No Rain on Jung Ji Hoon's Parade

KOREAN star Rain, or Jung Ji Hoon, is making inroads into Hollywood.

Not only did the 27-year-old star in the 2008 thriller Speed Racer but he now also takes the lead in Ninja Assassin, produced by brothers Larry and Andy Wachowski (The Matrix trilogy) and directed by James McTeigue (V For Vendetta).

The movie opens here next Thursday.

Rain knows, as a cross-over artiste, that going from East (where he is a Korean icon and an Asian megastar) to West is no easy task.

"Obviously, there is going to be a limitation on what kind of characters I can play but I don’t think it will be a major obstacle for me," said the singer/actor, speaking through a translator in a round-table interview with Asian media in Seoul recently.

"Language is my only difficulty and I’m working to improve my English," he added.

Those are brave words, considering his performance in Speed Racer was denounced as unmemorable.

Still, there were bright spots: In 2006, he played sold-out gigs in New York and Las Vegas. Then, Time magazine named him one of the 100 Most Influential People in the world.

And he so impressed the Wachowski brothers – who also directed Speed Racer – with his martial arts moves that they chose to cast him as Raizo, a trained killer, in Assassin – their US$50-million (S$69-million) gongfu flick.

Already, the film has been hailed by Britain's The Times as one of the 50 biggest movies this year, and by the San Francisco Examiner as one of the top 10 most highly anticipated releases.

"I believe it's a great movie and I did my best. Whatever outcome we get from the box office, I will humbly accept," said Rain, who, by the way, has captured the attention of the hottest babe on the planet: Megan Fox. In June, the actress revealed that she was trying to fix a date through her manager with "this Korean Justin Timberlake named Rain".

Rumour has it that Rain replied, saying he was not interested.

When my paper asked why he rejected the sexy starlet, he replied: "Megan Fox is a great actress and I felt really flattered (when I saw that she’d asked me out) on the news. I don’t know what happened or what is the real story behind it."

But he added: "I would be interested to date her if she asked, though."

That's an open invitation for you to come calling again, Megan

Source: My paper & Asiaone