Song Seung Hoon, recently seen as the cold-hearted gangster Han Tae Sang in "When A Man Loves," will play the leading role in the upcoming film "Human Addiction."

The erotic melodrama is set in 1969 in the closing days of the Vietnam War.

Song plays the respected war hero and officer Kim Jin Pyung. His character is married to Lee Sook Jin, played by Jo Yeong Jeong, who was last seen as a gangster's daughter in the drama "Haeundae Lovers" and a royal concubine in the film "Concubine."

Although Kim Jin Pyung is a man of character, he abandons some of his principles when he falls passionately in love with the wife of a lower ranking officer.

Rookie actress Lim Ji Yeon plays his forbidden love interest Jong Ga Heun. Jong is a beautiful young woman who loses her mother during the war and must abandon her father to survive. Lim has not had a lot of acting experience. She's currently attending the Korean Arts School Department of Theater and has appeared in a few plays and short feature films.

What makes her casting choice all the more interesting is that Lim and Song will share a few adult-rated scenes. It's unusual for a rookie actress to take a role with such scenes so early in her career.

Ironically, Jo Yeong Jeong jump-started her career by taking a role so racy that many considered it a career killer. She attracted attention in 2010 by starring as a Joseon-era woman of low caste in "The Servant," an erotic period drama. Several actresses had already turned down the role because the film contained too many sex scenes, but it helped launch Jo's acting career.

What attracted Song Seung Hoon to sign on for this movie was the intensity of the story and the passion that drives the characters. It will be his first adult-rated melodrama.

"The story and the character are both something I'd like to work with as an actor," he said.

He was also attracted to the film because of the director, whose work he has admired. Kim Dae Woo wrote "An Affair," "The Foul King," and "Untold Scandal." He wrote and directed "The "Servant" and "Forbidden Quest." His work often focuses on social taboos. Kim Dae Woo won Best Scriptwriter for his work on "Forbidden Quest."

The film begins production in October and will be shown early in 2014.