So not only is this drama feel like a random surprise appearance for me, the leading actress also made me do a double take. Sageuk romance Chunhwa Love Story released the first still of leads Go Ara and Chang Ryul this week and I was seriously unable to place that this was even in development. And then I realized the drama was indeed announced a few months ago but the female lead was Go Ah Sung hence my confusion now. It appears there has been a female lead switch and the male lead remains Chang Ryul who is just stepping into a leading man leveling up.
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I forgot about Go Ara as an actress completely lol. She’s pretty mediocre and her last drama had a godawful ending and a male lead I could not palate. I heart nothing about this drama till now but I am in a sageuk mood. Maybe I’ll try it if it’s out soon.
Go Ah Sung got an injury with a cervical fracture and needed a surgery which will take 12 weeks to heal. Probably production and drama couldn’t wait, so they replaced her with another actress.
I’m not so interested in cast, writer and director, but rating 18+.
And plot somehow looks interesting to me.
But I think this part: “She grew up with an independent mindset. When she reaches the age to marry, she decides to find her husband by herself. She comes out of the palace to meet her suitors. She also tries to find the person who painted her face as the main female character in a series of erotic chunhwa paintings.” can turns out into a disaster. Because in Korea right now the huge scandal with AI deepfakes in p*rno videos. Like I know writer and production company didn’t think about deepfakes or something like that while wrote this plot, probably they didn’t expect something like this to show up in this year, but I fear this drama can meet Resident Playbook fate.
I looked up what you mentioned and what on earth so no one be safe online with AI … sheesh forget someone scamming your account… now they can just copy and paste your photo for porn like what?! I mean I’m not so surprised but I don’t know if this will affect the drama but that is just terrible. I heard teenagers are being victimized over there.. that must suck. Looks like some more laws to change but who knows if that will really truly stop the mess.
@Rero
God, even teenagers… My only hope teenagers being victimized by another teenagers. It’s not good either, but it’s better than teenagers being victimized by adults. And at least giving a hope they being victimized due to teenage stupidity or something like that…
Don’t know if it will stop, I think the best decision is to not posting my photos in internet. There are a lot of options to use it with AI nowadays, from p*rn to scam schemes, and I doubt it can be controlled by government.
Have you watched any of the “unrealKeanu” videos? There’s a whole channel on YouTube with AI generated Keanu Reeves videos (with his permission, I understand). We can watch Keanu dance, cook, iron his clothes etc. Look here: https://youtube.com/shorts/A9pNguPY09o?si=sZIVMjyeMpECR_Ap
Now these are of course made for fun but if they can do this, how difficult you think it is to take another person’s photos/footage and put it on a porn actor?
@Nena I find it interesting that when men create AI-generated photos and videos of male celebrities, it’s all wholesome and funny. But when they create AI-generated videos of women, it’s all blatant sexualization and fake p*rn stuff. Wow, so many men really just see women as sex objects, huh? That’s sad and disturbing
@olesaya1 it is teachers, teenagers and supposedly female soldiers that were victimized… but both men and women have been victimized and it seems to be on the rise. For teenagers I believe it was other teenagers committing the acts and some twenty year olds. But yes some were fined and some were being questioned on how long jail time they should get and some have yet to be determined but it makes it has put the Korean government in a pickle so that what I meant about laws being changed because this is new ground and territory that they probably did not think they would persecute someone for this so suddenly. It has become a serious issue however some that were persecuted were found charged for issues outside of the ai porn. So I can see why many are outraged over this. That is what I read online but if you want to know more than I hugest you try googling yourself because that’s how I found out. I might not be so accurate in the whole story. Still it’s truly terrible.
@Olesya1: Oh no! Go Ah Sung’s injury sounds serious. I hope she has recovered now.
Reading the synopsis is a bit uncomfortable and I didn’t even think about the deep fake similarities until you mentioned it. What a strange plot. I hope the ML isn’t responsible for the drawings because that is creepy.
I don’t know if male lead has something to do with these paintings, as it’s not revealed in his description, but “he seems to hide a secret”.. don’t know what.iind of secret though. I’m interested how they will show this topic by now, maybe better than it seems.
As much as I’d like to see Go Ara (she’s not a great actress, but I find her endearing to watch on screen). I’m surprised that this isn’t being shelved because of the deepfake scandal right now. And releasing the stills this week while the deepfake scandal gets worse seems like some weird PR move.
Will the drama’s Joseon deepfake problem comment on the real life issue of how those who create, view, and spread deepfakes are worse than trash and should be slapped with sex crime charges? If the issue is going to be treated lightly in the drama, I can see the drama getting ripped to shreds, even if it’s a web-only drama.
From the start, the plot sounded iffy to me because South Korea already has a problem with revenge p*rn (both real and edited/assumed) even before the current deepfake controversy. I understand production companies want to take risks with stories, but they should be aware if they’re catering for the general adult audience, their dramas should always involve consented unions or don’t romanticize questionable relationships and dynamics.
I hope Go Ara finishes THIS sageuk without sustaining a crtical injury that puts her out of action for mnoths and requires years of rehab.
I like Go Ara. She made improvements in her latest dramas especially Miss Hammurabi and Haechi (had injuries so had to cut lots of scenes). She gave a strong performance together with L in Miss Hammurabi. But I didn’t watch her in Do Do Sol Sol…. I feel she is better with serious roles than slapstick ones…
i felt she did fairly well in do do sol… There were just some plot points in the story that might set people off but not due to her acting just the story was a bit different. I liked it despite the weird aspects of the story. Coming from her awkward acting and timing in You’re all surrounded to do do sol she improved so much that I was surprised.
@rero
Thanks for your review. I will check out do do sol sol. Yes she has improved a lot. I think she must have taken classes to improve. Love her for that.
Go Ara was awkward in Hwarang. But she did well in DDSSLLS (LOL at the title) IMO. She did the pianist job convincingly. Also her character and smiles brightened that drama.
Long time since I have heard anything about Go Ara. I remember reading she moved agencies to King Kong by Starship from Artist Company in early 2023 but she hasn’t had a new drama project since 2020.
It’s nice to see Chang Ryul with a main lead. He’s one of those actors who has been solidly working away in supporting roles for a long time and finally getting some deserved attention and main roles. His profile has definitely been raised since he moved to a much better agency (management mmm) at the beginning of 2023.
I like Go Ara. She does good when her character doesn’t call for crying scenes.
Go Ara is not the best actress but she isn’t bad neither.
I liked Chang Ryul in Daily Dose of Sunshine as a good guy (his love story was more interesting than the main one) and in My Name as a villain.
I like the rest of the casting too.