New historical film “Coffee” to crank in next week

Starting from left: Joo Jin-mo, Kim So-yeon, Park Hwi-soon and Yoo Sun [Cinema Service]

A high-budget historical film tentatively titled “Coffee” will crank in next week, revealed the film’s promoter Cinema Service on Thursday.

According to a press release from Cinema Service today, 10 billion won film “Coffee,” about Korea’s first female barista who served King Gojong (1852-1919) of the late 19th century, will crank in next Tuesday and be filmed in several locations including Korea, Russia and Japan while eyeing for a release during the latter half of this year.

Actor Joo Jin-mo and actress Kim So-yeon will star in the movie -- Kim So-yeon replacing actress Lee Da-hae who early this month, expressed her intention to leave the cast -- while the main supporting roles will be played by actor Park Hee-soon and actress Yoo Sun.

Based on a novel named “Russian Coffee” by Kim Tak-hwan and helmed by director Chang Yoon-hyun, the film is set in Korea a century ago when Imperial Japan sent spies to Korea to assassinate then-King Gojong all to prevent the king’s declaration of Korea's independence.

The film itself will depict on the confrontation between Russian and Japanese spies trying to take control over the Korean Peninsula with Joo appearing as a brilliant swindler and double spy to Russia while actress Kim So-yeon will play the royal barista to King Gojong who according to actual historical accounts, was the first Korean to taste Western coffee while seeking refuge at the Russian Embassy.

Born Park Jin-tae, Joo has starred in numbers of films and dramas since his debut in 1996, most notably movies "200 Pound Beauty" (2006) opposite actress Kim A-joong and "A Frozen Flower" (2008) alongside actor Zo In-sung for which he won the award for best male actor at the Baeksang Arts Awards last year.

Kim So-yeon debuted in 1994 via SBS youth drama “Dinosaur Teacher” and has since appeared in numerous hit TV series including “All About Eve” (MBC, 2000), “Autumn Shower” (MBC, 2005)“ “IRIS” (KBS, 2009), “Princess Prosecutor” (SBS, 2010), “Dr. Champ” (SBS, 2010) and “Athena” (SBS, 2011) as well as films “Change” (1997) and “Seven Swords” (2005).

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