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Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Korean Hines Ward biopic in the news, again.

Some Korean outlets reported on the 11th, and again this week, that the Korean movie on Hines Ward's life is a go. Osen wrote on October 25th that a movie about Korean-American "football star" Hines Ward's life story is being developed, and that Won Media and Ward have finalized contract and copyright details:
한국계 풋볼스타 하인스 워드의 일대기를 다룬 영화가 제작된다.

원 미디어 측은 25일 "하인스 워드와 판권 계약을 마쳤다"라고 전했다.
This movie will, the next paragraph says, cover his life from his earliest days through the start of his NFL career. It's set for a 2014 release date, and is operating with a 250 billion won (US$2.29 million) budget. Ward is half Korean, a point widely known in South Korea where he was heralded a national hero after Super Bowl 40, and was raised in the United States by his single, Korean mother.

We first read about a possible Hines Ward movie in December 2008, with it tentatively titled My Mother and focused on his “Korean” upbringing in the US. From the Segye Ilbo:
영화제작사 CY필름의 정필주 PD는 12일 “지난여름 미국에서 워드 선수 측과 영화화 계약을 맺고 시나리오 개발에 들어갔다”면서 “영화 ‘마이 마더’(가제)는 하인스 워드 선수의 성공신화보다는 그를 슈퍼볼 영웅으로 키워낸 어머니의 땀과 눈물에 초점을 맞출 예정”이라고 말했다.
A 2012 article in the Journal of Sports Management translates:
The dramatic story of Hines Ward and his mother is on a film-making (sic). Pil-Ju Chung of CY Film, a movie production company, announced, "We made a contract with Hines Ward last summer and began developing a scenario." He continued, "Rather than highlighting Hines Ward's success story, the movie, temporarily titled 'My mother,' focuses on his Korean mother's perseverance and sacrifice that made him a Super Bowl hero."
(The journal article is rather timid---as journal articles tend to be---specifically on the topic of selective acceptance of ethnic Koreans, but that's another story.) The last we heard of CY Film's project was three months later, when it was rumored to be shelved due to financial problems arising from shooting in the US..