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| Actors Hwang Jung-min, left, and Choi Min-sik / Courtesy of KeyEast, C-Jes Entertainment |
By Kwak Yeon-soo
With the COVID-19 pandemic bringing film production to a standstill and canceling cinematic releases, a growing number of talented movie stars are crossing over to the small screen.
These days, premium streaming services are numerous and accessible. More and more TV series are better produced with bigger budgets. Thanks to the popularity of Netflix, there is a whole new platform for actors to bring their talent to.
Actor Ha Jung-woo has been confirmed to appear in the Netflix original series "Suriname." This marks the actor's return to television 14 years after the MBC drama series "H.I.T." The crime series will be the television debut of filmmaker Yoon Jong-bin, who has collaborated with Ha in hit films including "Beastie Boys" (2008) and "Kundo: Age of the Rampant" (2014).
Based on a true story, it revolves around a man who rose to become a drug lord in Suriname, a former Portuguese colony on the northern coast of South America.
Hwang Jung-min, who will also take on the lead role in "Suriname," returned after eight years to the small screen in the JTBC drama series "Hush" that is currently airing.
Choi Min-sik, well-known for his role in the 2003 film "Oldboy" and 2014 film "Roaring Currents," is most likely to star in the drama series "Casino" (working title). If the deal is finalized, this would be his first time to be featured in a drama series in 24 years since MBC's "Love and Separation" (1997). "Casino" is written and directed by Kang Yun-sung of the 2017 crime action film "The Outlaws."
"The actor is positively reviewing the offer as he's always had a strong desire to participate in a project that tells longer stories which delve deeper into characters and have interesting subject matter and themes," the actor's agency C-Jes Entertainment said in a statement.
Cannes-winning actress Jeon Do-yeon will return in the drama series "No Longer Human" (working title) five years after starring in tvN's "Good Wife." Directed by Hur Jin-ho, whose works include "Christmas in August" (1998) and "One Fine Spring Day" (2001), the series will tell the story of a middle-aged ghostwriter who feels lost and empty with her lack of achievements in life.
Experts said the occurrence of movie stars flocking to the small screen is largely attributable to a rise in diverse and inclusive content in the TV industry.
"Film directors have flocked to the small screen in advance, bringing cinematic elements to TV. Movie stars are following in their footprints. Thanks to the popularity of OTT platforms like Netflix that are able to invest big budgets into original content, veteran actors are now driven by the content itself and are not limited to movies," film critic Youn Sung-eun said.
