Hallyu: Korean wave.
In the past, the “Korean wave” mostly consisted of the exporting of Korean dramas, films, and music to outside of Korea. The stars who stood in the center of it merely promoted their works in these foreign countries. However, it has now become increasingly common to find Korean stars actually starring in films and dramas native to these countries. Here is a look at some of the latest string of Korean actors who are scheduled to appear in foreign (non-Korean) dramas.
Actress Kim Tae Hee has been cast in an upcoming Japanese dorama called Boku to Star no 99 Nichi. In this romantic comedy drama, Kim Tae Hee will play the role of Han Yoona, a top Korean actress popular in Japan, just like her real life self, who falls in love with an ordinary Japanese man played by actor Nishijima Hidetoshi.
Boku to Star no 99 Nichi will premiere on Fuji TV this October, and air every Sunday evening at 9 P.M. It has a tough competition though, airing against a big-budget TBS drama, Nankyoku Tairiku, starring Kimura Takuya.
Actor Jang Geun Suk filmed a cameo in Ikemen desu ne, the Japanese remake of his 2009 Korean drama, You’re Beautiful. His cameo appearance in episode 8 of Ikemen desu ne, scheduled to air on September 2, will mark Jang Geuk Suk’s first ever appearance in a Japanese drama.
For his cameo, Jang Geun Suk speaks his lines in Japanese, as his character appears in front of A.N.JELL and learns that Mio (the Minam character in the original version) is actually a girl. It is reported that he has turned down his pay for the cameo appearance, explaining that his cameo is his way to thank his Japanese fans for their love and support.
Actor Kim Jung Hoon has been cast in an upcoming Chinese drama, Tiptoe to Kiss Love (踮起脚尖吻到爱). The press conference for the drama was held on August 25 in Beijing.
In Tiptoe to Kiss Love, Kim Jung Hoon will play a once-famous fashion model who has since disappeared from the industry after getting hurt in love. The drama will be about his love story with a woman from a countryside who has moved to the city with dreams of making it big in the fashion industry (played by Chinese actress Yao Di).
The filming will commence in September, and the drama is set to debut in the summer of 2012.
Actor Jo Hyun Jae is now in the middle of filming for a Chinese drama, Rouge Overload, in which he will play the leading man opposite Chinese actress, Andy Yang. Rouge Overload is a period drama taking place in the early days of the Republic of China.
Here is a very detailed synopsis, excerpted from A Koala’s Playground:
At the dawn of the Republic (the years right after 1911), in a small crossroads town, Lei Er (Andy Yang) was born with supernatural powers and has always vowed to become a female biao shi (a biao shi is someone tasked with transporting goods within China, who must have martial arts skills to safeguard the goods from bandits on the road – imagine an old school Fed Ex). But the gods seem to want to thwart her, and her road to becoming a biao shi is fraught with considerable obstacles.
Xiao Wu Kue (Jo Hyun Jae) is the son of the owner of the Xin Yi Biao Ju (a biao shi works for a biao ju, which means transportation company) and was born on the same day as Lei Er. But he was born with a weak constitution so he cannot learn any martial arts skills.
Ou Lang, a bandit leader, is enchanted by Lei Er’s optimism and kindness and pursues her, except Lei Er only has eyes for Wu Kue. But Wu Kue, who loves learning about Western culture, has a crush on the aloof and haughty Ya Ge Ge (a Ge Ge is the Qing Dynasty title for a princess of the royal family). The four youngsters will find their lives intertwined because of a threat to the Xin Yi Baio Ju and a secret treasure map.
The legendary treasure map attracts the attention of a former Lord of the Qing Dynasty who possess a key, a blind eunuch who survived the end of the Qing Dynasty and is the only one who knows the secrets of the map, a police captain, and so on and so forth, everyone desiring to possess this map. Their arrival throws the little town into a state of upheaval.
With everyone harboring their own agenda and wanting to find the treasure, to protect the goods entrusted to them, Lei Er and Wu Kue finds themselves caught up in this maelstrom. When the treasure is finally found after a considerable effort, it turns out the treasure is not gold and jewels. After enduring a harrowing adventure, Lei Er and Wu Kue finally get together and inherit Xin Yi Biao Ju, continuing the family legacy.
**********
I’ve never watched foreign dramas starring Korean actors, with the exception of G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, in which Lee Byun Hun played Storm Shadow. I know other actors like Jang Nara, Chae Rim, Jang Hyuk, Park Shin Hye, Han Ji Hye, Goo Hye Sun, and some Super Junior members have done so in the past. It really is a fascinating concept to try to act in a language that you do not speak or know fluently. And so I have always been curious – how did they turn out?
Via Asia Today, The Naeil New, TV Daily, Wuli Jo Hyun Jae
16 comments
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namemelydia
September 1, 2011 at 9:26 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I think the first drama I watched starring someone Korean but not native to Korea was My Lucky Star. It’s a Taiwanese drama.
