[News] Kim Myung-min plays Joseon’s Great (mustachioed) Detective.

[News] Kim Myung-min plays Joseon’s Great (mustachioed) Detective.
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The first poster is out for Kim Myung-min‘s upcoming mystery historical movie, which has undergone a slight title change to Joseon’s Great Detective: Secret of the Wolfsbane. And while I’m not a fan of the mustache on my leading men — or its tawdry cousin, the pornstache — you’ve gotta give them credit for going for the comic factor. Lulz.

This project isn’t described as a comedy (it’s a suspense mystery), but this gives me hope that we can expect a dash of humor, which is an idea I can get fully behind. Although Kim is known for his powerful, commanding roles — whether playing a cold, ambitious doctor in White Tower, a sneering orchestra conductor in Beethoven’s Virus, or a man dying of ALS in My Love By My Side — he also has a wonderful sense of humor and comic timing. (If you haven’t seen him playing a hilarious, dense, brawns-before-brains type of ex-gangster in Bad Family, I highly recommend it.)

The movie takes place in the 17th year of Joseon’s King Jeong-jo, and brings in Kim, playing the top detective of the day, to investigate a series of murders. Although his character had initially been a version of Jung Yak-yong, a real-life historical figure who was the subject of a mystery-sageuk cable drama two years ago, the description has been changed and he now plays a character named simply Kim Jin.

The film, which is based on a historical novel titled Secret of the Gate of Virtue, is set for a January 27 release. It co-stars Han Ji-min (Cain and Abel) and Oh Dal-soo (The Good, The Bad, The Weird).