Lee Bum Soo Returns to K-dramas with Prime Minister and I with Reported Co-star Yoona
Insane drama casting say WHUT? I’m sorry but I can’t even wrap my mind around this upcoming drama concept and definitely not the pairing. Let me get the good out of the way first – Lee Bum Soo is returning to dramaland! Super yay. It would be an exclamation but for the big BUT in this casting – his leading lady is reportedly Yoona of SNSD. Between laughing maniacally at the absurdity of her acting opposite Lee Bum Soo and crying over how ridiculous is is that an actor of his talent, experience, and charisma is going to act opposite an actress who is literally just a bland wet sponge, I am really frustrated that Lee Bum Soo is wasting another drama opportunity on what is essentially a DOA drama right off the bat. I don’t dislike Yoona as a person or an entertainer who sings, dances, models and whatever else she does, but I cannot stand her as an actress. In that profession she pretty much is the pits. Her fellow SNSD members who have attempted to act are more or less equally incapable – Yuri was the worst of the worst in Fashion King – with the exception of Sooyoung. I loved her in Cyrano Dating Agency and would be fine if she was the SNSD member cast here. In fact, I gladly welcome it since she has proven herself to not just be able to act, but also have great chemistry with a much older male co-star namely Lee Jong Hyuk in CDA. This drama is called Prime Minister and I and is inspired by the classic movie and musical Sound of Music, so famous now that three generations would have grown up on it. Starring Christopher Plummer and Julie Andrews, it’s the story of a spirited nun who becomes a governess for a widower captain with 7 wayward children. How many girls spent their tween years humming “I am sixteen, going on seventeen”? It’s a classic tale of finding love in the most unexpected of places between two people with a giant age, personality, and life experience gap. Not to mention the whole high stakes escaping from the Holocaust bit in the second half of the story. So the upcoming Prime Minister and I (not to be confused with being a remake of another classic movie and musical The King and I) will be a story of a young nanny who goes to work in the South Korean Prime Minister’s household to take care of his wayward kids. Guess who is the Prime Minister and who is the Nanny?
The age gap between the two leads is built into the story and Lee Bum Soo and Yoona’s exactly 20 year age gap is fine with me. What’s not fine is that the leading lady is Yoona because she just can’t act and she has this palpable lack of onscreen charisma. I’ve given her three chances already, how may more can her fans ask for. I watched You Are My Destiny, Cinderella Man, and Love Rain so my opinion is after having sampled her brand of “acting” and its no es bueno. Which is the exact opposite of Lee Bum Soo, who is neither conventionally handsome nor tall, but has intensity and chemistry by the spades. He’s gorgeous to me and I can slurp him up with a spoon when I watch him act. Prime Minister and I is a KBS drama scheduled for Mon-Tues in December, to follow Mirae’s Choice with Yoon Eun Hye, Lee Dong Gun, and Jung Yong Hwa. It’ll be up against Empress Ki on MBC and whatever SBS has slated for after The Suspicious Housekeeper.
Blergh. That is all.
She’s the one who starred with Kwon Sang Woo in Cinderella Man. She is one of the worst actresses I have ever seen. After her opening scene, I could not watch it any further even though I like KSW
this is just WTF.
Yoona should avoid hate if she can… I hope she turns down.
What the PD wants with Yoona, wtf
The drama is produced by her agency… they didn’t have a choice.
I should have known. SM never produces an original story.
In any case, why not cast Sooyoung? She would do a fine job–and she’s from SM! Win-win for everyone.
Screw SM. idols are failing nowadays so they’re venturing into dramas -__-.
no, they do because SM just joined another company full of top stars that they could use instead of their idols actors.
They now have many actors to pick and use. Almost all of Gentleman Dignity cast is from SM C&C and etc.
@ omona, read my later post. Yoona is pretty much the only actress AVAILABLE at this point to do this drama.
I pity Bum Soo.
His tallent wasted for dr Jin and iris 2.
And now this? ??? I miss his time during Giant and Salary Man
When I read that the heroine was from SM, I was hoping for Han Ji Min, but alas… I just hope this isn’t actually a musical drama.
