How much can the casting of a popular star drive a film's box office? In South Korea, Kim Soo-hyun may have provided the answer.
Early last month, the drama-comedy Secretly Greatly, in which the actor-model-singer plays a North Korean spy, enjoyed the biggest opening in South Korean film history. It set a record for ticket sales in a single day (919,027 admissions), and its overall total of just under 7 million admissions gives it the equivalent of US$43.3 million in revenue.
Virtually all commentators have cited Kim's popularity as the biggest reason behind the movie's success - all this for a 25-year-old in his first leading film role.
Kim has been turning heads at home since the 2011 TV drama musical Dream High, in which he stars alongside some of the top names in K-pop including miss A's Suzy and 2PM's Taecyeon. In early 2012 he played a king in the explosively popular TV drama Moon Embracing the Sun, which attained a 42.3 per cent viewership and made him a household name.
In a sign of just how popular he is, last year the heartthrob set a new record for endorsements, acting as the face of 17 products simultaneously. (The previous record holder was 2010 Olympic figure skating champion Kim Yu-na with 15.)
Secretly Greatly might seem like an odd choice for an actor known for his well-groomed image and reserved personality. Kim plays an elite North Korean spy who, after being dispatched to the South, disguises himself as a village idiot. With tangled, overgrown hair and a distinctly unfashionable green tracksuit, he suffers abuse and makes a fool of himself on a daily basis, while surreptitiously taking detailed notes on the mundane everyday habits of his neighbours. Eventually, he is joined by two other spies who pose as a rock musician and a high school student respectively. Then one day they receive a distressing order from their superiors in the North.
The sophomore feature by up-and-coming director Jang Cheol-soo ( Bedevilled), Secretly Greatly is based on Covertness, a popular 2010 webtoon series of which Kim professes to be a fan. "I had read the original webtoon, and became totally engrossed in the story," the star says. "While reading it, I laughed a lot, and then found myself crying. That made me want to take on the challenge of playing this contradictory character."