Winslet marries for third time - to Mr. RocknRoll

Oscar-winning actress Kate Winslet has married her third husband in a secret ceremony -- tying the knot with Richard Branson's nephew Ned RocknRoll, The Sun tabloid reported on Thursday.Winslet, 37, was given away by her "Titanic" co-star Leonardo DiCaprio at an intimate service in New York attended by just a few close friends and family in early December, according to the paper.Although Winslet's spokeswoman confirmed the actress had married, it came as a surprise to her family -- her father Ro

Dec. 27, 2012

Lee Byung-hun chosen as ‘actor of 2012’ in poll

South Korean actor Lee Byung-hun was selected as the best actor of 2012 in an annual poll released Wednesday.Lee received the most support with 37.6 percent of the 1,700 people aged 13 and older who were polled in a Gallup Korea survey conducted last month, the Seoul-based pollster said.Lee also won the best actor honor at the 49th Daejong (Grand Bell) Film Awards for his title role in the Korean costume drama “Gwanghae: the Man Who Became King” that has sold 12 million tickets to become the thi

Dec. 27, 2012

Sistar19 to make a comeback

Starship Entertainment announced that Sistar19, a subunit of the sexy K-pop girl group Sistar, will be making a comeback in January. Sistar19, consisting of members Hyo-rin and Bo-ra, first debuted in 2011 with the release of the single “Ma Boy.” However, the subunit has not been active since then, rather participating as members of the four-member group Sistar, releasing their album “So Cool” in August of the same year and clinching the top spot on the Billboard K-pop Top 100 charts for the fir

Dec. 25, 2012

BoA’s first solo concert in Korea sold out, second show added

The K-pop veteran and music icon BoA will be holding her first solo concert in Korea since her debut in 2000. A second performance was recently added due to high demand. “This will be BoA’s first solo concert since her debut and the local fans’ interest was strong,” said a representative from S.M. Entertainment. The artist released her latest seventh album, “Only One,” in July, writing and composing the title track with the same name. Upon its release, the title track single ranked at the top of

Dec. 25, 2012

Korean directors to feature big at Sundance 2013

Korean movie fans will be excited to see the line-up of the upcoming Sundance Film Festival, as a total of four local directors’ works are to be featured ― including the much anticipated “Stoker” by Park Chan-wook.The festival, which kicks off on Jan. 17, includes Park’s film in its Premieres program, a showcase of world premieres of some of the most highly anticipated dramatic films of the coming year. The thriller, which tells the story of a girl and her mother who are visited by a mysterious

Dec. 23, 2012

Box office

Love 911 (Korea)Opened Dec. 19Romance. Drama. Directed by Jeong Gi-hoon. Kang-il (Go Soo) is an unhappy firefighter who lost his wife to an illness. He suffers from guilt for choosing to stay with a fire victim instead of going to his wife who was desperately calling him for help and died before he arrived. Losing his wife only made him work harder, always putting himself out there to save lives in danger. His nothing-to-lose attitude and strong work ethic intrigues Mi-soo (Han Hyo-joo), a medic

Dec. 21, 2012

Johansson tones down sex in play

NEW YORK (AP) ― In a decision that will make many a man sigh unhappily, Scarlett Johansson won’t be bringing sexy back to Broadway.The actress with the pouty lips and gentle curves that GQ magazine once called “Babe of the Year” is determined to be a more naturalistic Maggie the Cat in a revival of Tennessee Williams’ “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” that opens Jan. 17.That’s the same role Elizabeth Taylor embodied while virtually purring in a satin slip. And her successors ― Anika Noni Rose, Ashley Judd

Dec. 21, 2012

Sung returns as grieving sister

Actress Sung Yu-ri is returning to the big screen as a grieving sister in her next drama film, “A Boy’s Sister.”The former idol star made her film debut in 2009, as a Korean-American adoptee who returns to Korea in Joo Ji-hong’s “Maybe.” She also starred in this year’s comedy “Runway Cop” as a fashion designer who gets involved in a drug case.In her upcoming movie, Sung stars as Yoon-hee, whose late brother died while trying to rescue her from flood waters many years ago. She is deeply traumatiz

Dec. 21, 2012

Film about 1948 Jeju massacre invited to Sundance, Rotterdam

A local film about the 1948 Jeju Massacre has been invited to the upcoming Sundance Film Festival and International Film Festival Rotterdam, according to its producer Japari Films.An artistic, black and white work by Jeju-based director O Muel, the film tells the story of a group of some 120 villagers who hid from soldiers in a cave during the 1948 massacre. The incident resulted in the death of some 30,000 islanders as the government sought to quell an uprising led by a small group of communist

Dec. 20, 2012

BIFF founding director’s first short invited to Berlinale

The first film directed by Busan International Film Festival’s founding director has been invited to the non-competition section of the upcoming Berlinale, according to its production house.Kim Dong-ho, who is considered one of the pioneer figures in Korean film history, currently serves as the honorary chief of BIFF. He made his directing debut last month during Korea’s Asiana International Short Film Festival, with his short titled “Jury.” The film premiered as the festival’s opener.An account

Dec. 20, 2012

U.S. hacker behind nude celebrity photos jailed

A U.S. judge jailed a computer hacker for 10 years on Monday for breaking into the email accounts of stars, including Scarlett Johansson, naked pictures of whom were leaked online.A federal judge in Los Angeles also ordered 36-year-old Christopher Chaney, from Florida, to pay a total of $76,000 to Johansson, Christina Aguilera and Renee Olstead, who were among dozens of other people he hacked.Chaney pleaded guilty in March, in a deal with prosecutors. He could have been jailed for up to 121 year

Dec. 18, 2012

Queen of romance returns in disaster flick

Since her debut in 2000, actress Son Ye-jin’s forte has been romantic dramas.Though she’s done a few comedies (“The Art of Seduction,” “My Wife Got Married”) and a thriller (“White Night”), some of her most memorable roles are still the beautiful-yet-tragic heroines of her box-office-hit tearjerkers. She was the innocent high-school girl whose first love is destroyed by war in her 2003 film “Classic.” In her 2004 tearjerker “A Moment to Remember,” she played a young, happily married wife who get

Dec. 17, 2012

‘Cloud Atlas’ crew: ‘No movie is quite like ours’

Lana and Andy Wachowski and Tom Tykwer’s much-anticipated $102 million sci-fi film was finally unveiled to the local press in Seoul last week, featuring Korean actress Bae Doo-na as part of its star-studded ensemble.The Wachowskis (“The Matrix,” “V for Vendetta”) and Tykwer (“Perfume: The Story of a Murderer”) met with the local press on Thursday, along with Bae and English actor Jim Sturgess, and shared their experience of making “Cloud Atlas,” the most expensive independent movie of all time.T

Dec. 16, 2012