Filming of Blood: The Last Vampire with Jeon Ji-hyeon in the leading role has begun on March 15, according to the Jeon affiliated Korean studio Sidus HQ. JEON's debut Hollywood project will stay in Argentina's capital Buenos Aires for a month, before moving to China where they are scheduled to film during three months.
The Japanese Animation film of the same title gained cult status after its release in 2002. It lead to several spin-offs, including platform computer games. The protagonist Saya – in the upcoming feature film played by Jeon – is half vampire and half human. Although she has some contempt for humans, she protects them by fighting vampires.
The project is in the hands of the producer Bill Kong ("Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon") and director Ronnie YU ("Fearless"). The film is scheduled for release in the summer of 2008.
Hollywood already made acquaintance with Jeon when her successful films across Asia attracted attention. Remake rights for films starring Jeon have been sold to Hollywood studios. Last year's The Lake House was a remake of "Il Mare" and JUN's role was played by Sandra Bullock. A Hollywood remake of JEON's breakthrough film "My Sassy Girl" is under way and this time Elisha Cuthbert is casted for the role originally played by Jeon.
Sidus HQ also announced that Jeon will use the name Gianna Jun outside Asia.
Yi Ch'ang-ho (KOFIC)
A few spy onset photos have turn up on the net for the upcoming live action version of Blood: The Last Vampire, directed by french director Chris Nahon. Many will know Chris Nahon for his work on Jet Li's Kiss of the Dragon in 2001. His most recent work was The Empire of Wolves in 2005.
Blood: The Last Vampire doesn't drop until 2008, but already, even before production started it has raised a few eyebrows. One in casting of korean bombshell Jeon Ji-hyun, who many thought was miscasted. Second comes the hiring of Runny Yu to direct the project. Some also thought this was a bad choice here on our forum.
Before production started, we get hit with more interesting news that they decided to drop Ronny Yu and replace him with Chris Nahon. Reasons behind this is still unclear. Though I thought Chris Nahon did a fair good job on Kiss of the Dragon, I still think that Runny Yu was the best choice of the two directors.
A huge fan of the short movie and the anime series, I am a little affraid to see how this might turn out. We all know that there will be some changes in the live action version. Though the movie only ran for 48 minutes, there is alot of material they can use from the anime series that ran for 50 episodes. One change we already know of is that Saya is no more, she is now Gianna Jun.
1 comment:
I never really knew what all the Jeon Ji Hyun fuss was all about. Admittedly, the only movie I've seen her in was Daisy and I wasn't all that impressed. Guess I still need to see My Sassy Girl...
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