The casting silence from upcoming SBS Mon-Tues drama Chaebol’s Daughter (True Romance) can best be described as a difficult labor. Having casting problems is nothing new in drama land, whether lately or even in the early days, what surprises is purely that it’s this particular drama. Chaebol’s Daughter comes from the production team of One Warm Word, a drama that garnered decent ratings and even better critical and popular feedback when it aired. Sure it was a drama about adultery (and I didn’t watch) but whatever the production team did in handling the subject matter didn’t misfire with the audience.
That its followup drama is about a chaebol heiress going undercover as a poor Candy to find true love seems the stuff of drama dreams, nothing too testy about the subject matter and rife with rich-poor issues to mine. Alas the drama is supposed to air in June after Heard it Through the Grapevine and still no leading lady, not since a month ago when Moon Geun Young was offered the role and turned it down. Now there is a new name being bandied about behind the scenes – newcomer actress Lim Ji Yeon who made her debut in adult rated adultery movie Obsessed.
Lim Ji Yeon isn’t the only new name unofficially attached to this cast, perpetual second male lead Lee Sang Woo is also reportedly going to join and reunite with his One Warm Word production team. I don’t even think Lee Sang Woo is playing the second male lead this time around, as that role has already gone to Park Hyung Sik, while Sung Joon is in talks for the male lead. Lee Sang Woo has been added to the official drama website while Lim Ji Yeon’s name is the one most often heard associated with this drama in recent weeks. Not sure if either of these will pan out but I enjoy getting early information to mull over even if it later falls through. I’m not as adverse to Lim Ji Yeon doing this drama as I was with her being offered the female lead in Kill Me Heal Me many months back. I still think she’s a total charisma suck and a limited new actress but this role seems less demanding and if the network wants her then be my guest.
I’m worried about Sung joon this time also. He has talent. But he never get a chance to shine. I don’t know about this actress at all. She is so green. Is she a good actress? I hope other actresses like Baek jin hee or jung so min as female lead.
Both are not interesting to me so if they will confirm i’ll pass this.
But if sung joon confirms..
well that’s another story but still i’m not crazy about this actress (never saw her and didn’t watch obsessed yet).
I hope Sung joon will turn down it. I think this is not a right choice to save him from HJM’s slump. He needs a good drama with a decent actress.
I hope for that too. he deserves something better than that..i prefera cable drama than that uninteresting plot.
They have only 6 weeks before this drama premieres, they need to cast soon. If they are going to cast Lim Ji Yeon then I hope her acting is up to scratch, otherwise I really wish they would give someone with talent the chance.
Is LJY not talented enough to be in a kdrama? I thought she got an award nomination for her very first movie and has been acknowledged in film festivals worldwide. I have not watched “Obsessed” yet but I’ve read some reviews about the film and the performances of the two actresses in particular which have been quite memorable ( maybe the opposite of SSH’s? I don’t have a clue!)…
I watched the movie and I seriously don’t get how she won those awards. For real, I didn’t expect anything from her and just wanted to see if Knetz were too harsh as usual but gosh’, she was so bad. Like really bad. At first, I thought her character was like that but during the whole movie, she had that weird tone in her voice. Like it was super flat without any emotions. She basically seemed like she was reading her lines. Don’t ever get me started on her expressions, she was like a blank paper. And her moaning in the sex scenes … I am not an expert at all but dayum, it was awkward and cringe worthy –‘
You can watch Obsessed in You Tube channel. It’s free. I did it. The story is meh. The leads have no expression AT ALL. I didn’t get why she got an award for that. Like, I don’t understand at all. Sometimes how those actors got awards should be questioned. But yeah, who are we to judge. But for me, her actings is still NO. Korea still has many young talented actors but lack publicity or from small companies. Take example Park Bo Young, Lee Min Ho (younger one), Esom (the one that played with Jung Woo Sung), Go Ah Sung and so on. IMO, it seems some of big agencies try to get their idols/ actors the roles maybe through their involvement as the sponsorship to the drama/ movie team productions.
i only care about Sang Woo but what not even second lead ?
I don’t why these comments only target mostly female leads but to be honest a shows success has nothing to do with acting anymore but more so popularity. example PSH has alot of hype and fanbase and for her to do a successful show she needs a popular partner to do good ratings since her fans will do the job internationally but not locally so her being paired with a non-famous actor will see failure in ratings regardless of his veteran acting. but her being paired with lets just say KSH then you got yourself a guaranteed megahit and also the concept as to be right and fitting not just some random saguek and for these who wants to build a name needs to start picking the right manuscripts and aviod mistakes while choosing. something eye catching is necessary to begin with.
Thank you,I was shaking my head while scrolling down the comments. I honestly don’t know this actress’s ability and she could be horrible for all I know but I’ve watched SJ and his acting was laughable to me so to act like he’s this amazing actor who’s gonna be stuck with a below par actress is stupid.
I’ve been interested in the premise of the show, so will watch. The addition of Lee Sang Woo definitely is a plus. Loved him in Life is Beautiful. Started One Warm Word but dropped it. I just didn’t care about any of the characters. Plus, being a married woman, couldn’t take the topic of adultery.
Here’s hoping Chaebol’s Daughter is good
So true! No woman should ever have a career in dramas, even if she has successfully started from cinema. Every male idol or model, on the other hand, has the right to “give it a try in acting as a lead star” even with poor to awful results. Women are always subject to trashing or trolling with comments “she’s bad, she’s old, she can’t act” but to men we are all eager to give a second chance, even if the actor has proven to be beyond improvement or completeley talentless. I pity poor Korean actresses!
I love the male leads, and Lee Sang-Woo too…
But I just read on another site that UEE is confirmed for the female lead. That does not make me happy at all… How can they consider UEE after Moon Geun-Young? sigh.. Maybe I’ll watch it for the male leads, but unlikely. I dropped Golden Rainbow because of her, despite the fact I love Jung Il-Woo.
I read on another site that Sung Joon, Uee, Park Hyung Sik, and Lim Ji Yeon confirmed. I wonder who they have in mind to pair Lee Sang Woo with…