fit the age range lol In all seriousness, CSJ usually does not play LBW-type of characters. All of the characters he plays are warrior-type of characters that spend most of their time on the battlefield as you mentioned. You may not like historical figures being played by the same guy, but that's not what the people making decisions think. Ratings are all that matters to them. Hiring a new guy is a big risk, especially for a time period that general public isn't normally used to. I think one of the reason it was possible to hire a new guy for LBW was that people are very familiar with the names and events from that timeline that it was actually ok to hire a new person. Most people aren't familar with history of Goryeo dynasty, however. As I mentioned the post above, the creators usually want to hire someone that people are most familiar with to draw ratings. For LBW, it was Kim Youngcheol, who was most famous for his role as Goongye. For this drama, they chose CSJ as the most familiar face. Other person they could've chosen is probably Yu Donggeun who played LSG in Jeong Dojeon. I honestly believe these were the only 2 choices for KBS to choose from with Kang Gamchan as the main character. If Kang Gamchan was a side character like he was in IE, they probably would've picked the same actor who played him in IE or maybe the actor who played Choi Young in Jeong Dojeon. And two, if the writer is the same writer who did LBKT...that series absolutely loved to build up the hyper-dramatic one-on-one confrontations. And I've always found CSJ about as intimidating as a bunny rabbit, with those doe eyes and mild face he has. He just isn't the charismatic alpha-male type who I imagine a lot of these characters being in real history and who butted heads successfully with other alpha males. Ironically, that's not what the Korean viewers think. Koreans view him as the most fitting actor to play charismatic general type of main characters hence the reason he keeps getting cast for such role over and over again. It's not just about looks, voice and tone of speech matter a lot for historicals as well. You don't go around speaking like you would speak in contemporary setting dramas in a historical. There is a specific tone of speech and voice required for historicals and CSJ is seen as the actor who does it most perfectly. I don't know if non-Korean speakers can tell the difference between the voice tone and speech used in historicals vs regular modern setting Korean dramas, but there's a huge, and I mean huuuuge difference. I read some comments on a Korean website about him being cast and the reaction is mostly very positive, calling him the GOAT of historicals for example.
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Post by sageuk on Feb 21, 2023 21:24:55 GMT -5
So far my biggest concern is how the show will look. I’m not talking about just the armor and the appearance of the Khitans, but I’m referring to that desaturated blueish tint you see in modern historicals, especially in the west. This series shares the same director as Imjin War 1592 which also had Choi Soojong, so I’m kinda concerned that will happen. LBW managed to avoid this problem
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Post by ajk on Feb 22, 2023 0:23:12 GMT -5
That all makes sense, and I do understand about the story of an unfamiliar time period and the risk that goes with it. Plus not just an unfamiliar period, but one with a lot of devastation to the country. Yeah there were great victories but even with them there was so much suffering and damage to the country. Not easy to sell viewers on that.
And yeah we'd like people to watch this series so the ratings are good and they continue to make more. So if it has to be this way then so be it. Just so they don't put him in a lot of one-on-one physical battles with guys who could clearly whup him but don't. That's a reasonable request, and it doesn't turn out well when they try it so please guys don't do it.
Actually I'm really looking forward to the series no matter who's in it because what we got of Hyeonjong during Iron Empress was a very interesting story.
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Post by sageuk on Feb 22, 2023 0:54:42 GMT -5
I wonder if we’ll be given some psychological focus on how Hyeonjong feels about his aunt trying to kill him.
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Post by truth on Feb 22, 2023 15:02:24 GMT -5
Just so they don't put him in a lot of one-on-one physical battles with guys who could clearly whup him but don't. I can already imagine him going on 1 vs 10 enemies like he did in DJY though lol I wonder who's going to play Hyeonjong. I'm assuming it'll be someone between 20 to mid-30s since Hyeonjong died before he turned 40.
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Post by sageuk on Feb 22, 2023 20:53:52 GMT -5
You think they still have the props for the spear carts?
Do you think the depiction of the Khitans will just be two dimensional evil? In fairness they are the invaders
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