Park Shin Hye is Pinocchio and Awaits Her Maybe Leading Man Lee Jong Seok
I can’t say this news surprising but it’s a nice way to start September with confirmed drama casting on a highly anticipated upcoming project. A week after reports surfaced that Park Shin Hye was in talks to headline the SBS drama Pinocchio, she’s been confirmed today as the leading lady. This was the drama that very publicly courted Kim Woo Bin first months ago so it makes me sad that Park Shin Hye signing on only happened after Kim Woo Bin passed. I don’t particularly have a pressing need to see them do another drama together, but her chemistry with him in Heirs was the best part of her performance in that drama. Plus there are so many second lead shippers from the drama I’m clamoring for their characters to have gotten together over the wet blanket main romance.
Park Shin Hye likely won’t have to wait long to get her Pinocchio leading man as SBS has been in talks with Lee Jong Seok to do the drama. If he accepts it’ll be his third SBS drama in a row following I Hear Your Voice and Dr. Stranger. Pinocchio also comes from the PD-screenwriter team behind I Hear Your Voice so I’m actually surprised they didn’t make a beeline for Lee Jong Seok first. I have no problem if he accepts, I now like him after Dr. Stranger and judging from his CF endorsement pictures for Jambangee at least we know he will look great opposite Park Shin Hye. Pinocchio is a newspaper industry based drama about a bunch of eager young reporters covering city and societal news. Park Shin Hye’s character is described as straightforward and righteous but suffers from a condition where she hiccups whenever she tells a lie. I call it now – at some point during the drama there will be a male lead initiated hiccup-stopping kiss to avoid revealing a lie at a critical moment.
At least with Park Shin Hye as the female lead, if Lee Jong Seok is cast there won’t be another redux of the ridiculous and incessant second female lead shipping that defied all narrative within the drama and frankly was the worst fan-led case of beating a dead horse ever. I like Lee Jong Seok but hated how his solid chemistry with all his female leads can sometimes lead to tone deaf audience feedback from a vocal portion that clings to shipping over just sitting the hell back and enjoying the story as the writer intended. I seriously do not have the patience to deal with another DS. Park Shin Hye’s casting is right up SBS’s alley as the network revealed that she was their number one choice for the role and are thrilled she accepted. Pinocchio will take over the Wed-Thurs time slot in November from My Lovely Girl with Rain and Krystal.
i’m so happy she accept the role..i hope her character is different from her last drama..i know she could play hot and sexy..i really anticipating this drama
… reading the description of the role, I’d say there’s a 95% chance that it won’t be hot or sexy.
I’m just gonna say it’ll probably a 50/50 of straightforward betch and shy it’ll probably like her role in Heartstrings if not a bit more fiesty I’m hoping for something less shy though! but I agree with Rina nothing hot and sexy about reporters and hiccups! 😛
Yay so excited! Sad Kim Woo Bin passed it on though!
They probably didn’t go for Lee Jong Suk first because Park Hye Ryun is contracted with Kim Woo Bin’s agency Sidus… it’s kind of interesting that Sidus will now only be represented by Lee Yoo Bi amongst the leads.
Ahhh, totally forgot this was a Sidus financed project. Then yes, Woo Bin first before all else. I love Lee Yoo Bi, she would be great to add on for this cast.
The fact is Wellmade is trying to repair the
damage that SidusHQ did by at first insinuating
that Woobin was the first choice for the role.
This caused negative feelings in the production
team (who had other people, including
Jongsuk, in mind).
The term they used is ‘settling on a stance’.
They hope to make it clear for Jongsuk’s sake
that he didn’t ‘take’ the role from anyone. (I
try not to get into this pre-production drama,
but I hope it doesn’t affect whether Jongsuk
would take the role or not. I would really want
him to work with IHYV’s staff again…)
P.S. The response on the Naver post for PSH’s
confirmation seem to be positive so far. They
say she is pretty and acts well. 🙂
woobin is not their first choice.
@dal, casting usually goes several rounds, so what is the big deal with LJS? even he isnt the 1st choice ( but his fans do not say so), as long as he does the role well, no one cares he is the 2nd or 3rd choice for that matter.
@2hr I just want to make it clear, anyway just be calm and be cool. but you’ve got that right he needs to give justice for the sake of dramaland.
I have been waiting for this. This is her chance to shine and prove for haters wrong.
Her major fault is that she keep picking bad project so with this production, at least we have hopes
I did not like this news, I like Shin Hye and despite what many think I think it’s a good actress, with a very bad drama ‘heirs’, but … this does not look very different from his previous roles again the beautiful and tender girl, I would like to explore more other roles, go the girl is beautiful and gorgeous, her last pictorial were amazing and … does not advance in their roles as good little girl, with that visual long ago would have played a role that would highlight their acting skills
I know a lot of people would disagree with me seeing how big Park Shin Hye’s fanbase is but I feel like she never has really good chemistry with any of her co-stars. My opinion is subjective of course but out of all her dramas I think her chemistry with Yoon Shi Yoon was the best in FBND. She always looks good with her co-stars but I’ve never crazily shipped her with one. But who knows, maybe her and Lee Jong Suk will surprisingly have good chemistry?
Lee Jong Suk may be the one who can pull the loving emotion out of PSH.
well clearly many people don’t agree with you since she has so many strong ships…
The are many kind of chemistry. Chemistry is also objective so what you see might not be what people see thou.
I came across this YT yesterday, and for me, you can’t say PSH doesn’t have chemistry with her coleads.
