'Sassy Girl' returns to Korean screens

By Yang Sung-jin
Publisher:The Korea Herald - Publication Date: 30-11-2007
Jun Ji-hyun is swooping down on the domestic film market again after a brief hiatus involving her latest effort to expand her career outside Korea.

Jun, who has built her Asia-wide fame with My Sassy Girl (2001), is playing opposite Hwang Jung-min in a new film, A Man Once a Superman, to be released early next year.

The 26-year-old fashion icon's return to the domestic cinema scene follows the completion of Blood: The Last Vampire, a film that critics said marks her full-fledged debut in Hollywood. She joined the shooting of Blood, directed by Ronny Yu, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The film, a remake of a Japanese animation with the same title, is also expected to be released in 2008.

Jun is using "Gianna Jun" as her official English name to increase the familiarity for English-speaking audiences, following advice that her original Korean name is hard to pronounce.

In the new Korean film project, Jun proved her star status. In July when the shooting for A Man Once a Superman began in southern Seoul, the streets were filled with people trying to get a glimpse of Jun.

On Wednesday, a shooting session in Haeri, Geyonggi Province, was open to the local press, and Jun held a press conference where she said the role was harder than she had originally imagined.

"I am feeling a lot of pressure since I'm coming back to the domestic film industry," she said. "In this film, I'm depicted as a person who does not put on any make-up, which is very different from my well-known image, but in fact that's closer to my real image."

In the film, Jun plays a documentary producer who helps out a man (played by Hwang) who believes that he is a superman who used to have, well, super-power.

But there are still concerns about her chance to prove her box-office power. Except for the blockbuster hit My Sassy Girl, which represents the advent of the Korean Wave throughout Asia, Jun has not impressed the local audiences that much.

For instance, The Uninvited (2003) was not so inviting, after all, with tepid reaction from the local moviegoers. In 2004, Windstruck was released and the expectations were almost at a sky-high level because the film seemed to be perfected designed to maximize Jun's charm as an innocent yet provocatively sexy girl. But the results were equally disappointing.

In 2006, Jun tried her luck again with Daisy, but despite the huge media attention toward her, the film did not make any strong impression on the local market, raising questions about her acting talent.

Even though Jun is the most sought-after fashion icon who wins one lucrative television ad contract after another, her acting seems to have hit a plateau since My Sassy Girl, and critics are keeping their eyes on whether she can show any improvement in A Man Once a Superman.

Ronny Yu has some really awesome movies. Blood is right up his alley. I hear he also wrote the script for this.

Jeon ji hun shouldnt have changed her name though. the name gianna doesnt fit at all.

I agree

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