(What’s with all the vampires lately, huh?)
Although the Hollywood debut for Jeon Ji-hyun (or Gianna Jun) was announced over a year and a half ago, there hasn’t been a whole lot of news about it. Now that Blood: The Last Vampire’s worldwide release is coming up, though, the press whirl is starting to kick back into gear with more news, interviews, and other promotional tidbits.
In the action flick based on the popular manga (which also had an anime film), Jeon plays “Saya,” a young vampire hunter who happens to be a vampire herself. The film is scheduled for a simultaneous American, European, and Asian theatrical release on June 11.
Oshii Mamoru, the writer of the Blood books, recently praised Jeon to the press, saying, “It seems as though the Saya I had thought up walked right out of the original. Her acting is really great.”
Jeon’s participation in Blood is part of the reason why she hasn’t been very active in the Korean industry for the past two years, aside from briefly promoting her 2008 film The Man Who Was Superman, which co-starred Hwang Jung-min. Before that, she was in the film Daisy in 2006 and Windstruck in 2004, both of which were disappointing at the box office — not necessarily for being bad movies, but because expectations were so high after she starred in the super-popular romantic comedy My Sassy Girl (which has since gotten its own (failed) U.S. remake).
I’m not familiar with the Blood/Vampire franchise, but my initial impressions from reports and stills is that it looks gorgeous, and Jeon really does look the part. What with a whole slew of Hallyu actors trying to make the jump to Hollywood, I’ve been kinda cynical as to their crossover chances, but this one looks promising, and I’m interested in seeing how it pans out.
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