Kpop Star Rain Extends His Range to Mainland
For Love or Money, a sweet melodrama starring Kpop star
Rain and Chinese actress LIU Yifei, was released in Chinese theatres on November 7th. The film was directed by GAO Xixi who has worked on TV series such as
Three Kingdoms (2010) and
The Legend of Chu and Han (2012).
Based on an original novel by ZHANG Xiao Han, it features Rain as Chengxun, a painter who is heir to a large organization but chooses a life of freedom and poverty while LIU Yifei plays a broken and lost noblewomen. Their romantic but heartbreaking story attracted the notice of many fans even before shooting began last March.
LIU Yifei is a famous Chinese actress, model and singer, known for films such as
The Forbidden Kingdom (2008) and
White Vengeance (2011). Following
For Love or Money, she has been cast in a film with another Korean male actor,
SONG Seung-heon. This time, it’ll be a Korea-China co-production called
Third Love (w/t) which is aiming for release in early 2015.
Rain has proven to be multi-talented in the arts. His popularity as a musician took off quickly, and he started acting in 2003 when he starred in the TV drama Sang Doo! Let’s Go to School, for which he received positive notices. This led to more dramas and also his role in PARK Chan-wook’s I’m a Cyborg, But That’s OK (2006). He then stepped into Hollywood by starring in Speed Racer (2008), Ninja Assassin (2009) and recently The Prince. With For Love or Money, Rain has now reached out to Chinese audiences.