YoonA out of Nodame Cantabile remake

The internet has spoken: Yoon-ah will not be taking the lead role in the Korean adaptation of Nodame Cantabile, which by the way is operating under the working title Cantabile Romance. (I suppose it makes sense, since Nodame is the Japanese character’s name and will probably change for a Korean drama.)

According to Yoon-ah’s management, she turned down the Cantabile Romance role in order to consider other projects instead. To that end, she will be taking to the big screen with a Korean-Chinese co-production called Goodbye Ani, a romantic comedy in which she plays the lovable title character of Ani (Annie? Ahni?).  *Edit by MDL* She will be costarring in Goodbye Ani with Eddie Peng

That sounds a lot like a nice way to spin that they had to backpedal out of the Cantabile Romance project, but you know, if it gets us a better Nodame, let them save all the face they want. This is exactly why the media’s casting-announcement song and dance operates the way it does; as much as I find it frustrating to get so many hesitant or incomplete announcements (“The actor is considering, it’s not final, there’s a verbal agreement, but there’s no contract, it might happen maybe”), this allows for people to test the waters without feeling like they’re losing too much if they have to shift gears. 

This news is not too surprising but I’m relieved just the same, because I did wonder if production company Group Eight and broadcaster KBS would forge ahead and insist on Yoon-ah’s casting no matter how fans felt about it. But fan response to the news was fairly negative all across the board, so I have to assume the producers decided to change course rather than deal with that wave of resistance. I don’t think the tone of the reactions to Yoon-ah’s possible casting was too terrible, in that the responses weren’t furiously or viciously negative; it’s just that that seemed to be a blanket feeling of disappointment or dubiousness. Even the more positive responses tended to go in the direction of “She’s fine, but not right for this character.” 

Now that Nodame’s up for grabs again, can I be cautiously optimistic again? Can we try someone like Lee Yubi? How much bribery would it take to lure Park Bo-young back to dramas?

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