“Sad Tropics,” the debut film of “Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha” star Kim Seon-ho, has unveiled additional cast members including the main character.
Kim Seon-ho will star in the movie along with Go Ara of “Reply 1994” and Kim Kang-woo of “Recalled.”
“Sad Tropics” will be directed by Park Hoon-jung and tells the story about a Korean-Filipino (Kopino) boy, who has a Korean father and a Filipino mother, who dreams of becoming a boxer. He goes to Korea to find his father who abandoned him and meets bad guys. “Kopino” is a term referring to a person who has Korean and Filipino parents.
The actor who will play the Korean-Filipino boy is Kang Tae-joo who bagged the role after an audition that drew 1,980 people.
Kang Tae-joo, born on May 19, 1995, is a 26-year-old rookie actor who attended Kwangwoo University in Seoul.
He appeared in the 2020 OCN Korean drama “Missing: The Other Side,” playing idol trainee Kang Dae-sung. This was followed by the 2021 web drama “Another Peaceful Day of Second-Hand Items” and the KBS-Netflix drama “Hello, Me!”
Like Kim Seon-ho, “Sad Tropics” will be Kang Tae-joo’s film debut. Since 2018, Kang Tae-joo has been a commercial model.
It was reported on Nov. 18 that Kim Seon-ho will attend the script reading, or table read, for “Sad Tropics” on Dec. 2, marking the resumption of his career after getting embroiled in a controversy involving his former girlfriend last month.
After the script reading, “Sad Tropics” will start filming on Dec. 10 and will last until February, according to Korean media.