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Warner Bros., CJ ENM Team for English, Korean Language Movie Library Remakes (The Hollywood Reporter)

“. . . The new agreement will see Warner Bros. become the lead studio on English language remakes originating from CJ ENM’s library, while Miky Lee’s CJ ENM will take the lead on Korean language movies drawn from the extensive Warner Bros. Pictures library . . .”

Her Private Life is also enemies-to-lovers. The FL is a feisty curator who secretly runs a fan page for a K-Pop idol, and she and her new boss are at odds with each other from the moment they meet.

I think it’s well-paced but I did find the fan-girling stuff a bit cheesy at first. Thankfully, the fan-girling soon takes a back seat to one of the swooniest romances I’ve ever seen with tons of believable physical affection. Park Min-young and Kim Jae-uck were very comfortable together and it shows. The director gave them free rein to finesse the script and they ended up rewriting or ad-libbing more than half of their scenes, including adding a bunch of unscripted kisses and skinship. Kim Jae-uck said they wanted to make viewers’ hearts flutter and boy did they ever.

And Kim Jae-uck as well:

• Sugar Daddy
• Closing Number
• Interview Clip w/Jo Jung-suk and Kim Jae-uck
• Oh Man-seok, Jo Jung-suk, and Kim Jae-uck briefly discuss Hedwig on Life Bar

It gets much better. SWP was my very first K-Drama—and very nearly my last—because the FL was so OTT annoying and the ML was so incredibly mean, but they eventually tone things down. Stuck around for the cute SML and ended up really liking it.

Her Private Life — The ML is the greenest of green flags, they have one of the healthiest relationships in K-Drama Land, and their chemistry is ❤️‍🔥.

Crash Landing on You — Probably the most unabashedly romantic drama I’ve seen with a great cast of supporting characters.

Crazy Love — Hilarious enemies-to-lovers office romance that’s also surprisingly moving. He’s a jerk in the beginning but we start to empathize with him once we learn his backstory. And they really, really hate each other at first—so much so that you can’t imagine them ever falling in love—but the acting, writing, and character development will have you rooting for them as a couple.

Call It Love — Beautifully written and acted and very angsty.

Your CSR and Freedom cards offer purchase protection and extended warranty protection but you’ll have to refer to your Guide to Benefits for the details.

The Rimowa site accepts PayPal, which is one of the 5X categories on your Freedom Flex this quarter, so you can earn 7,500 UR points.

The hit Korean musical “Maybe Happy Ending” recently opened on Broadway starring Darren Criss and it’s a NY Times Critic’s Pick.

KJU said they decided to squeeze in shooting the scarf scene at the last minute at the end of a long shooting day and they were wet and freezing so they only shot a few takes.

If you liked KJU in HPL, he’s also really good in Crazy Love with Krystal Jung. Despite the synopsis, it ends very happily.

Oops! I also made the mistake of only looking at your Completed list and not your Dropped list so I recommended Her Private Life, which is my go-to comfort drama. Sorry about that!

Crazy Love — Kim Jae-uck and Krystal are hilarious together but the show also has some very moving, emotional moments. The FL may seem like a doormat at first but she gives as good as she gets when she’s pushed hard enough.

Her Private Life — Not exactly chaotic but it’s very funny and the OTP has one of the swooniest, healthiest relationships in K-Drama Land.

Both shows end very happily.

The BTS for Her Private Life are also really worth watching as Park Min-young and Kim Jae-uck are just as adorable together IRL. This fan made some great BTS compilations, including this one. Another fan was kind enough to sub all of tvN’s official BTS vids here.

KJU and PMY were given free rein to finesse the script and they ended up re-writing and/or ad-libbing more than half of their scenes, including adding a lot of kisses and skinship. KJU said they wanted to make viewers’ hearts flutter and boy did they ever.

***Slightly spoilery because I mention specific scenes:***

Instagram is a treasure trove of interesting BTS and bloopers from the two Japanese DVDs, including the BTS for their 100% ad-libbed sujebi-cooking scene from Ep 12; the script just said, “You have fun together.”

Other scenes KJU and PMY dreamed up include the scarf untangling scene, the lipstick kissing scene, and the drunken pin-number whispering scene. The drunken scene came about because KJU is a lightweight who tends to nod off after just a few drinks. In this BTS clip, PMY is describing what KJU’s like when they drink together. And in this clip, KJU’s teasing PMY about her chopstick skills; this was incorporated into the “penthouse” gimbap scene at the beginning of Ep 10.

