Choi Min-shik takes a gamble on himself in Disney+’s Casino

by Jenzy

I don’t know if I’ve ever encountered a drama this close-fisted with its own details, but with the brand power of Disney+ and the star-studded cast attached to Casino, I don’t think the team behind the project is worried for lack of interest.

In his first drama comeback after 20 years, Choi Min-shik (In Our Prime) plays Cha Moo-shik, a rags-to-riches casino king who built a gambling empire in the Philippines only to one day lose everything. Now back at square one, Moo-shik will risk it all for another chance at power, no matter what the cost.

As for the rest of the cast, we’re not given much. We do know that Ryu Hyun-kyung (Doctor Detective) plays a tax investigator, that Lee Kyu-hyung (All of Us Are Dead) plays a younger version of Moo-shik, and the rest of the main cast includes big names like Sohn Seok-gu (My Liberation Notes), Lee Dong-hwi (Pegasus Market), and Heo Sung-tae (Adamas). We’re not given much more than the cast lineup, but that’s likely to change as we get closer to the release date. You can tell that the team behind Casino has enough confidence in its acting heavyweights alone to garner interest, and I think it’s working because I for one now want to check it out just to satisfy my curiosity.

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As for the teaser, we start off by seeing Moo-shik swaggering about his empire, while a conversation in the background tells us that he has connections with the shady criminal underworld. We’re then given flashbacks where we see a young Moo-shik making and winning bets with his friends, and a teenaged Moo-shik wielding a pencil as a weapon in a dog fight, determined to do whatever it takes to win.

In the next set of scenes, we see that Moo-sik starts an English academy, which ends up being the tip of a money-making iceberg to the tune of 70 billion won in the span of ten years. Finally, we see Moo-shik in the Philippines, entering the largest casino in the country, while the title cards tell us, “With no money or power, this man became a legend.” Oh yeah, and we get one glorious shot of Sohn Seok-gu’s face to top it all off.

With Kang Yoon-sung (Long Live the King, The Outlaws) as the writer and director, Casino will stream on Disney+ this November.