The casting for upcoming big budget sageuk Asadal is pulling out the stops and adding one more leading man to already confirmed Song Joong Ki. K-actor Jang Dong Gun is currently starring in the KBS adaptation of Suits and may be suiting up in period gear right after as he’s been offered the other leading man role in Asadal based on the early formation days in chronicled Korean history. The title of Asadal is the name of mythical capital city of kingdom of Gojoseon which predates even Goguryeo which is the era of as famously depicted in dramas The Legend and Jumong. I’ll be happy with Jang Dong Gun joining though he needs to not have a mane of glory as The Warrior’s Way was no bueno in visuals for me, but he’s also doing another sageuk this year with the zombie Joseon film Rampant (Outbreak) alongside Hyun Bin so maybe he’s in the sageuk mood.
Asadal will be written by the screenwriters of Six Flying Dragons and directed by the PD of Nice Guy, and in talks for the leading lady is Kim Ji Won.
Wait, that picture is PD Kim Won Seuk who just finished directing My Ajusshi. So which PD is tied to this project?
It has been confirmed that he is to direct Asadal. He has strong track record at tvN, so it’s not surprising that he will helm this drama.
Read at soompi n some other blogs that SJK has not confirmed, so idk which n which is true.
With PD Kim and these writing duos, I say Asadal is definitely in good hands. Can’t wait for a healthy dose of sageuk.
Hope Koala updates the post with the details of the right director.
I am wondering why it is taking so long for Song Joong Ki to confirm or reject the drama offer though?
drama will start filming in july, its preproduce which will air nxt yr, maybe they will announce if he accept or not nxt month.
Sjk maybe reject this drama just like he reject kingdom. He will become you now….. wonbin
Is Song Joong Ki into real estate business like Won Bin? or You were referring to the CF?
I read this interview of Won Bin about people keep saying the he relies on CF endorsements. Apparently, it’s not the case. He is actually into real estate business, not just as investing, but a business.
Sjk bought a house 10 billion won ($8.9 million). He also have own a villa in seoul worth 2.5 billion won ($2.2 million). He also sign 3 year contract with incheon aiport and has hyundai liveart cf. Didn’t you think awkward working with jang dong gun who is best friend hyun bin? I don’t know.
What you mentioned about SJK purchases of assets is a kind of investments. However Won Bin is into business not just investing. There are totally different things.
Well. I don’t like the main cast to be honest. Jang Dong Gun? Kim Ji Won? They surely want it to become a mainstream drama instead of looking for quality ? I will look into the whole cast and execution. Abit sad the PD change since I love Kim Jin Won PD nim more. But thanks God the director is Kim Won Suk.
Jang Dong Gun is a much better actor than Song Joon Ki.
I’m confused. Jang Dong Gun and Kim Ji Won – two well-praised actors- are signs that “they surely want it to become a mainstream drama instead of looking for quality”?
If you don’t like them (face bothers you etc) that’s fine, just say that instead of trying to come for their acting while praising/defending far worse actors in other threads. Hypocrisy isn’t a good look.
Errr… You defend them too much and give yhrm so much credit which public are doing. I have watched JDG in Suits, and it’s really bother me he is not even putting much effort. I will defend him toe to toe if he is showing some passion at least. Do you expect him will give much passion in short time after his performances in Suits ? I hope too, but I won’t hold my breath. I often defend them because at least they show effort, and it’s a sign at the right direction to improve.
KJW is really lacking and I don’t think she can pull off a complex emotion after watching her in Fight My Way. I hope I’m wrong though.
stop defending your oppa missjb. You look like an idiot.
@Missjb
I have nothing much to say about JDG as a whole but I agree that he is rather lackluster in Suits. He was acting instead of giving life to his character.
@missjb – so you defend the ones who have bad acting even when roles are tailored for their poor abilities but “show effort” but think KJW is “still lacking” and doesn’t put in any “effort”? Do you even hear what you sound like?
I’m not watching Suits so I can’t speak for JDG there but calling KJW of all people “lacking” …. like I said, I will call out hypocrisy where I see it.
@missjb umm SJK is not an indie actor either.He is as commercial and mainstream as they come.Anything that has his name tag will be mainstream as well.If you are going to pan Jang Dong Gun and Kim Ji Won as “actors not worthy of acting with Song Jong Ki” due to their recent performances.Then how do you explain the negative reviews SJK’s acting got in Battleship Island?In fact, the acting of all the actors in that movie was panned except the child actor.This was just last year.I dare say Jang Dong Gun and SJK at present are about the same level in acting.For both of them, their last best acting performance was in 2012.
Song joong ki overrated kim ji won also overrated actress that’s why she need third time working with kim eun sook drama at least kim woo bin only working 1 time with kes he prove himself although uf was terrible in rating.
@lovewadaw – are you drunk? Kim Woo Bin has worked with Kim Eun Sook twice, one look at wiki will tell you he was in A Gentleman’s Dignity as well as Heirs. Hell any fan would know that on their own, KES doesn’t cast people in her dramas if she thinks they can’t act, and if she asks them twice then it’s because she really liked their work the first time.
And where is this mythical “she need third time working with kim eun sook” drama for Kim Ji Won? Are you seriously counting a mere cameo appearance in a drama that hasn’t even aired lol, you’re that desperate to find a pretext to trash her? Looks like someone is drunk and doesn’t know what cameos are..
@RubyBen. I know… I fool myself into thinking they pursue for good acting even if it’s for mainstream audience. Bad acting really can kill your enjoyment watching drama. At least for me. Even a mainstream drama can be good. For example My Ajusshi.