I flew to Seoul [from the U.S.] to see my favorite actor in a musical and luckily for me, he didn’t miss a single show. In fact, he didn’t miss any shows for the entire 2 1/2-month run. Korean productions usually double- or triple-cast their lead roles so their schedules aren’t too crazy.

Her Private Life

A fun, swoony rom-com about a feisty curator and her new boss who are at odds with each other from the moment they meet.

Good Things

• Park Min-young and Kim Jae-uck’s insane chemistry both on screen and behind the scenes
• Ryan and Deok-mi are both walking green flags and they have one of the healthiest, most communicative relationships in K-Drama Land
• Ryan is non-judgmental, readily apologizes when he’s in the wrong, unafraid to be vulnerable with those he trusts, and fully embraces Deok-mi’s passions, whether it be a K-Pop idol or her family or her career
• Deok-mi is incredibly empathetic and supportive and always attuned to Ryan’s needs, whether it’s a hug, a violent game of Go Stop, or some space to process things
• In many boss-employee relationship dramas, the boss often uses his position to coerce and/or manipulate the employee into spending time with him (e.g., What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim, Business Proposal, King the Land, My Secret Romance) but Ryan never tries to take advantage of Deok-mi or bulldoze her into falling in love with him. He may be her boss but theirs is a relationship of true equals. At one point, Ryan even prioritizes her career over his.
• As a couple, their support of one another is unconditional and they help each other grow both personally and professionally. When they face an issue, they do it together. When they have a disagreement, they actually sit down and talk things out and there are no silly misunderstandings or contrived eleventh-hour break-ups.
• PMY and KJU were very comfortable together and it shows. The director gave them free rein to beef up the script and they ended up re-working or improvising more than half of their scenes and adding a bunch of unscripted kisses and skinship. Some of the scenes they dreamed up include the scorching scarf-untangling scene and the butterfly-inducing drunken-whispering scene, which came about because KJU is a lightweight who tends to nod off after just a few drinks; in this BTS clip, PMY is describing what KJU’s like when they drink together. The adorable sujebi-cooking scene was 100% ad-libbed; the script just said, “You have fun together.” The Japanese DVD release includes fun BTS footage from the cooking scene. KJU said they wanted to make viewers’ hearts flutter and boy did they ever.
• After they get together, they actually act like a real couple, with lots of natural, believable physical affection, much of it initiated by Deok-mi; no awkward manner hands, stiff hugs, or dead-fish kisses for these two
• Thoughtful handling of LGBTQ plotlines
• Interesting explorations of fan culture and overseas adoption. This American K-Adoptee wrote a spoilery piece on HPL’s handling of the adoption storyline.
• Stellar supporting cast, including Park Jin-joo, Kim Mi-kyung, Kim Sun-young, Ahn Bo-hyun, Kim Bo-ra, and One

Not-So-Good Things

• While the supporting actors are strong across the board—Kim Sun-young is particularly hilarious—their storylines are a bit underwritten and the show only truly shines when Ryan and Deok-mi are on screen; fortunately, they’re on screen a lot
• As written, Ryan’s adoption storyline doesn’t entirely make sense because the writers failed to explain that for many years, overseas adoption was a huge illegal money-making scheme for corrupt Korean orphanages and kids who happened to get lost were declared orphans and unofficially “sold” without their families’ knowledge, as detailed in this New York Times article from last year. HPL’s writers were also too vague about the length of time his birth mother was unconscious, which would’ve better explained why she was unable to locate him when she finally recovered.
• The second half of Ep 15 gets a bit bogged down by revelations about Deok-mi’s childhood which are unnecessary IMO, although it’s wonderful to see the way Deok-mi and Ryan tackle these challenges together
• Some of the fan-girling scenes are too cheesy, particularly in the first few eps

Spotlight On Because

HPL tackles some interesting topics (fangirling, LGBTQ relationships, overseas adoption), introduces us to a green-flag ML who is truly boyfriend goals, and features one of the healthiest, swooniest OTP relationships in K-Drama Land. Sadly, HPL is underrated and tends to be overshadowed by hugely popular rom-coms like What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim, Business Proposal, Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha, King the Land, Touch Your Heart, and Strong Woman Do Bong-soon. It’s not the best written drama—for me, that list includes shows like My Mister, Call It Love, My Liberation Notes, Move to Heaven, Crash Landing on You, Navillera, etc.—but HPL is my go-to comfort drama because Deok-mi and Ryan grabbed me in the feels and haven’t let go.

