I’m not sure if other bigger male leads passed on this drama but Park Eun Bin will be working with Chae Jong Hyeob as her costar with Cha Hak Yeon as the supporting lead for Diva of the Deserted Island. But this casting isn’t that odd considering that screenwriter Park Hye Ryun in some of her earlier dramas like Dream High and I Hear Your Voice she used not yet as famous male leads and helped make them more famous through her dramas. I also think Diva is female lead centric so this casting of two younger actors who can act will hopefully help create the tableau around which Park Eun Bin can fully shine.
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She is the star of the show. They would never have put her opposite someone who can't act well. I can't wait to see what they do together.
Wow, this Chae Jong Hyeop guy is on a roll, huh? He's teaming up with Kim so Hyun in Is it A Coincidence, and now Park Eun Bin lol
I think this drama will be female-centric anyway, so the male leads don't have to be A-listers
This isn't new for PEB though she's always worked with rookies or rising stars. Rowoon for TKA, Kang Tae Oh for WYW, Kim Min Jae for Brahms and long before that Yeon Woo Jin for that judge drama. Her male leads have never been in the popular category. I'm not sure which popular male lead would act opposite PEB because big names actors like LJS want their dramas to be male-centric unless the female lead is much older or some major A list star like JJH or someone. Its very very rare to have combinations like SYJ-HB. Normally one lead actor is much less popular than the other. The star for this drama is most likely going to be Kong Hyo Jin. She's got the more eccentric character description but this drama is less a romance and more a feel good drama about dreams and underdogs.
So true. Since she started young, at age 30, she's now, career-wise, the equivalent of actresses already in their late 30s and early 40s who also tend to look for dramas that center more on the female lead and are therefore paired with young, rookie male leads who play more supporting roles.
Yeon Woo-Jin wasn't roookie and she wasn't specially more famous than him when they filmd Judge vs Judge. He filmed Queen Seven Days with Park Min-Young before.
She was coming off AoY 2 where her character had received most of the screen time and focus and was quite popular so I disagree that she wasn’t more popular. Q7D was a flop and YWJ didn’t have anything substantial to his name at that time. All his dramas after MND were flopping and he was in the grey area of new actor and rising star. He was older than her but definitely not more popular. I agree with OP that PEB has always been paired opposite unknown or lesser known actors who are rookies or rising stars. This drama is no exception.
Yeon Woo Jin, an actor that i like ,isn't popular as the ones who reach popularity thanks to ratings but he was also the lead of Marriage over dating , Introvert boss, Divorce lawyer in love with Jo Yeo Jung . He was a rookie in 2011 when he was one of the brothers in KBS popular drama Ojak bothers. PEB is a veteran as she started young and did a lot of various roles . Experiences that allows her to play different roles . She isn't tagged as other actresses that play often the same kind of roles . She was so funny in Age of youth, sensible in Do you like Brahms?, not overshadowed by all the males in Stove League, i only have good things to say about her acting .
Yulmi> AoY made a lot of buzz but didn't have great ratings. PEB didn't have so many main roles before, it was more an ensemble casting. Not being famous doesn't make you a rookie. YWJ wasn't a rookie. PEB wasn't a big name neither.
You will keep seeing this trend because PEB is now A-list and her commanding fees leaves little budget left to book a more well known male star. Also most of the better known male stars are likely booked o the brim due to the number of investments into the kdrama scene right now.
It's nice to see the writer focusing her story on the FL and not on the ML for once. I?m really excited to watch PEB in this role. She really chose very different characters with her last 2 dramas + this one
CJH is becoming more famous, he's lucky to act in a drama written by the famous PHR! His last drama was nice at the beginning but from the middle it kinda became boring...
The actors are around the same age.
the male lead is so good in unlocked the boss
Park Eun-bin thrives on roles with unique personalities, so whoever her male lead is really isn't super important as long as they are serviceable.
as a fan of N since his VIXX days, I’ve been waiting for him to get more spotlight cuz this guy is hella talented
Yeon Woo Jin, an actor that i like ,isn't popular as the ones who reach popularity thanks to ratings but he was also the lead of Marriage over dating , Introvert boss, Divorce lawyer in love with Jo Yeo Jung . He was a rookie in 2011 when he was one of the brothers in KBS popular drama Ojak bothers. PEB is a veteran as she started young and did a lot of various roles . Experiences that allows her to play different roles . She isn't tagged as other actresses that play often the same kind of roles . She was so funny in Age of youth, sensible in Do you like Brahms?, not overshadowed by all the males in Stove League, i only have good things to say about her acting .
I would still like her to have a romance with a celebrity of an equal caliber to go toe to toe with, to really put her on the next level of stardom. She's arguably more famous than her contemporary Yoo Seung-ho now, so she needs to do with someone like Kim Woo-bin, Joo Won or Kim Soo-hyun (I do not count her stint with Namgoong Min, because Stove League was not pair-centric).
PEB isn't the kind of actress that will ever attract actors who are popular or hallyu unless those actors are going through a major slump and need someone to bring them back to the headlines. Her visuals don't match KWB and KSH would never act with someone who didn't have barbie doll good looks. If NGM ever did a drama with her where they were both main leads she would be overshadowed and only given 30% of the screen time because NGM prefers to be the star of his own show. Any actress looking for female focused dramas need to give up on popular male leads otherwise they'll be reduced to arm candy. I respect both PEB and KSH for going with lesser known male actors because they prefer to pick dramas that give them 70%-80% of screen time which is good for their overall career. Having the power to carry your own drama without a popular male lead has more weight and allows the female actresses to earn bigger salaries than their male counter part. Actresses like SHK and JJH have been smart by acting with much younger male leads they've allowed themselves to be the main focus of the drama even when its a romance drama. JDY has also realized that having younger male leads in Crash Course and Lost gave her more screen time unlike in Emergency Declaration which granted was a movie but because it had so many big name actors she was left with minimum screen time. SYJ also did the same for Noona and 39 where both her male leads were far less popular than her. KTR also picked NJH for 2521 who is far less popular and talented than her which is why she shined and won the Baeksang.