It really depends though, on the chemistry and if the actor can actually act. My Lucky star had that.
The dubbing was there, and if I’m right most dramas that star foreign actors get dubbed, and that’s when you can really tell by their facial expressions what kind of actors they are. -That dubbed voice has no emotion lol.-
It’s probably tough because they would need translators on set, and those translators would also undertake the job a little of directing them.
Kristal
September 1, 2011 at 11:21 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I’ve never been interested in watching a Korean actor/actress in a foreign drama just because I cannot stand to watch anything dubbed. It’s just really takes away from the entire experience cause their lips are all I can focus on.
Bae Doona actually speaks Japanese quite well in the movie Linda Linda Linda and was in the star in the Japanese movie Air Doll. She should try a Japanese drama cause her last few Korean ones I hear were…
Emeldy
September 1, 2011 at 11:38 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I have watched Japanese drama with T actor Bolin Chen. He was amazing in Waiting in the Dark. And there was no dubbing. And i heard Lee Honki did pretty well in Muscle girl.
diorama
September 1, 2011 at 12:55 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I checked out episode 1 of Park Shin Hye’s Taiwanese drama Hayate the Combat Butler (that title, lolz). It was cute and fluffy and I think she carried it quite well. Her lines were dubbed over in Mandarin, but it was well done and it almost matched her real voice.
I’ve often thought that Asian actors should be featured more in Hollywood movies. They definitely have the talent, and some like Lee Byung Hun speak really good English.
joonni
September 1, 2011 at 6:59 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
It was so weird when I first heard about this happening. How can actors properly express the emotions when they do not fully understand? Even if the script is translated, doesn’t so much get lost in translation? How do they respond to other fellow actors when they are speaking different languages? IS IT EVEN WORTH THE TROUBLE to have interpreters, etc?
But in a different country’s system where shoots are not live, I guess it can be done. And with Chinese and Japanese, where the cultural differences are not as varying as US-Korea, maybe not so many things get lost in translation.
But still the dubbing is so strange to me.
Fanderay
September 1, 2011 at 7:54 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
BoA is also going to be in a US dance movie called Cobu 3d. I think it’s going to be the typical cliche story of rivalries in the “underground dance world” (dance movies are always so ridiculous, but I love them anyways). Boa can most definitely dance, so I’m already looking forward to watching it for that reason alone.
ockoala
September 1, 2011 at 9:29 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Dubbing has actually been completely accepted and widespread in Chinese dramas. Almost ALL the dramas I’ve watched growing up from Taiwan, China, and Hong Kong were all dubbed. Let me explain why Chinese dramas from those three countries feel the need to dub their own language.
For Taiwan, the majority of the island are Taiwanese, yet the official language is Mandarin Chinese due to the KMT government. Hence you have lots of actors who speak Taiwanese as their first language and Mandarin Chinese as their second language (not to mention the older actors spoke Japanese as their second language and Mandarin as their third). So lots of actors back then just didn’t speak Mandarin Chinese with the “proper” Beijing accent, i.e. flat and accentless, inflections that the TV stations were required to show. So the actors spoke their lines in Mandarin, but was dubbed over by someone who had a perfect accent.
Dubbers were in high demand and not enough around, so drama after drama had the same “voices” for the main leads. It was pretty funny. This didn’t change until the mid-80s when the DPP got more powerful and President Jiang Jing Guo died and President Lee took over.
The same logic applies for Mainland Chinese dramas dubbing, since actors come from around the country and some speak completely different dialects.
Hong Kong dramas were dubbed when exported to Taiwan and the Mainland, since Cantonese was such a regional dialect and no one wanted to read subtitles.
I was a teenager before I ever heard Tony Leung, Andy Lau, etc. and their real voices.
So dubbing over the voices of K-actors in TW and C-dramas isn’t a big deal since even the native Chinese and Taiwanese actors get dubbed all the time. For example, George Hu, Park Shin Hye’s co-star in Hayate the Combat Butler, grew up in New York and his Chinese is pretty bad. He had to learn Chinese when he went back to Taiwan to start his entertainment career, so his earlier dramas, he was dubbed. Wu Zun was dubbed in Tokyo Juliet.
I’m fine with the dubbing if it’s seamless. But I will always miss hearing the wonderful Korean actor voices I’ve come to know and love. The dubbing doesn’t ruin the actors ability to emote since most dubber are great voice actors. But still, it’s weird if you already know the real voice and it doesn’t match the actor onscreen.
joonni
September 2, 2011 at 6:13 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Hmm, with all the dubbing, do actor/actresses get known for their voices (i.e. like Bae Yong Joon and Lee Sun Kyun of Korea)?
bella012
September 2, 2011 at 8:46 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Wow that is really good information, thank you very much for sharing!