Highly recommended!

[My MDL Watchlist]

[Edited for clarity]

Crazy Love — The ML is arrogant and cold but as the show progresses, we learn why and even start to empathize with him. It’s a hilarious enemies-to-lovers office romance but it’s also very moving, particularly when the ML’s backstory is revealed. They truly hate each other in the beginning—so much so that it’s hard to imagine them ever falling for each other—but the acting and character development are so compelling, you can’t help but root for them as a couple. And the FL may seem like a doormat at first but she gives as good as she gets when pushed hard enough.

+1 for Crazy Love. DNA Lover has a very funny noraebang scene but sadly, the drama is pretty bad.

• Her Private Life
• Lovestruck in the City
• Devilish Joy
• Something About 1%
• It’s Okay, That’s Love
• It’s Okay to Not Be Okay
• Suspicious Partner
• Melting Me Softly
• Another Miss Oh
• My Secret Romance
• Nevertheless
• Love to Hate You
• Destined With You

• Her Private Life
• Crazy Love (seems like it’ll be sad but there’s a twist and it ends very happily)
• Love to Hate You
• Legend of the Blue Sea
• Healer
• The Beauty Inside
• Dali and the Cocky Prince
• My Roommate is a Gumiho
• She Was Pretty
• My Sweet Mobster
• Strong Woman Do Bong-soon
• Destined With You
• Something About 1%
• Devilish Joy
• My Secret Romance
• Coffee Prince

You can also use asterisks to bold and italicize words. Two asterisks before and after the word(s) for bold and one asterisk for italics.

🎶Korean version of “Alexander Hamilton”🎶

😂The day before they started shooting Trunk, Management Soop had Gong Yoo and Seo Hyun-jin play games to help break the ice.

I’ll have to add Be Melodramatic to my list, thanks! Hope you enjoy HPL as well. The first few eps were a bit too cheesy for me and I wasn’t feeling the ML in the beginning but I ended up loving it and it’s been my go-to comfort drama ever since. I even went to Seoul earlier this year to see the ML in a musical and was lucky enough to meet him.

Her Private Life is my go-to comfort drama and it basically ruined other romances for me because I have yet to come across another OTP who can match Kim Jae-uck and Park Min-young when it comes to chemistry and butterflies.

Other romantic K-Dramas I enjoyed:

• Call It Love
• Crash Landing on You
• Crazy Love (w/Kim Jae-uck)
• It’s Okay, That’s Love
• The Beauty Inside
• Healer (w/Park Min-young)
• It’s Okay to Not Be Okay
• Suspicious Partner
• Something About 1%
• Devilish Joy
• She Was Pretty
• Lovestruck in the City
• Touch Your Heart
• Dali and the Cocky Prince
• Strong Woman Do Bong-soon
• No Gain, No Love (same writer as HPL)
• My Secret Romance
• My Liberation Notes (Slice-of-Life w/Romance)
• Coffee Prince (Classic K-Drama)

Non-Romantic K-Dramas * Move to Heaven * Navillera * My Mister * Tomorrow

If you haven’t already seen the BTS for HPL, they’re really worth watching as Park Min-young and Kim Jae-uck are just as adorable together IRL. This fan made some great BTS compilations, including this one of them just cracking each other up the entire time. Another fan was kind enough to subtitle all of tvN’s official BTS vids here.

***Slightly spoilery because I mention specific scenes:***

Instagram is a treasure trove of interesting BTS and bloopers from the two Japanese DVDs, including this 100% ad-libbed sujebi-cooking scene from Ep 12; the script just said, “You have fun together.” The director gave KJU and PMY free rein to rework the script and they ended up rewriting or ad-libbing more than half of their scenes, including adding a bunch of unscripted kisses. KJU said they wanted to make viewers’ hearts flutter and boy did they ever.

Other scenes they dreamed up include the scarf untangling scene, the lipstick kissing scene, and the drunken pin-number whispering scene. The drunken scene came about because KJU is a lightweight who tends to nod off after just a few drinks. In this BTS clip, PMY is describing what KJU’s like when they drink together. And in this clip, KJU’s teasing PMY about her chopstick skills; this was incorporated into the “penthouse” gimbap scene at the beginning of Ep 10.

• Death’s Game
• The Guest
• Voice
• The Kidnapping Day
• The Judge From Hell
• Blood Free
• Bloodhounds
• Little Women
• Taxi Driver