Okay, this has now officially become the worst K-drama casting week in recent memory, stinking up the joint with a series of out-of-the-blue and inexplicable lead casting that has now reached gender balanced levels. On the heels of MBC‘s big budget Kill Me Heal Me casting rookie Lim Ji Yeon (and not a good actress in her rookie outing to boot) as the female lead opposite Lee Seung Gi, ratings loser KBS is following suit with the risky casting choices and placing all its big hopes on one very slender and wispy set of shoulders.
The highly touted KBS saving star upcoming drama Blood, from the production team behind the hit Good Doctor, has landed on rising young actor (and model) Ahn Jae Hyun as the male lead playing the role of a vampire doctor. Come again? Ahn Jae Hyun went from unknown to on the map due to the fun role of Jeon Ji Hyun‘s little brother in You From Another Star and he followed that up with a decent sized ensemble role in You’re All Surrounded and a supporting role in the movie Fashion King. Let me just say for the record – I like Ahn Jae Hyun well enough but he is nowhere near leading man caliber yet in either acting skills or onscreen charisma.
Might I also remind that Blood has been through the public casting news cycle two potential leading men already in Yoo Yeon Seok (a rising talented young actor with much critical acclaim) and Jung Il Woo (inconsistent but when he’s on then he’s mesmerizing). To go from Yoo Yeon Seok to Jung Il Woo now to Ahn Jae Hyun, who hasn’t even been a true second male lead in any drama yet (whether prime time, weekend, or even daily!), strikes me as more troubling than bizarre.
It basically hints that something is really bad with the script (or the entire production) that the first two guys ultimately passed and the only leading man the production can get to accept is a still newbie-ish actor like Ahn Jae Hyun. Granted he’s very very popular this year, but popular does not leading man ready make. I think looks-wise he’s the extreme end of the recent asexual Korean pretty flower boy trend and looks about as plausible a male lead only if the drama is set in high school and/or the modeling industry. Blood follows Healer on KBS Mon-Tues come February 2015.
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He has the look, but he can't act and is kind of devoid of charisma. Such a weird choice.
Hmmnn I am shocked at this. I was super happy when Yoo Yeon Seok's name got thrown in this drama all because it is his time to get the lead role, and the production team sounded solid enough.
with the change to JIW I was still happy, I might not have liked NMJ, but I love Jung Il Woo.
but now Jae Hyun, now that is a bummer. He is likeable enough but I agree with Ms.koala he is no where near leading man zone. He could pull off a few happy and comedic antics but BLOOD sounds like a drama or suspense to me and I feel like he can't full it off.
I can name a few more actors who can pull off this drama, even from the new and upcoming model-turned-actors. I think those that are free for projects are Sung Joon, Yoo Min Kyu, or Hong Jong Hyun, Seo Kang Joon and Park Sae Joon
This is just such a bummer... I guess there really is something with the prod/script that it can't hold a better actor to this drama...
I am not upset with the casting per se. But with 2 actors openly rejecting or the production team let it be known that it was rejected twice; I actually feel sorry for him.
Hope the drama pans out for him because otherwise he would landed himself into a stinker.
popularity wise,i wouldnt say hes very popular.as least KWB is more popular than him 10x,acting wise and chrisma wise too.i like the guy as a person but acting wise,he sure needs a lot of pratice there.well,i wish him luck.least they can do is give him a better female lead
So much no. He has a narrow acting range and a lead role will make it so obvious. I wish him the best but my expectations are officially at zero
KBS must have lost their marbles.
Sometimes I think he looks very awkward/lost onscreen like he doesn't know quite what he's doing. I don't think acting is his calling tbh. He is cute but that's all he really has going for him. Was there really no one else available?
That was one of my issues with him in YAAS. He was passable when he was working one on one with someone (mostly Park Jung-min who was excellent), but if he was in he was in a big group or alone he always looked like he didn't know what he should be doing.
FWIW, the 30 year old "rising young actor" Yoo Yeon Seok is 3.5 years OLDER than Jung Il Woo, is he not?
I watched ManStar till the end and the beginning of YAAS (dropped that one): I couldn't remember what character he played which means acting range & acting weren't there. He doesn't have an edgy/dark side to play a doc either: Really a flower boy clone... *Bites fingers*. I like this writer a lot but i'm worried. :/
I meant acting range & *charisma.
I'm shocked as well. I'm not trying to sound like a credible drama/movie critic but for a typical kdrama viewer, he's not yet ready. I agree with everything Miss K said. If they're really going for model-actors, they could've chosen Woob or some of his best buddies (Young Kwang, Soo Hyuk) if he's too busy. Anyway, if this is final, all the best to them then.
Park Seo Joon and Seo Kang Joon are far better actors and are still relegated to second lead roles at times, lame! I'd any young rising star were to headline, it should have been them. I was really excited for Jung Il Woo too, but maybe it's best for him to review better scripts than jump into something right away. Good luck Ahn and Blood!
With such casting news it makes it seem like there's a serious lack of capable actors. Not that AJH will be definitely bad in this role but it's very surprising indeed.
Except that there are more than a handful of capable actors who have been in second lead territory for too long. Kim Jae Wok?
Exactly what I meant by 'makes it seems like', despite there being many capable actors and actresses out there.
One thing I'm glad for is Kim So Eun getting her break in Liar Game though even she could do with more range.