Me personally, I sort of cringe when I hear the dubbed version even if it is seamless. I was in brazil watching an episode of sex and the city, and the voice actor just completely ruined the moment even if her voice was in proper context.
ockoala
September 2, 2011 at 9:33 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
No, back in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, the actors voices don’t really become well-known, unless they are also a singer.
A good example would be Leslie Cheung, who has the most beautiful voice in the entire planet, but was dubbed in all his projects exported out of Hong Kong. But everyone knew his real voice because he was such a popular singer as well.
I think dubbing can be seamless, i.e. it’s synched very well, it’s just that we’re not used to it. For the older generation, they much prefer it and see nothing odd about it. My mom watches her K-dramas dubbed (which drives me INSANE), and still watches TVB dramas dubbed when I’ve transitioned to watching in Cantonese and relying on subs for the parts I don’t catch because they are speaking too fast with too much slang.
On the set of Rouge Hegemon with Jo Hyun Jae, he did a scene where he spoke his lines in Korean, the guy playing his dad spoke in Mandarin Chinese, and the woman playing his mom spoke in Cantonese, and neither of the three understood each other. It’s pretty funny actually.
This language barrier is between so many Chinese actors from different regions, including Taiwan and Hong Kong, that speak dialects that can be as foreign as Korean is to Mandarin Chinese. So the Chinese actors are used to it, and don’t treat any Korean actor on set as an outsider.
I don’t like dubbed, but it can’t be helped for the time being.
So3
September 7, 2011 at 2:53 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Same here! My parents still prefer to watch dramas and TV programs being dubbed in local language instead of watching them in their original language with subtitles!
I wanted to buy them DVDs for say a certain Kdrama but the first thing they asked me was whether they are dubbed in Cantonese, and I was like @_@ erh…no?
InLove
September 2, 2011 at 8:33 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I’ve seen/heard dubbed voices in a couple of TW dramas and in one mainland drama. I find it really distracting because it’s so artificial. Dubbing is never seamless because there isn’t ever any atmospheric sound when the actor is “speaking.” It’s also really weird if you already know the actor’s voice, but every time he speaks you hear a voice you don’t associate with that face. For some reason, I think the dubbing may stand out more in the ears of foreign viewers who don’t speak the language…
From Koala’s wonderful explanation I now understand why dubbing happens btw mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, but it seems a little weird to have actors who don’t speak either Mandarin or Cantonese dubbed in a Chinese/TW drama when no one else is. (How do they understand each other when filming?!) Its such a contrast to kdramas where there are so few foreigners in lead/supporting roles.
I had never seen Jang Nara in a Chinese drama till a few weeks ago I happened to check one out just to hear her speak “Chinese” (I guess it was Mandarin- not sure), but boy was I surprised when I heard her “voice!”
InLove
September 2, 2011 at 8:36 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Blue, do you know where the word ‘Hallyu’ comes from? It reminds me of Hollywood…I’m making stuff up.
Hipployta
September 6, 2011 at 4:04 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Well…Korean actors not speaking the language in those Taiwan/Mainland/Hong Kong dramas probably isn’t a big deal because I SWEAR in Beijing I didn’t hear much standard Mandarin…it was all these dialects. I think it’s standard practice to dub AND subtitle so everyone understands the shows LOL.
Si Won and Donghae are doing the TW-drama of Skip Beat with Ivy Chen and Bianca Bai…should be airing in December I think.
Park Shin Hye’s Hayate with George is/was airing…and I remember Silence a few years ago with Zai Zai and that girl I hated in Exhibition of Fireworks. It’s sad that I remember the role I hated her in but not her name. She’s a big name now too.
I hear Hong Ki is doing okay in Muscle Girl for Japan. I know Jang Geun Suk is doing his first role in Japan soon since he speaks Japanese…aside from the cameo.
BoA was/is huge in Japan…some say bigger than she is in Korea LOL. She’s doing that movie with the guy from Dancing With the Stars.
saladyum
September 14, 2011 at 11:06 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Lee Byung Hun was in the Japanese drama “Diplomat Kuroda Kousaku.” His performance in there IMO can be summed up in 2 aww’s: awkward and aw-cheesy-ful. He played an undercover FBI agent. Hmm maybe so. His antics were too distracting for me to find out who he exactly was. Anyways his character is the type that seduces women to get the job done. The same things City Hunter does in hotels with targets’ mistress and female assistants. So, LBH is supposed to play the lady-killer. But, why charm people by smiling like mouth muscles hurt, or bouncing constantly like legs are elestic is beyond me. Also why grunts when he can perfectly talk? In his total screentime of maybe 10 minutes he made me cringe too much I think I shrank 10 inches. Ok that’s exaggerating. He did make me cringe into a ball though. I haven’t been able to watch LBH in anywhere else every since.
rr
September 19, 2011 at 2:14 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
park shin hye and george hu interacted really well even off-cam inspite of the language barrier. and they really pulled off the right emotions required for each scenes in hayate the combat butler evethough they are not speaking the same language when shooting:)