It’s kinda nice that the unanimous fan pandemonium has dissipated since Choi Kang Hee was cast opposite Joo Won in the upcoming drama version of 7th Level Civil Servant (a remake of the movie version with Kim Ha Neul and Kang Ji Hwan, though the drama version went through multiple names such as The Secret Lovers and Secret Agent War before returning to the same movie name). Not that I think her casting has made more sense in the interim, but I was curious to see what the end result would be with such an unexpected pairing. My feeling that this looks like a crazy-ass casting debacle increased when 2PM‘s maknae Chansung was cast as the second male lead since he’s even younger than Joo Won. Then Kim Min Seo joined as the second female lead, and while I am fond of her and she was easily the best actress in The Moon Embraces the Sun, she is one of those actresses that actually looks more mature than her age.
As such, we have a drama with two female leads are that either older or look older than the two male leads, which appears to be a trend in K-dramas in recent years and show no signs of abating. The cast held their first script reading session and I must say I was pleasantly surprised by how everyone looked sitting next to each other. Choi Kang Hee looks pretty and fresh-faced as per her reputation in the industry for being a baby-face cutie, while both Joo Won and Chansung are giving off manly and mature vibes. This might actually work. The supporting cast actually looks quite sprawling and impressive so this drama clearly is being taken seriously. Choi Kang Hee expressed her excitement at taking on an action role in a thrilling type of drama, while Joo Won is very eager to work with a very seasoned group of sunbae actors. 7th Level premieres in January after Missing You on MBC. I’m relieved the network is following up a bona fide gutwrenching melodrama with something fun and lighthearted.
Still irked out by this pairing but I’m willing to overlook things for my precious Joo Won…
Side note: What the heck is going on with Chansung’s haircut? He looks like he’s script-reading for the wrong drama (he should probably be doing a musical of Grease with that hairdo)…
LOL….agreed about Chansung’s hair…
I’ll overlook this pairing for Joo Won as well 🙂
I just watched a Grease themed episode of Glee and when I saw Chansung’s hair that was my first thought too. LOL.
Me too!!! I was wondering what was with his hair, though I got more of a PaulyD vibe from it.
I dont dislike Joowon but its kinda tiring seeing him in 2-3 dramas a year. Give other actors some chance.
wow… nobody force you to watch his dramas….
Agree .. His acting isnt that great .. His face isnt that noticeable .. And he doesnt have the charisma of a star .. I think he’s a parachute
Who possesses those qualities you mentioned? I am new to kdrama, any recommendation?
younger actors: lee min ho, lee jun ki, park yoochun, jang geun suk, kim bum, yoo ah in, song joon ki
older: Hyun Bin, Won bin, Jung Woo Sung, Lee Byung Hun,Jang Hyuk … but these are like the Top of the top
LOL and why do you even read this post when he’s so unattractive to you? 😀 😀
There’s a reason why big productions choose him as a main lead.
Laugh My Head Off…..wait, you are serious? maybe I should stick to the older actors and Lee Jun Ki who I do not know.
What does it even mean to be a parachute? LOL. Beauty and charisma are in the eyes of the beholder.
I think Joo Won is a great, attractive actor. He will really shine for me if he can pull off this pairing. It’ll be a challenge. Even I am skeptical about this.
Yeah there are so many dramas without him. In the whole scheme of things. They get the parts by merit so yeah that wasn’t a nice thing to say.
Baker King- 2010
Ojakgyo Brothers- 2011-2012
Bridal Mask- 2012
And his new drama airs in 2013.
Hardly 3 dramas a year, jeez.
uhmm… again, each to his own. i super love joo won. i adore choi kang hee on PTB. and i am mainly watching this for joo won. 🙂 and every drama wit ahn nae sang is surely a good one. 🙂
She looks cute here but I still don’t buy it. She’s no Jang Nara…
I can’t stomach the pairing so I decided not to watch the drama, but I don’t see a point in constantly ranting about my feelings on the subject – I bet I am not alone and that is why pandemonium died down. I don’t think a lot of people suddenly saw the light about the casting.
Btw, I will never understand the kdrama obsession with noona love. I have nothing against older woman/younger man relationships, but the frequency this trope appears in kdrama world when a male lead is in his early to mid 20s is puzzling and a little off-putting. Give younger actresses a chance, kdramaworld. I mean, when I am pleasantly surprised by Can We Get Married for pairing Sung Joon with age-appropriate Jung So Min, you know things are off-kilter.
