PD Kwak of Chuno and Conspiracy in the Court Returns with tvN Period Drama Basketball
There is an upcoming cable network K-drama that flitted into my consciousness this week and honest to god perked me up. Call this lust appreciation at first sight, because I know nothing about Do Ji Han, the rising young actor and leading man in the tvN sports and patriotism themed Basketball, but smoking hot meatballs is he insanely good looking. Of course, knowing my track record, he’ll turn out to be a deadly dull actor onscreen. But if he can actually act, then I’m in for a potentially fantastic drama in Basketball. One of my favorite PDs in Yeouido is Kwak Jung Hwan, who is not prolific by any measure of most PDs output but has seriously made a mark in the industry. His debut drama was the exquisite and utterly underrated Conspiracy in the Court (Seoul’s Sad Song), and after helming a segment of Hometown of Legends, he was the man behind the camera for the devastating and explosive Chuno. Sadly his follow up Fugitive: Plan B was too big budget and stupid to ever work, but he tried and likely came away with the realization that he needed to go back to his indie roots. That’s where the upcoming Basketball comes in, the drama headlines a slew of relative unknowns from Do Ji Han as a country bumpkin, Jung Dong Hyun as a established basketball wunderkind, first time actress Elliya Lee as a rich girl reporter, and Ye Eun of the Wonder Girls as a maid and confidante. Apparently Lee Jung Jin will be making a cameo as well after working with PD Kwak in Fugitive. The story is set in the 1940s and 50s going from the tail end of the Japanese colonization of Korea to when the Korean Olympic basketball team went to the quarterfinals at the 1948 Olympics, and thereafter war broke out in the peninsula and there was never a unified Korean basketball team again. The drama has been filming since early June and will be almost completely pre-filmed when it premieres in September on tvN. I love period dramas, I love basketball, I love PD Kwak, and I love how beautiful Do Ji Han’s profile is. I am totally in, baby!
The cast was at a charity basketball tournament recently and it gives us a glimpse at how believable the two male leads will be at playing basketball. My verdict? Not so good at the basketball, but not bad at looking good while holding a ball.
It’s ridiculou how pumped I am for this drama. Basketball and Reply 1994 are the only ones I’m looking forward to for the rest of the year.
*pleasedontsuckpleasedontsuckpleasedontsuck*
Thanks for the update!!
I hope they realize the premiere date soon. I’ve been wanting to mark this properly in my calendar for the past few weeks although I speculate this will be the follow-up to Who Are You. Do Ji Han is still quite green for me based on what I saw in Incarnation of Money. I can’t understand Korean so I have no idea how he delivers his lines but his eyes have this same expression almost all the time. We’ll let’s see if he improves. He’s always been in minor roles so being the lead might bring more out of him.
It premieres 23rd of September :’)
I am literally dying waiting for this to air. It sounds fantastic and I love PD Kwak’s work (Fugitive: Plan B suffered from awful writing and mediocre acting, but it was still gorgeous to look at). The plot sounds so interesting (lol never thought I would say that about any kdrama plot considering how repetitive and lame they are these days) and I love the period too. I’m glad they’ve filmed as much as they can before they air it, hopefully we’ll get a high quality product if there are no live shoots. I wish we could get a trailer soon!!
Also – damn, Do Ji Han’s bone structure is amazing. I hope he has the chops. *fingers crossed*
He is rather dull but precious and endearing. Which should be enough to evoke some emotional connections to his character.
Been looking forward to this. Not interested in sport dramas but hopefully I can set that aside given its period setup and premise.
Lol@ “rather dull but precious and endearing”.
I totally agree. Still a little wet around the ears but he’s definitely endearing and leaves a good, strong impression, I liked him a lot in Incarnation of Money *sob*, and even in his minor role in WISFC.
Do Ji-Han reminds me of Lee Yeong-Hoon (No Regrets) as they seem to give the same vibes.
The guys looks a little like Chen Kun and the girl a little like Ady An…or is it just me?
I was thinking the same thing about the resemblence to Chen Kun. Something about the eyes I think.
So shallow. I’m gonna have to “mine” Jung Seung-kyo, the hawt bearded guy in a sweaty T. Rawrrr.
oh my god, this man really cute xD
Let’s talk about the elephant in the room…that Do Ji Han is a dead ringer for Won Bin. I’ve nicknamed him Won Bin’s baby brother.
*Sigh* Maybe a miracle happens every 20 years that produces replicas of these gorgeous men. Look at him!
http://koreanvibe.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/do-ji-han.jpg