Super Cast Headlines Choi Dong-Hoon's 전우치 (Jeon Woo-Chi)

I guess when you hit two homeruns in a row like Choi Dong-Hoon, everything is possible. After debuting in great fashion with the stylish caper 범죄의 재구성 (The Big Swindle), Choi successfully adapted the manhwa classic 타짜 (War of Flowers) into the super hit 타짜 (Tazza: The High Rollers). But his upcoming project 전우치 (Jeon Woo-Chi) appears to be his most ambitious film to date, as just a quick look at the cast should prove: Kim Yoon-Seok of 추격자 (The Chaser), ad-lib master Yoo Hae-Jin, Im Soo-Jung of 장화, 홍련 (A Tale of Two Sisters) were cast already, supporting Kang Dong-Won of 형사 Duelist, who's playing the protagonist Jeon Woo-Chi. But now a few more stars have been added to the list, and we're not talking of average names: Baek Yoon-Shik, who starred in Choi's two previous works, is joining along with Yeom Jung-Ah and Kim Hyo-Jin.

The film sounds like a pretty strange beast to describe. Chronicles narrate that Jeon Woo-Chi lived during the reign of King Jungjong (first half of the 16th century), first working as a low ranked official in the capital, then moving to Songdo (current Gaeseong in North Korea) and becoming a master in Daoshu (Taoist Magic). Jeon was incarcerated and then sentenced to death for his "nefarious" practices, but when his relatives went to exhume his body and move the grave elsewhere, they only found an empty coffin. So... a sageuk with supernatural touches? Not really, since the story will bring Jeon Woo-Chi to the present, fighting off spirits as a sort of superhero from the past. That is, Choi will use only Jeon's name and few details from the original 전우치전 (The Tale of Jeon Woo-Chi), and then go in a completely different direction. I'd usually frown at the sole mention of using historical figures in a present setting, but Jeon's life was surrounded by so much mystery, and essentially was only tangentially connected to the period he lived in, so it shouldn't be too "offensive" in that sense. And... Choi Dong-Hoon, with that cast? Sold.

[Sports Seoul] [Yeonhap News] [E-Daily]