In all my years and years of drama watching, I’ve yet to encounter a more preposterous and perplexing official posed shot of the leads of a drama attending the obligatory prayer ceremony. Korea still heavily practices rituals that may have shamanistic or Buddhist origins, and a prayer ceremony complete with offerings, incense, and prayer is something that occurs mostly as a formality when something important is about to start. The offerings usually include fruit, delicacies, wine, and the most eye-catching item of a whole cooked pig. When I say whole pig, I mean nose to tail on that porker is placed on a table and the prayees will put a piece of paper in its mouth after bowing. At the prayer ceremony for the upcoming drama adaptation of the manhwa Pretty Man, the cast assembled at a cafe where shooting was taking place that day. Present was Jang Geun Seok, IU, Lee Jang Woo, and Han Chae Young, still quite an odd foursome as any assembled for a K-drama. Folks shouldn’t be surprised to see Jang Geun Seok still with the same past-shoulder length locks he’s been sporting for four years now, for a self-annointed trend setter he sure as heck hasn’t been changing up his hair and is rather fallen behind on the recent rage for the side swept helmet hair. Since IU cut her hair for this role, she and Jang Geun Seok now have the same haircut for the drama. They can share styling tips and hair care products. They actually look nice together, looking like hair-twins not withstanding, but who can miss the 600 lb elephant in the picture of them above beaming from right behind the HEAD OF A PIG. I mean, which genius at KBS thought it was a swell idea to snap a picture of the two leads posted with a pig head between them like they were showing off their love child? It’s macabre to say the least, and last I check Pretty Man wasn’t some dark comedy or straight up horror. Thankfully second leads Lee Jang Woo and Han Chae Young were spared a photo op with the pig head, and I must say both of them are looking mad gorgeous as well. Jang Geun Seok aims to seduce 10 of the richest women in Korea, with Han Chae Young as his mentor, while IU is the odd 4D girl he grew up with and has the biggest one-sided crush on him, while nice guy Lee Jang Woo pines for her fruitlessly. Weird and creepy pig head picture aside, does this set up sound interesting to you? Continue reading →