Han Ji Min’s contract with SM&C has just recently ended, and we don’t know yet if she renewed with them again, or not. Just FYI. 🙂
ahhhh I couldnt stand her in love rain, she has no screen presence what so ever! I wish they would pick a better lead.
i really don’t like it when good actors get stuck in bad dramas. SM has a sprawling list of actresses in their agency why pick ‘singer’/’actress’-but-really-more-like-cutesy-idol? I get really pissed when it’s so obvious the person can’t act but cast them anyway because it’s a sure way to attract the audience. helllllo fandom!
They have Kim Ha Neul, Han Ji Min, Lee Yeon Hee, Go Ara, and some rookies (+ Yoona, Soo Young, Yuri but Yoona for whatever reason has the most cachet of these three) and the first two are busy with movies.
Odds are Lee Yeon Hee will be doing Miss Korea (which is also produced by SM) so Yoona is kind of the only SM actress available.
Jung so Min joined lately to SM and she is available ?? I think Musical company doesn’t show any support to the actors or actresses
@Nilechoclat, Jung So Min doesn’t have the name recognition to lead a drama where the female lead has top billing. Plus, she looks even younger than Yoona to me though she’s older.
I am just so freakin’ happy that you acknowledge Sooyoung as an actress.
It’s amazing that despite two failed dramas in term of ratings, she keeps being casted by KBS.
I only watched You Are My Destiny and I thought she was good but a little bit on the bland side but reading reviews on her performances for her latest dramas, I guess she hasn’t improved. I hope she rejects the role because I really can’t see her in this role nor acting alongside Lee Bum Soo (which should pick better projects after Iris II because gosh’, the drama was just goddam awful –‘)
LBS romancing Yoona will feel icky!! As a previous poster commented, Han Ji-min would’ve been great. Alas…
And please, please, please! the prime minister don’t have a son who has the same age as yoona’s character. It probably will be wrong all over places.
Wow, simply wow. And not in a good way. LBS I like but Yoona, really??? There are no other better actresses that are popular??? Please!! Seriously.
Has yoona been confirmed for real or is she still in the ‘considering’ phase?
Yoona is sweet and pretty but please don’t keep acting. I tried really hard to watch Cinderealla Man, as I love KSW and couldn’t watch past Ep. 2. She’s a snorefest on screen.
Well, she hasn’t confirmed so until that happens, I’m very exicited! I love The Sound of Music and Lee Bum Soo and the acting of Yoona is tolerable for me. If another actress comes (I’m thinking of Ha Ji Min, she can act and she’s beautiful) But the story sounds really interesting to me.
This would hardly be the first time that a good story was ruined by poor casting. Just imagine, for example, if instead of Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music (who was a lot older than the part she was playing, and it showed) they had cast Sally Field, who was busy being Gidget at about that time. It would have been ridiculous, and we certainly wouldn’t be buying it in boxed anniversary sets now.
Late fall is going to be a Nanny Season. The Suspicious Housekeeper, and then this one.
I actually think Sooyoung as well as she has a more expressive and vibrant face. Her acting is definitely more lively and I could potentially understand why the PM would fall for her.
Yoona? He might as well as used a matchmaker to find himself a wife. She is like the looks good on paper future daughter in law candidate. But bland as anything when you make her irresistible to a older man. He is supposed to be playing the Prime Minister for goodness sakes.
Yeah, Sooyoung has charm and screen presence, and most importantly, she can act. Yoona just comes off as bland a lot of the time (to give the devil his due, she was ok in Love Rain but she cannot carry a full series as the lead, no way).
Sooyoung has always been the girl to stick out in my mind for Girls Generation (not a k-pop fan), but for some reason she just did. I think it was from stumbling on really hilarious impersonations she does at variety shows on youtube. I must have a good eye because she turned out to be one of those rare idol-actresses that look natural onscreen without trying too hard, and has an endearing quality that comes with her acting.
I don’t understand why you like Suzy and doesn’t like Yoona. Those idols are all the same to me.
