Secret Garden has cast Ha Ji-won to star opposite Jang Hyuk in the “fantasy romantic comedy” drama set to air on SBS later this year. Note that the contract is “not finalized yet” — and we know why that’s a tricky deal — but the production company announced the casting on July 20 as though it were a done deal.
Ha will play a beautiful, skilled stuntwoman named Kil La-im (it is a Korean name despite being rather unusual) who “gets entangled with the immature and prickly Joo-won,” a department store president and chaebol played by Jang Hyuk. Also starring is Yoon Sang-hyun (Queen of Housewives) as a washed-up Hallyu star (haha) named Oscar, with whom Ha Ji-won and Jang Hyuk will fall into a love triangle.
Philip Lee (Story of a Man), and Kim Sarang (Tokyo Showers) are also cast, he as a martial arts director and she as a CF director. The drama has also been the source of speculation as to whether ex-2PM star Jaebum will sign on as a rookie singer named Sun.
This will be Ha’s first drama in nearly four years, ever since she played the famed gisaeng Hwang Jini in the drama of the same name. Since then, her film career has taken off with hits like disaster flick Haeundae and melodrama My Love By My Side. She’s slated for another film this year, the action blockbuster Sector 7.
Secret Garden will replace Life Is Beautiful on weekends and is scheduled to premiere in September. The project comes from the team that did On Air and Lovers In Paris, PD Shin Woo-chul and Kim Eun-sook.
Actress Ha Ji Won expressed her thoughts about coming back to a drama after a four years gap. She told the media that she had difficulties in acting like a man’s soul is coming into her body at the press conference of Secret Garden, new SBS weekend drama.
She said, “The plot about switching the soul between a man and a woman is very interesting.” She also said, “Because Hyun Bin has to act like a man with a woman’s soul, we helped each other by copying each other.” She said, “I wanted to challenge myself as a different character. It is a stunt woman this time and it is very hard but it is fun.”
Ha Ji Won and Hyun Bin had appeared together in the film “The Tall Man”. But because Hyun Bin was an imaginary character of Ha Ji Won in that film, this is their first time of acting together. She said, “Even though it is our first time acting together, Hyun Bin is very nice and easy going and I think we could make a good team.”