She prob doesn’t offer the kind of chemistry you are looking for yet
I meant this http://www.youtube.com/user/MissCinemaObsessive/videos
A lot of people agree with you actually. She has almost zero chemistry with her male leads and is typecast as the ‘good little girl’. I’m wondering if she would ever take a role that is edgier and quite frankly bad, just to stretch herself a bit.
she did… you just never watched it
LOL. Yeah, you’re right on. I totally disagree with you. Glad we understand each other.
Come now koala unnie, don’t diss on the second lead shippers – you did it yourself during I Miss You because you liked the actor, even though it was also a terrible drama it was clear that Harry was unhinged and obsessive even as a child and in kdramas, otp always =first leads. I didn’t like either female lead in DS but one of them was a 1000xbetter actress so I can see how the shipping happened.
Also, “I like Lee Jong Suk”…..words I never thought I would read on this blog! You said it before but I’m always surprised lol. I don’t love PSH but I’m curious to see how they lookk as otp. At least she’s a better actress than his last leading lady even if that is not saying much.
LOL, I second lead ship ALL THE TIME. But the particular DS experience was truly horrendous in how the shipping took over all discussions of the drama narrative and was an ad nauseum attack on the female lead’s character and/or acting combined with complete disregard for how the story was actually developing. Second lead shipping is fine, being passionate is great, but doing so in a negative and combative way in DS was what made the ship unhinged for me in the extreme manifestation of the behavior.
Heh I only remebered IMY because it was in the banner when I wrote my comment.
Dr Stranger was an all round horrible experience, both as a viewer and while reading recaps – its not like the other side shippers is innocent either since I’ve observed a certain actress’ fans personally attacking commenters here and on other sites, on unrelated posts, for expressing negative views on their bias. Really off-putting imo (and not your fault at all, just pointing out that irrationality exists on both sides)
The kiss may stop the hiccup but will it stop her from
1. opening her eyes wide as saucers?
2. looking like a fish ate her lips?
3. cringing like Ellen Ripley in her close encounter with the Alien?
Lee Jong Seok, it’s all up to you now. Break the curse!
Ahahahahaha, okay you totally took my snark and raised it a million times better. *wipes away tears*
I love this comment so much, I will I wrote it myself.
The thing is that no matter what anyone might think of Lee Jong Seok, he is an excellent screen kisser, so if any kissing fails . . .
People also say Minho is the best kisser…but if ShinHye kisses better this time round all credits must go to Minho…haha.
I snorted at this one
I would settle for them having chemistry and my not ending up shipping Lee Yubi/ Lee Jong Suk instead. Or even no kiss scenes intead of dead fish ones.
Are you the one who always mention kiss screen and dead fish in most of the comments on PSH?
Is really kind of weird option!!!
@JJ – the words “dead fish” are used by a looot of people to describe PSH in kiss scenes. Don’t get all bent out of shape about it.
I really dislike people who focus on kiss scenes instead of the drama’s content, but I kinda like you coz you watch her dramas. I think I like to feel thankful instead of dissing on people, which include the blogger.
She bores me as an actress so I’m honestly not too excited. The premise of the show is a bit silly but doesn’t hold a candle to Iron Man. I hope it ends up being good of course, always happy to have another drama to enjoy and obsess over.
I honestly thought her performance was mediocre when she was acting heirs. I like park shin bye but I haven’t seen a drama of hers that had me going crazy over the pairing.
I don’t know… I thought she did a good job in Flower Boy Next Door. Maybe that’s just me 😉
I love Flower Boy Next Door too!! *hugs*
what can she do it the role suck? if you recalled, all ES did was crying and being dragged around… And KES is known for poor-written leading ladies
It’s not her fault to do what the script ask her to do.
Actor can only do so much
what can she do if the role sucked?* typo
I think it’s way too fast for Lee Jong-seok. I’m not sure if I want to see him again this quickly.
Excuse me…did I read it correctly!! “Iron Man”!!!!
It was a reply to Deb’s comment.. 😉
Yes Iron Man which is a superhero-esque drama, but the main character actually sounds more like Wolverine than Iron Man from Marvel lore….
Whatever it is, it sounds downright crazy and it has the chin-less wonder in it also….
What a trainwreck waiting to happen. Can’t wait to hear how crazy it is.
lol I wish she said no. I was hopping to see a fresh actress in a role like this.
Me too! Or just someone else who’s talented and not so popular. But I guess ratings count in casting decisions (sigh).
Yeah, because you guys know better than the writer and PD who had her in mind when writing the script.
They have been giving love call to her since April…
It’s your opinion that she isn’t talented but surely not the production who, in this case, believe her capability and talent.
As for refreshing, LJS just finished DS and was in IHYV but you have no complain over him I see… It’s always the girl who get stupid hate
No. No. Park Shin Hye is popular but her casting doesn’t ensure high ratings. I know coz I’m her fan.
A wild guess: they cast her because people talk about her. See how much people talk when she’s cast in a drama. Even this blog gets a lot of comments when her name is mentioned in an article.
yay another drama to watch out for.I loved her since YAB.I remember seeing a CF with JGS where they have to kiss…. that aint bad.I hope to see a different role this time around
Being a popular child actress, they live a very protected and sheltered life. As any news of romance in her life is not a risk her Agency will accept. Thus I dont think PSH has not had a proper real life romance before. Thus she looks shy and quite cold acting those roles. I What are all your thoughts on this?
I’m in’! They are both my favorite actor/actress!
thanks Koala ^__^
Seems to be a challenging role. Do well shin hye. I m looking forward.^^
I am looking forward to this drama bcuz I am confident she can deliver. Like the saying goes “if you dont try, you never know”. PSH, show the world and prove them WRONG..
I believe park shin hye can do better than you all expect
And this drama will prove it