Yoona’s not great, but she is a better actress than Suzy (for one, she doesn’t have those dead eyes and that vacant pout for a default expression). Which is not saying much.
Yo… Suzy has charisma and can work really well, when not in sageuks, which she is dreadful. Yoona has a total blank face and seems bored 99% of the time. She is the definition of dead eyes and indiference to me.
idk, Suzy’s fans seem to think she’s doing something award-worthy if she so much as manages to face the right direction on camera, and her ‘charisma’ basically = her looks. She should just stick to modelling and variety, because she cannot act and certainly never as the lead in anything.
As for yoona, I actually sat through all 20 episodes of Love rain and Yoona actually did ok at the light and fluffy parts. It was still a crap drama, but at least she looked like she was playing her character and not just getting into costume and parroting some lines. There’s some hope for her yet, just not in dramas that have her paired with much older, more charismatic actors.
Suzy shouldn’t get any award in a billion years, since she is no great actress at all, but she isn’t just beauty. She works in the acting field when typecasted in some roles, not saying that it’s good for an actress, oh well. But comparing her to Yoona is just unbelievable unfair, since the later one just wastes every drama that she is in the leading role. I like her in 9 in 2 outs. Which is not the case for her girl group mate, Sooyoung. Just my two cents. For each their own.
I suppose Suzy might work well if she’s cast as a robot or a block of wood, so I give you that.
But there are things she just can’t do – and playing a character who is not named Bae Suzy is one of them. She’s basically a younger Han Ga-in – super pretty but completely unable to actually emote. Not that it matters, since idol power means she’ll still keep getting work that is beyond her, talent-wise.
And I do not like Yoona as an idol or think she’s particularly pretty, but she’s far more natural onscreen than Suzy even if she still can’t pull off major emotional scenes (JGS did all the major work onscreen for that in Love Rain, lol)
I too think Yoona is better than Suzy (though I am fond of them both, tbh) but neither of them should be cast opposite Lee Bum Soo 🙂 Is there no early 20-something with chops available?
I’m going to agree with Pogo on this.
Based on my non-professional, subjective opinion, yoona is a better actress than suzy, not by a landslide, though.
Perhaps it is because yoona didn’t have to take on a role such as Yeo-Wool in a sageuk (which should have gone to a more experienced actress even if the character was written simple enough), so i could compare their sageuk performances. Suzy’s lack of acting skills really became apparent in sageuk (even if i think this applies to all actors/actresses. It really is the test to see how versatile and skilled you are)
Anywho, I am personally meh about yoona’s acting but I actually liked watching her(probably in the minority opinion here) in love rain (for the first 6-ish episodes where yoona and jang geun suk came in combined with some fastforwarding/skipping, because there was chemistry between them. There really was. The kisses were better than your average k-drama, they were cute (and pretty) standing next to each other. Basically if it wasn’t for jang geun suk i probably wouldn’t stick around for much considering Love Rain is a hot mess and the cute moments of the OTP were the only reasons to check in every now and then.
LOL seriously she sucks up to people like Taecyeon,Suzy and Kim Hun Joong but bitches about Yoona who is actually better actress than them.
I have nothing against Yoona tbh , i think she is cute and has elegant beauty about her, but i think this project is to much for her to handle.
Hey Koala at least admits that Taec and Suzy can’t act. Which is perfectly fine.
If you have carefully read Mrs Koala’s posts, you would know that Mrs Koala only likes Suzy AS A PERSON (meaning, she thinks she’s cute and pretty and likable). Not as an actress. Mrs Koala has dissed Suzy’s acting on multiple occasions. Just to clarify.
Was just gonna say that liking a person’s image (personality and charm) is completely different from liking a person’s acting. Sometimes, one can influence the other, but many times, people often separate the two (as i do) and judge people on different matters. Suzy is girl-next-door, nation’s little sister, and had a decent first outing in Dream High playing cold but sensitive hye-mi, all the while poking fun of her own robotic-ness. Endearing, for sure. I think the project you choose to debut in (and your first impression of an actor) can also really impact a viewer’s opinion on you.
