It’s probably pure happenstance that one big-budget sageuk K-movie wrapped filming the exact same time another big-budget sageuk K-movie started filming. Hopefully the premiere dates won’t be in direct competition because I’m sure there’s enough audience members fans of each cast to go around. The Royal Tailor (Sanguiwon) starring Han Suk Kyu, Go Soo, Park Shin Hye, Yoo Yeon Suk, Lee Yu Bi, and Ma Dong Suk has been filming since early Spring so right on time the hardworking cast and crew celebrated the wrap of filming and released the first peek at the leads in costume. Han Suk Kyu plays an established royal tailor in competition with upstart young genius clothing maker played by Go Soo, and the two of them end up making clothes for the King played by Yoo Yeon Seok while Park Shin Hye is his Queen along with Lee Yu Bi as a royal consort. Apparently there is palace intrigue involved and I sure hope the heck the competitive art of making clothing can be made exciting to watch onscreen.

While The Royal Tailor has packed up and gone home, the other heavy weight cast of the sageuk movie Sado starring Song Kang Ho, Yoo Ah In, Moon Geun Young, Kim Hae Sook, and Park Won Sang kicked off its Summer-long filming. This one dramatizes the true Joseon historical records around Crown Prince Sado and his death after being locked in a chest for eight days. Song Kang Ho is King Yeonjo, Yoon Ah In is Crown Prince Sado, and Moon Geun Young plays his wife Lady Hyegyeong. The official records claim that Crown Prince Sado was a sadistic rapist that finally got what he deserved after even his father the King and his mother Lady Yi could not allow him to continue his destructive ways. An alternate theory postulates that Crown Prince Sado was framed and was a victim of political intrigue to remove him from power so he could not become the next King. Both movies look dense and dark but I’m keeping on eye on them since both casts are totally my catnip.