I’m having quite a hit streak on writing about K-actors or actresses that have been out of the limelight for some time, only to have said entertainer follow up shortly with a new acting gig. Now I just need Kim Sun Ah to make it three-for-three. Han Ye Seul is coming back to acting with a leading lady turn in the weekend drama Birth of a Beauty, while eagle-eyed C-netizens have just discovered that Kim Bum is done with his year long sabbatical and has quietly landed in China last week to start filming a C-movie. The movie title is Passion Love (炙爱青春) marking this project as a romance-centered story (the earlier title was Reborn Lover and hints that this may be a reincarnation type of love story). Kim Bum will be filming for the next two months in Chengdu, China which is the capital of the western part of the country in Sichuan province. Joining him to make this truly a cross-border project is C-actress Wang Li Kun and TW-actor Joe Cheng.
Joe wrapped filming for the TW-drama You Light Up My Star a few weeks ago so he took some time off before settling on this project. By all accounts Kim Bum is the male lead over Joe but it’s basically a two male lead-one female lead love triangle campus movie. Filming is currently taking place at a very picturesque campus in Chengdu standing in for a fictional university. If Wang Li Kun’s name or face sounds familiar, she got a lot of English press earlier in the summer when she was revealed to be the leading lady for the upcoming C-movie Somewhere Only We Know costarring Wu Yi Fan who is better known as Kris formerly of EXO. I’m cautiously optimistic about this drama even if I like both leading men in the cast, so far there hasn’t been a cross-border movie or drama that has worked for me and most are just forgettable middling fare that gets publicity for who stars in it rather than the quality of the work. Check out the fan snapped pics of the leads filming already.
Idk why but I never grown to like Wang LiKun. Maybe because of distaste of her past villain roles.
I love Bummie but it would suck if Joe doesn’t get the girl. Guess the korean star power is greater than Taiwan. Lol
I think Joe Cheng > Kim Bum in China, though?
I feel more than half of the C-dramas are not romantic even though they go through the motions; like the magical tension/sweetness is not there. Can Kim Bum lift that haze? I hope so.
I’ve enjoyed some cross-border productions, but most weren’t romances.
The ones I can think of on top of my head: Late Autumn, Black Square, Season of Good Rain, Boat, even Jinkusu!!! is not bad. And Hill of Freedom. Though I’m not sure you’d include all of these under cross-border (they are all multi-lingual + leads from two countries).