Wanna laugh sometimes cause you read too much misterX opinions and adapt it as yours. While i adore her and respect her opinions,
I cannot agree most of the time. Remember, acting is subjective my dear, we have our own bias and preference. Example, while am not fond of Yai’s acting, i do acknowledge that he works really hard and look, critics applaud him. Same goes for SJK, Jdg and Kjw. Need to point out here that am a BIG fan of sjk as well but i dont talk trash to other actors.
Straight from Suits? I’m wondering why SJK is taking so much time in confirmig. Maybe he wants to read more of the finished script and confirmed co-stars? Also, knowing this will be from the writer(s) of SFD, which was a thrilling drama btw, they don’t seem to demand much from their female lead. Lets face it, Jung Yoo Mi stole the show and Gong Seung Yeon had more presence than Shin Se Kyung. They will likely focus on SJK and possibly JDG
Korea doesn’t lack hot ajusshi who can act. Why Jang Dong Jun? He has nothing impressive on his acting in recent years
That might have more to do with Shin Se Kyung’s limits as an actress and Gong Seung Yeon/Jung Yoo Mi’s individual charms, than the script per se. I wonder what it would have been like if Baek Jin Hee had taken the role when it was offered to her.
But I thought SSK did well in SFD and it was a good role, she’s actually better in sageuk than in modern roles and doesn’t look unnatural.
@Royal We SSK does well in sageuks, no doubt about that. Her role lacked a certain ’’oomph’’ in it. They tried to make a subtle romance with her and YAI but imo, it was pointless. JYM on the other hand had a rich story and her character served as an important plot device and a motivator to her actions and Byun Yo Han’s character development. Gong Seung Yeon’s character also served a purpose there.
The cynical pessimist in me thinks that they’re going to make a pointless romance in Asadal, where the female lead is secondary and irrelevant. I know Asadal won’t be female centric but if they’re going to create a love interest at all, they should make sure that the romance drives the plot. I liked SSK’s parts only when her character actually did something to further the story, like in Tree With Deep Roots.
@missjb I almost thought that they’d go for Han Suk Kyu because he was in TWDR. It also depends on the availability of actors because they may be signed into films. I don’t care much for JDG either. I think partially because of the sexual harassment revelations, investors are wary about getting older male actors on board. Just now in contracts they added a MeeToo clause that if an actor were to be found guilty of sexually harassing, he’d have to pay a penalty fee and for additional damages
The female character I like most in 6FD is Han Ye Ri as Cheok Sa Gwa. I hope they can write another kind of CSG in Asadal.
with the cast like that, i guess kim ji won is a long cameo aka kim so hyun in ruler
With the news of who the PD is, I’m definitely interested – and the people courted so far are all good actors so contrary to claims that this drama is going for “mainstream over quality” they appear to be paying attention to the calibre of people they hire in the directing and acting department. I just hope tvn actually learned its lesson from trying to make a “modern” Bride of Habaek and will commit to making a sageuk now.
I also hope the cast members confirm soon, if this is a pre-production.
Just give male lead to jung dong gun instead. Song joong ki don’t need to do this drama, so much hype will end up failure.
Wonder why the change of PD? But honestly Blossom should have already confirm whether SJK is accepting this or not. I don’t understand why they’re dragging this for quite some time now. As for JDG, I have not watched any project of his so I can’t tell about this acting skills but wouldn’t he need rest after Suits as this drama is expected to start filming in July.
Asadal is known to be a mythical city before Joseon so I hope TVN will be focusing on making this as a saguek by leaving the fantasy part alone. Since the last time they tried, it wasn’t too stellar.
I tell y’all this is will become battleship island 2.0 better sjk reject this drama
well… overall… Battleship Island is a solid movie in terms of acting for me. And it’s a commercial success.
Battleship was not a commercial success. It barely broke-even. It was a big budget movie that needed 7m admissions to breakeven.
K-ent is harsh. Felt bad for SJK. His marriage was like a death sentence of his career. I hope he will find his way in and sort out why he is not confirmed to any acting projects yet.
@MistyEyed, no matter how media paint it, it’s failure or whatever they assume which make this drama make them think as failure. Break 6 M admission is a good achievement. Did they are not happy for only achieving only 6 admission? Public expectation is crazy nowadays.
And it’ s awell received outside Korea too.
If the director (tvn) dropped him like they does in kingdom drama (I read somewhere Netflix replace him with single actor and he don’t reject kingdom) at least he and shk can make some real estate investment like wonbin and lee na young. Or together doing cf/endorsement as married couple.
I don’t think SJK solely does things for money though. Unlike SHK who more like a CF actress, SJK is an actor who must act, unless my impression about him is wrong.
MistyEyed- Genuinely curios why do you think his marriage was like a dead sentence to his career?
SJK and SHK are both actors that are not after money, if they are they would have taken more cfs or much better would have done numerous couple cfs. I don’t understand how you came to the conclusion that SHK is a cf-actress. She only takes about 1/2 cfs as she doesn’t like to attach her name to everything. She has always taken 3 years break before coming with a new project-which will hit daebak. She has been working for 20 years and now she’s married and will want to focus on her family. I don’t think she can sustain her name as one of the top among the A listers if she was just acting on cfs.
where did u get that info? the writer want sjk and i think they announce they want to cast him after his marriage announcement which is july, so dropping him coz of his marriage? and if u notice the drama offered to sjk are big budgetted and known good writers, asadal was offered to him after his marriage not before,
Criminal minds also big budget but ended flopping hard
Kim ji won can’t act she doesn’t have star power so i wish this drama will be flop so for kim ji won fans ho bashing and bad mouth shk in dots and psh in heir can eat their word.