Korean Pop Star Rain to Join Speed Racer?

According to his management (which means it might not be true, or even happen), South Korean pop star and actor Rain (his stage name, his real name is Jung Ji-Hoon) will be joining the cast of the Wachowski Brothers’ live-action adaptation of “Speed Racer” (the brothers’ first G-rated movie, no less). Dark Horizons says that negotiations for Rain (who was recently in Park Chan-wook’s “I’m a Cyborg, but That’s Okay”) to join the cast, which already includes star Emilie Hirsch and Christina Ricci, isn’t yet complete, and there’s no word on what role he’ll play.

Speed Racer’s nemesis will be played by Matthew Fox, so that’s not it. Most likely Rain’s Hollywood debut will be a secondary role, possibly as a fellow racer?

More about Rain from Wikipedia:

Rain (Real name: Jung Ji-Hoon) is a male Korean R&B and pop singer.

He has become well-known throughout East Asia — including Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, Taiwan, Mainland China, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand — as a leading star of the Korean wave, otherwise known as Hallyu.

In April 2006, Time named him as one of the “100 Most Influential People Who Shape Our World.”[1][2] In 2007, Rain was voted by Time Magazine’s online user poll as the most influential person in 2007, although he was not in the magazine’s actual list. He also made it into People’s 2007 list of the “Most Beautiful People” in the world.