Everything about Iron Man gives off the whiff of something wrong cooking. KBS tried desperately to lure Ji Sung to the project after he delivered unexpected success with the melodrama Secret (Secret Love) but alas it was a no go. Then KBS admitted it was in talks with the unearthed overacting relic that is Park Shin Yang and even he passed on the project. With just four weeks left until Iron Man premieres, this weekend is a do-or-die moment for this project and the last minute acceptance by Lee Dong Wook to be the titular Iron Man means this drama is a definite go now. I’m surprised Lee Dong Wook has the stomach and stamina to dive right back into a drama filming considering he just wrapped 32-episodes worth of the makjang weekend melodrama Hotel King and is still filming the reality show Roommates. With Lee Dong Wook’s casting and the still signed on involvement of Shin Se Kyung as the leading lady, reportedly Iron Man will blast off into filming ASAP.
The more I read about Iron Man the more I’m convinced this drama has actual supernatural elements and the male lead sprouting knives from his body isn’t just metaphorical for extreme emotional pain. Lee Dong Wook’s character is named Joo Hong Bin and is a typical K-drama rich handsome perfect man (rolls eyes). He thinks the world revolves around him and has a sharp tongue and finicky personality, but all of that changes when something happens which causes him extreme emotional trauma and leads to knives coming out of his body. This condition has been described as either a supernatural ability and/or disease and frankly I’d go for disease unless he used the ability as a power to fight crime. Shin Se Kyung plays Song Hae Kyo a meddlesome girl with a warm personality who interferes in the leading man’s life and through love helps to heal him. I can tell you that Lee Dong Wook fans, as much as they want to see him onscreen, do not want him to take this drama and are overwhelmingly meh on Shin Se Kyung.
Let’s start getting a taste of the two modes of Lee Dong Wook in Iron Man. This drama will clearly have an abundance of shirtless Lee Dong Wook scenes since them knives are sprouting from his body and all. Plus there is bound to be angry-horrified emoting from Lee Dong Wook (as sampled below from Hotel King) because he’s so emotionally traumatized and all. Iron Man may be a treasure mine for even more dramatic and shirtless Lee Dong Wook screencaps then ever before seen in any other drama of his.
As for Shin Se Kyung, playing a plucky character here may help make her acting less annoying. I swear in Fashion King and When a Man Loves anytime she appeared I just wanted her face to do something other than look like a constipated sourpuss. I wonder if she’s just like Jin Se Yeon, a very limited actress but if she plays a character I actually like (like Jin Se Yeon did in Age of Feeling and Dr. Stranger) then I’ll find her bearable?
Watching this for Dong Wook’s shirtless and scarred body scenes
Aaaaah the famous shinless chick! I feel nothing, nada, zilch in any rail she has played. I do love Mr. Gorgeous. <3
*role*
This is an example where I wouldn’t mind if idol singers take her role instead. Imagine if Sooyoung or Uee is cast instead.
She looks a little like Gong Li in that picture..but of course shes no where near her in actual acting prowness or charisma
honestly speaking i hated her character in Fashion king and when a man loves, i thought it had something to do with her paying annoying roles but then i realise its just that face…no malicious intended she pretty but she gives off that annoying look that just irks me
Pass.
I won’t bother watching. Just will wait for the gif… of his shirtless scenes of course.
The main female lead- oh man, if miracles happen and she can suddenly emote then I might watch.
Otherwise the knives sprouting out of his body might head in her direction.
so her character’s name sounds just like….Song Hye Kyo?!
SSK and warm personality don’t seem to fit……at all
Shin se kyung is such a turn of for me, never enjoyed her dramas. Lee dong wook on the other hand is yummy! The storyline does not sound promising.
Pass. i wonder how shin se kyung keeps getting lead roles?
I didn’t see Fashion King or When a Man Loves, but I thought she was fine in Tree with Deep Roots (her character didn’t have to talk and didn’t have to show much emotion, so maybe that’s why it worked).
Yes, I liked her in Tree With Deep Root. So I’m a little surprised to hear she wasn’t good in FK or WaML (not that the bar was that high in either of those dramas). But you’re right. Her character was mute for more than half the series and mostly all she had to do was look worried and upset the whole time… But it sounds like that’s her natural expression! So maybe what I saw as good acting was dumb luck!
Ughh..I stomached Hotel King to the bitter end to see Lee Dong Wook and Lee Dae Hee work together again but I don’t think I can take any more bad writing. Knives literally growing out of the body, super plucky heroine? Really? Unless they can bring back Stanley Kubrick from the dead to write script, I have a hard time believing this is gonna be worth my time.
Is it me or the prime picture of this article looks as if LDW had brown shoe polish smears all over his body
My first reaction reading that Shin Se Kyung was in this: OH NO…
I don’t want to comment on her acting, but I rather talk about the fact that her last two dramas end up being bad dramas…. =_= At least Jin Se Yeon’s dramas are actually pretty decent (imo) regardless of her acting.
At the end, for this time slot drama.. the drama with best acting will goes to ‘the spring days of my life’.. Iron Man seems going to flop and My Lovely Girl casting seems really off with tons of meh-acting idols..
i will watch iron man only because i am a lee dong wook fan. just love everything about him. hope this becomes a success no matter who the leading lady is..anyways i don’t care about the leading lady… it’s only dong wook that i am interested in! btw, i love hotel king only because of dong wook and his tandem with da hae. i actually enjoyed watching it!
I want Lee Da Hae to be his leading lady. She is more talented rather than Shin Se Kyung…Ive never enjoyed watching this lady on her Korean Dramas. I love the love team of Lee Dong Wook and Lee Da Hae.. 🙁
she was OK in the Deep Rooted Tree…. but that’s how her face is and I think this drama specifically asked her to be the leading female because 1. not many actress want to take the role 2. her expresionless face is important to make male lead role more bold.
I just watched the 2 eps of this drama. I love it! Can’t wait for the next 2 eps to come out.
hope they together in real life. Love both of them