Latest update October 21st, 2015 12:41 PM
Casting Korean Stars In Chinese Films
Korean actor Kim Soo-hyun
Since China and South Korea signed a landmark co-production agreement in 2014, allowing approved films to be classified as local films in China, a number of South Korean actors are breaking into leading roles in Chinese films and China-Korea co-productions. They are experiencing a sea change in the number of roles available to them.
The recent release of HONEY ENEMY features Kwon Sang-woo and Zhang Yuqi, with Kwak Gae-yong, the director of MY SASSY GIRL, as producer. Two more will be released by the end of 2015: THE THIRD WAY OF LOVE starring Song Seung-heon and Liu Yifei, and BAD GUYS ALWAYS DIE featuring Chen Bolin and Son Ye-jin.
Moving Forward With Caution
The Chinese film industry is expanding extremely fast with the number of screens and moviegoers grow on a daily basis, but the quantity and quality of actors scarcely meets the ever-growing market demand. For Chinese film studios, South Korean movie stars represent an option that is good value for money. Their fame could boost sales in Asian movie markets to a certain degree, and may contribute to marketing and media exposure, for Korean fashion and make-up style are well received in China along with the invincible Korean wave.
South Korean movie stars, too, gain from entering the China market, where they enjoy higher pay and more audiences. According to South Korean media, their movie stars earn at least twice as much in China as in Korea.
However, both Chinese production companies and South Korean stars choose to move forward with caution at the moment. Chinese movies mostly cast well-established Korean stars, probably because only a handful of them are truly familiar to Chinese audiences, and most of them have limited understanding of the market.
Moreover, a majority of Korean stars merely know about several top notch Chinese directors, no other than Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige, Feng Xiaogang, Ang Lee, John Woo, and Stephen Chow, which leads to this prudence, says Korean media.
Long-leg “Korean Oppa” like Kim Soo-hyun and Lee Min-ho dominated China’s female audience market in 2014. Many Chinese movie companies offered to cast them yet were all refused. Lee gave priority to Showbox, a major South Korean production company, for its action-crime movie GANGNAM BLUES, while Kim’s next movie of the same genre, REAL, is also domestically produced with Lee Jeong-soep as director-writer. Other popular icons, such as Lee Jong-suk and Kong Hyo-jin, who have gained popularity in China in 2015, haven’t revealed any plans in entering the Chinese film market either.
How To Make It Big
In fact, there was no shortage of Chinese films starring South Korean actors over the past few years, including many eye-catching ones like DANGEROUS LIAISIONS, starring Jang Dong-gun and directed by Hur Jin-ho from CHRISTMAS IN AUGUST, and FOR LOVE OR MONEY featuring Rain and Liu.
Sadly, few of them were able to strike the gold. Most of them barely broke even, or earned mere scanty returns.
On the other hand, Korean stars’ work ethics in China also draw wide attention. According to Toutiao.com, during the roadshow tour of THE BELOVED in China, director Cao Dawei disclosed in media interviews that South Korean actor Kim Bum often put on airs at the shooting site, thus hindering the shooting process.
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Other A-list Korean actors like Kim Soo-hyun and Lee Min-ho also have been reported to put forward unreasonable demands during activities in China, such as only travel by South Korean airlines, demand to book whole floor of five-star hotels to ensure no fans in the vicinity, and ban media photography by sponsors so that all pictures are taken by Korean staff and released after their thorough review, reports Tencent News.
It’s no wonder that casting South Korean actors in Chinese films or co-productions could be a huge opportunity for both countries. But how to make it work deserves more concern. No matter actor-wise or company-wise, it is important to find the suitable one.
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