Hong Sisters’ Gumiho Drama Set For August Premiere
After writing such beloved, zesty dramas as You’re Beautiful
and Hong Gil Dong, the Hong sisters are
coming back with a fantasy drama called My Girlfriend Is A
Gumiho (a mythical nine-tailed fox), which has nabbed a slot in
SBS’s upcoming schedule. It’ll take up the Wednesday-Thursday time slot
following the upcoming Kim Sun-ah ajumma-rock-band
vehicle I
Am Legend (which follows Prosecutor Princess).
The story features Lee Seung-gi as a somewhat wimpy
dude who falls in love with a gumiho, which is a classic character in
Korean folklore who looks human but eats organs to stay alive. He
therefore lives in fear that she will steal his liver, unable to share
his worries with his friends who all think he’s the luckiest guy alive
to have such a gorgeous girlfriend. The female lead has not yet been
selected, and producers are in the later stages of casting her.
This drama had
been announced rather early in the process; initial news trickled
out almost immediately after they’d finished You’re Beautiful
last fall and the details were confirmed in the spring when they cast
Lee Seung-gi as their lead. Unlike their other dramas, this one will be
largely produced in advance. (Most of their other dramas have filmed at
the frenetic pace that accompanies the live-shoot practice, which
results in shows being filmed the week they air on television. Hong
Gil Dong, as a larger-scale period drama, did begin filming months
in advance, but toward the end they were still shooting as the drama
aired.)
I’m very curious to see if advance production will affect the drama
for the better — and whether this will allow the writers time to smooth
out the angsty wrinkles that so often appear in their last few episodes.
Regardless, the Hong sisters have a great track record and wonderful
comic flair, so I’ll be watching for sure.