I am a big Joo Woo fan, think he is one of the young rising stars….BUT fearful that Korean movies and TV are going the way of the US. The US now seems to only cater to the teen/young adult crowd. Seldom if ever, do they produce a TV or movie for adults. America like Korea has a treasure trove of wonderful older actor’s who are not used. Come on folks, most real life super spies would not be 24 years old…they would be seasoned…I have yet to see a babied faced Secret Service Agent, Mossad Agent and even 007’s James Bond is a wordly older man. Still venting think this pairing is one of Kdrama’s worst casting calls.
I think they did try to cast older – Kim Nam Gil and Lee Dong Gun supposedly turned the drama down and they are both 30+. (Which makes sense, as Kang Ji Hwan was 30+ when he starred in the original movie). I think this drama might have been a case of ‘let’s see who we can get and tailor accordingly’ after their first few offers fell through. It might have been the case that they could not find anyone who was a big enough name in the 30+ range who was available and willing to do this drama (Also, the fact that two actors turned it down does not make me particularly confident about this drama at all).
This said, I think plenty of 30+ kdrama actors get starring roles all the time. I think it’s when you hit 40+ that roles start drying up unless you are Jang Dong Gun or Lee Byung Hun (I mean leading roles in dramas).
Bingo… you don’t always get to cast the actors that you envisioned in a particular role and it’s obvious this story was tweaked to explain the mismatched lead pair.
I’m honestly not looking forward to this, still can’t stomach the pair.however, I’m willing to give the first couple of episodes a try. And I agree with the overuse of noona love. There are good actors of the same age in Korea, plenty of them, why then does 1/3 of the stories out there have some form of noona love. I’m not against it, but honestly its just getting tiring.
When this drama starts I’m going to watch the first few episodes to see how the chemistry is between Joo Won and Choi Kang Hee before deciding whether to stick with it or jump ship. I can’t wait for Missing You to end (the plot is just way to melodrama for me) and for this drama to start airing because it feels like I haven’t watched a good romantic comedy K-drama in a while.
Don’t shoot me, but I totally think JW was miscast. I know the story is tailored towards both of the leads but I agree with those who said that it’s hard to believe that someone so young could have that kind of experience that would makes sense in L7CS, a spy series. I understand that the story is now different, but what I thought really worked well in the original was that the two leads were will matched professionally and thus the hi-jinks that followed were funny since they knew each other personally. Anyhow, I think the current pairing will work with the new story-line. I hope it turns out well. Fighting! Sometimes the most unexpected pairings, turn out to be super amazing.
I’m still a fan of noona stories, but I do agree that we seem to be getting an overabundance of them lately. I am far more irritated though by stories that wind up as noona romances simply due to strange casting decisions (Faith, Personal Taste, Me Too, Flower, Missing You, MGIAG). It irritates me the other way around too (Tree with Deep Roots, the upcoming Jeon Woo Chi, and probably Five Fingers which I never watched partly for that reason).
I just HATE it when the production doesn’t make any effort to address a looming age gap and we’re meant to just sit back and pretend that they’re all the same age even though one of them is clearly much younger. I suppose it’s good that they’re making some effort to address that in the story here, but I’m not a fan of either actor.
Love Joo Won!!! His drama rating never below top 5 from Baker King-Kim Tak Goo, Ojakgyo Brothers, and Bridal Mask. So his action louder than his word, meaning…he proved he could act well otherwise he will not be in the drama for 2 or 3 times in a year plus his drama rating will be bad.
Personally I don’t think JW is miscast. He was offered the role way back when bridal mask started airing. He was the productions’ first choice. They waited till he finish bridal mask and only then JW confirmed the role. His role was intended to be a rookie in the very first place. I don’t really favor CKH initially but looking at the stills I think this pairing might just work 🙂 she looks so fresh face and pretty too. MBC did not managed to get JW in TMTETS so looking at the success of bridal mask and JW’s excellent acting they were eager to cast him. I will definitely be watching this drama and rooting for Joo won!
i second u, @Liss@, MBC failed to get JW for TMTETS coz OJAKYO-KBS add 8 more episode, n almoust failed again coz BM-KBS also add 4more episode. But MBC willing to queque and maintain JW as the lead male. It mean JW definitely not miscast. Love JW, chic, polite n humble.