Jeon Yeo-been recalls “tourists screaming” while filming ‘A Time Called You’ kiss scene

KISS OF LIFE have performed a medley cover of Jessie J’s hit songs ‘Bang Bang’ and ‘Ain’t Been Done’.KISS OF LIFE recently made an appearance at the 2023 ‘Runway To Seoul’ event, which was hosted by hosted by WWD Korea and Seoul Business Agency. During their set, the K-pop girl group performed a medley cover of Jessie J’s hit songs ‘Bang Bang’ and ‘Ain’t Been Done’.Elsewhere during their performance, KISS OF LIFE also thrilled the crowd with their debut single ‘Shhh’.

It’s no exaggeration to say that Korea’s Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) has been through a fair amount of drama this year. 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief A clutch of Chinese movies released for the end of September holiday season dominated the global box office over the latest weekend. Mainland Chinese-produced films took first, third and fifth places across the planet, according to U.S.-based data service Comscore. Comscore shows “Under the Light,” which released only in mainland China, grossing an estimated $54 million between Friday and Sunday.

The San Sebastian Film Festival awarded O Corno (The Rye Horn) with the Golden Shell for Best Film. San Sebastián native Jaione Camborda took the top prize of the night for the feature she directed.

Neon CEO Tom Quinn has addressed the debate around the new theatrical standards for Best Picture eligibilityannounced by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences over the summer.

Showtime has set a November premiere date for comedy The Curse, starring Emma Stone, Nathan Fielder and Benny Safdie. The 10-episode series will launch Friday, November 10 on streaming and on demand for Showtime and Paramount+ subscribers before making is linear debut on Showtime on Sunday, November 12 at 1 pm ET/PT. Showtime also has unveiled an expanded look at images from the series, which will have its world premiere at the 2023 New York Film Festival on Thursday, October 12, screening the first three episodes. You can see the images above and below.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The 2023 Golden Horse Film Project Promotion, the project market that accompanies the Golden Horse film festival and awards in Taiwan in November, has laid out a huge 64-title selection for its 2023 edition. These include 39 film projects at various stages of development and financing; a further seven works in progress; and the 18-previously announced series at project stage.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Neo Sora’s concert documentary “Ryuichi Sakamoto | Opus,” a standout at the Venice Film Festival, has sold for theatrical distribution in North America to Janus Films ahead of its North American premiere at the New York Film Festival. The theatrical release will be followed by a Blu-ray Disc release on the “Janus Contemporaries” label. This is the latest deal inked by London and Paris-based production, finance and sales outfit Film Constellation, following a slew of sales to Spain (Filmin), Portugal (Midas Filmes), Germany and Austria (Rapid Eye), Scandinavia (NjutaFilms), Baltics (Kino Pavasaris), South Korea (Media Castle), China (JL Vision Films), Hong Kong and Macau (Edko Films), Taiwan (Cai Chang) and Singapore (Anticipate Pictures).

Anna Marie de la Fuente “Monster,” Hirokazu Kore-eda, Japan Described by Variety critic Peter Debruge as a “convoluted portrait of a pre-teen in turmoil,” Kore-eda ‘s Palme d’Or best script and Queer Palm winner stars Sakura Andō as a mother who confronts a teacher after noticing odd changes in her son’s demeanor. Written by Yuji Sakamoto, it’s scored by the late Ryuichi Sakamoto. “Peafowl,” Byun Sungbin, South Korea Myung, a transgender, is estranged from her family because of who she is.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Steven Yeun has bucked stereotypes and carved a new niche as sexy Asian leading man with his roles in “Burning” and “Beef.” Justin Chon transitioned from a supporting role in “Twilight” to directing “Gook,” “Jamojaya” and half of Apple TV+’s “Pachinko.” And Busan-born Daniel Dae Kim has expanded from “Lost” and “Hawaii” to becoming one of Hollywood’s leading producers. The stateside successes of Korean-born and Korean American talent are growing and are worth celebrating. But the Busan International Film Festival’s planned party is being dialed down a notch under the impact of the twin writers’ and SAG Actors strikes in the U.S. Busan’s ‘Special Program in Focus: Korean Diasporic Cinema’ will go ahead with a screening schedule including six films, public talk sessions that include Oscar-winning actor Youn Yuh-jung, Lee Isaac Chung, director of Oscar-winning film “Minari,” and John Cho, the Seoul-born “Star Trek” and “Searching” star.

Rowoon for Netflix’s latest K-drama, A Time Called You.A Time Called You, a remake of the 2019 Taiwanese series Someday or One Day, stars Ahn Hyo-seop (A Business Proposal) as lead male character Koo Yeon-jun. Meanwhile, Rowoon made a special appearance as Tae-ha, a friend of Yeon-jun’s.In a new interview with SBS Star, the actor spoke about how he had “always wanted to work together” with Rowoon and “recommended” the former SF9 member when production was looking for a special guest actor.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Byun hee-bong, a veteran South Korean actor who appeared in several films by Oscar-winning director Bong Joon Ho, has died age 81. Byun died on Monday after complications related to a return of the pancreatic cancer that had previously occurred and been treated, according to the semi-official Yonhap News agency. The precise circumstances of his demise were not disclosed. He was born in Jangseon, South Jeolla Province, and started work at an unspecified time in live theater before becoming a voice performer for state TV network MBC in 1966. His TV work in the 1980s and 1990s included series including: 1981’s ”The First Republic”; 1985’s “The Joseon Dynasty 500 Years: Seouljungmae”; and 1999’s “The Legendary Doctor Hur Jun.” His first reliably recorded feature film work was in Bong’s breakout 2000 film “Barking Dogs Never Bite.” Byun appeared in significant roles in three other films by Bong: the cultish “Memories of Murder,” in 2003; 2006 Cannes presentation and box office hit “The Host”; and “Okja,” the creature feature which marked Netflix’s film production debut in Korea and which also appeared Cannes. Byun picked up half a dozen best supporting actor nominations in Korea and regionally in Asia for his role as Hie-bong in “The Host,” converting two of those into wins, at the Asia Pacific Film Festival and Korea’s Blue Dragon Awards.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Korean crime-action webtoon “Knuckle Girl” is being adapted as an original film production for Amazon’s Prime Video. It is structured as a Korea-Japan co-venture. The narrative revolves around a promising woman boxer, Ran, who takes on school bullies and participates in illegal bouts.