If you’ve followed Miss K’s blog, u sure know that she like suzy, but despite her liking suzy,, she also pointed critically when suzy’s acting is bad.. Like when she was in GFB…
And about Yoona,the only thing she didn’t like as stated above is her acting…
LOL… This post was meant for Pedritt 😀
But she has no problems with Suzy getting job, Or Taecyeon or Kim Hyun Joong. She didn`t say a word when they got lead roles in their dramas but here she is practically saying` How dare Yoona get a job with her bad acting?`
I know this is her blog and i respect her opinion but it comes off as hypocritical.
Koala Unni, I bow down to you for watching You are My Destiny. I could not finished that very long drama with Yoona in it. I only like her in Cinderella Man. I am not sure there will be chemistry between Yoona and Lee Bum Soo… I wonder if there any other actresses are available at that time.
I watched you are my desnity and… because Yoona was a idol not even a kiss scene had. I heard when they were going to have one, fanguys called and made them give up
Yoona and Suzy, yeah both need to work a LOT however, I see Suzy improving and her crying scenes are better than Yoona’s that I feel nothing.
Yoona and Suzy suffer the blank face syndrome, however, Suzy still is better and she has better chemistry with her leading men, Yoona doesn’t.
Suzy is by no means better than Yoona , she is not getting any better and her delusional fans should stop pretending that she is.
And Yoonas chemistry with JGS was more realistic what any pairing Suzy had.
Disagree. Suzy and kim soo hyun had chemistry by the boatload.
lol I’m not delusional I just think Suzy is better than yoona, but both should take more acting classses, Yoona has more experience plus acting lessons than Suzy and yet for me she isn ‘t getting any better
Pairing is good does not = good result!!!!
suzy s chemistry wd kim so hyun is awsome ..even her acting improved in gu family book…suzy has the potential to improve
She had no romantic chemistry with Lee Seung-gi in Gu Family Book (oddly she had more spark with Sung Joon, with LSG they looked like oppa-dongsaeng). And Yoona had pretty decent chemistry with JGS in Love Rain, even in the horrifically boring 70s parts.
This is almost making me sound like I like Yoona or something, when I don’t – but she’s shown far more improvement than Suzy has even if her abilities would not cover a role like the one in this drama.
Who on earth is casting her? Lol
I´ve only seen Yoona act in “9 End 2 Outs” and the couple of episodes of “Love Rain” that I watched before I lost interest and I didn´t think she was that bad at acting – she´s certainly not the worst I have seen!
The pairing freaks me out however.
4% ratings here we come. Unless we really do get a musical, now that would be interesting 😀
Bwahahahah what a casting nightmare! And I say it as someone who really enjoyed watching Yoona in Lovw Rain and who doesn’t swoon for Lee Bum Soo. But the acting disparity and even the aura disparity is so huge – oh my. I might turn in for the trainwreck factor alone.
Yoona and Yuri – their acting ability amounts to interchangeably horrendous. They may as well be cardboard cutouts with moving mouths. There appears to be no depth beyond their pretty exterior, maybe that’s why they lack chemistry with their male co-stars.
Seohyun is trying now too and…
no.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wiYg9hdsKqc
Well Yonna acted in Love Rain drama with low rating. Let’s see if this round the rating will improve, if not we can confirm her acting is lousy even with good male co stars.
yoona is pretty and elegant ..she shd stick to variety and modeling..she isnt cut for acting …SM thinks tht acting means having a pretty face …if they just stop it …first yoona thnyuri sulli and minho …all pretty faces who cant pull off basic acting
I think yoona is ok actually. she’s a lot better than her bandmates yuri & jessica. She’s not great but she doesn’t make me cringe either.
Lee Bum Soo must being doing penance for something in a past life or perhaps this is his version of community service. First Dr. Jin and now this?
I may be the only one here and I know this won’t happen. But I wish Eunjung will be the Nanny. She looked good with Kang ji hwan who was much older than her.She has worked with children before too so it’s an advantage. And she can sing and act.
The age gaps between costars in k dramas are getting insane.