Kim Se-jeong has revealed that she initially turned down an offer to appear on Produce 101.Kim Se-jeong, a former member of K-pop girl groups I.O.I and Gugudan, opened up about her time on the popular Mnet TV competition Produce 101 during a recent appearance on the South Korean radio programme, Cultwo Show.The singer revealed that she had originally “turn it down” because, at the time, she was already set to make her debut under the Jellyfish Entertainment girl group, Gugudan. “So, I thought to myself, ‘Is joining the show really that necessary?’,” she said, per SBS Star.Though her appearance on Produce 101, Kim Se-jeong eventually joined the girl group I.O.I, made up of the final 11 contestants from the show.Speaking of her experience on the programme, the singer said that “there were so many cameras around everywhere, it was hard not to be conscious of them”.“I couldn’t practice even when I wanted to, because I was scared that people might judge me through those lenses, saying things like, ‘Oh, she’s just practicing hard only because she knows she is being filmed’,” she added.In other K-pop news, former NMIXX member Jini has teased her upcoming solo EP, titled ‘An Iron Hand in a Velvet Glove’.

A Time Called You director Kim Jin-won has spoken about the changes of the new Netflix K-drama, as compared to its source material, the 2019 Taiwanese series Someday or One Day.In a new interview with The Korea Times, Kim opened up about how it felt like working on A Time Called You, which is a remake of the popular 2019 Taiwanese series, Someday or One Day.The director shared that because he is a “big fan” of the original series, a huge “difficulty” when it came to A Time Called You was “finding the balance between staying true to the original and carving out new identity”.“If it’s too similar, there comes a question on our series’ identity and on why we are making this series,” he said, later noting that he and screenwriter Choi Hyo-bi “didn’t deliberately try to make huge changes”.“As we go with the flow, we know it will have certain aspects of the characters that will naturally deviate,” Kim added. “There have been a lot of changes to the characters, rather than in the overall story.”Kim singled out changes to the character of Nam Si-heon, played by Ahn Hyo-seop of A Business Proposal fame, as the one that really affected the “overall tone of the series”.“I believed that creating Si-heon as more adult and mature would help to develop the story more smoothly,” the A Time Called You director added.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Oscar-winning Korean actor Youn Yuh-jung (“Minari,” “Pachinko”) will headline the Actors’ House section of the upcoming Busan International Film Festival, it was announced on Thursday. Introduced in 2021, Actors’ House is a special series that connects audiences and film enthusiasts with iconic actors from the current generation through its in-depth discussions. “There’s much anticipation to hear her words of wisdom, as she’s known for her insightful observations,” said the festival. Others this year include: Han Hyo-joo, Song Joong-ki and Korean-American actor and author John Cho.

Rowoon, a member of boyband SF9, wasn’t paid “any money” for his role in the new Netflix K-drama A Time Called You.Last week, Netflix released its latest South Korean series, titled A Time Called You. The new K-drama, which stars Ahn Hyo-seop (A Business Proposal) and Jeon Yeo-been (Vincenzo), is a remake of the 2019 Taiwanese series Someday or One Day.The series features a special appearance by Rowoon, who plays the character of Tae-ha, a friend of male protagonist Si-heon (portrayed by Ahn).

A Time Called You, a remake of Taiwanese series Someday or One Day.In a new interview with Yonhap News Agency, Jeon Yeo-been opened up about how it felt to work on A Time Called You as a fan of the original series, Someday or One Day.“I watched the original work years ago and fell in love with it. As I have respect for its creator, I felt pressure,” she said.

Liam Neeson’s new action thriller Retribution has been described as in the running for “worst film of the year” by critics.Directed by Nimród Antal (Predators), the film follows financier Matt Turner (Neeson) who is threatened by a mysterious bomber while driving his son and daughter to school. Other cast members include Noma Dumezweni, Lilly Aspell and Jack Champion.It’s the third remake of the 2015 Spanish film The Stranger, following German and Korean adaptations in 2018 and 2021 respectively.Retribution, which was released in the US on August 25, received a negative review on Rolling Stone, who described it as a “formula beaten into submission”.“Retribution is not the worst of his thrillers/action movies – that honour belongs to either last year’s god-awful Blacklight or this freezer-burned turkey – but it does suggest that Neeson may want to consider retiring from the everyman action-hero beat for good,” the review reads.

Disney’s Korean superhero thriller Moving heads the nominations for this year’s Asia Content Awards at Busan International Film Festival with nods in six categories, followed by Tencent Video’s The Long Season with five nods.