Dragon Boys shoot for truth
By Craig Takeuchi
Georgia Straight
January 4, 2007
Two Chinese seniors are bludgeoned to death in a violent suburban home
invasion; a Caucasian drug dealer is hacked up by an Asian gang; a
Chinese Canadian teenager goes missing under suspicious circumstances.
Are these news headlines? A Hollywood movie? While they could be either,
these scenarios are from a new CBC TV miniseries called Dragon Boys
(www.dragonboys.ca/
about Asian organized crime in the Lower Mainland, which airs Sunday and
Monday (January 7 and 8 at 8 p.m.), follows multiple story lines and
covers everything from Triads to seedy massage parlours and employs
multilingual dialogue (English, Cantonese, Mandarin, and Khmer, the
language of Cambodia).
A riveting script is what attracted an international slate of film and
TV stars to the project. Hong Kong luminaries Lawrence Chou and Eric
Tsang are gangsters who face off against the Richmond RCMP anti-gang
squad’s Tommy Jiang, played by Byron Mann (Dark Angel, Red Corner); The
Quiet American’s Tzi Ma and Christina Ma of Long Life, Happiness &
Prosperity are the parents of a troubled teenager (Simon Wong) headed
down the wrong path; and Saskatoon-raised Steph Song (Everything’s Gone
Green) plays a Cambodian girl forced into prostitution.
In a phone interview with the Straight, screenwriter Ian Weir describes
the casting process as “a huge eye-opener” and says it is “jaw-dropping
how deep and broad that [Asian Canadian talent] pool now is.”
Not everyone, however, was as enthusiastic, Weir says. “When the project
was first announced by CBC, there was real concern in the Chinese
community in Vancouver. They’d been burned before, and they’re looking
at a situation where you’ve got a white producer, a white writer: ‘Are
we looking at insulting, two-dimensional stereotypes of Asian characters
that we’ve seen before? Is this what the whole project is going to be
about?’”
Weir describes the learning curve as akin to “climbing Mount Everest”.
He spent two years researching not just Asian organized crime but
Chinese culture as well. To ensure authenticity, Weir worked with
cultural consultants Jim Wong-Chu of the Asian Canadian Writers’
Workshop and journalist-filmmaker Colleen Leung. With such controversial
material, the scriptwriting process became an exercise in the politics
of representation. “What I discovered,” Weir says, “is it’s so easy for
a member of the dominant culture to have one set of assumptions about
power relationships and power structures which is completely skewed
towards my perspective, which is the middle-aged white guy.” He points
out, for example, that the character of a Chinese Canadian RCMP
superintendent was originally Caucasian until Wong-Chu objected, asking
“‘Why can’t he be a Chinese asshole? Why is the boss always white?’”
Cantonese and Khmer translators assisted with the script (the Mandarin
dialogue was improvised by actors Eric Tsang and Jean Yoon). When the
character of Chavy Pahn was changed from Chinese to Cambodian to reflect
current immigration patterns, Steph Song, who had already been cast in
the role, had to learn to deliver lines in Khmer. Chavy’s isolation is
intensified by the language barrier—she can’t speak English, Cantonese,
or Mandarin—and magnifies her helplessness.
Both Weir and director Jerry Ciccoritti (Trudeau; Paris, France)
actively ?solicited input from the actors. Weir says, “As a white guy, I
would never have attempted this if I were a novelist because a novelist
is flying solo, but as a dramatist, you’re working hand in hand with
actors. I was working all the way along with actors who themselves are
Chinese Canadian and were able to go to places which on my own I could
never have gone to.”
Over coffee at a Broadway restaurant, part-time Vancouverite Byron Mann
emphasizes that “the intention of the film was to ‘get it right’, to be
as accurate as possible.” Mann, however, ensured the filmmakers didn’t
shy away from gritty material. “Very early on, one of the things that I
encouraged the producers to do was [to] not go soft on the subject
matter, don’t water it down, don’t be afraid to go all the way to the
truth.’” Accordingly, Mann spent time with RCMP officers and learned
about how they deal with gangs in order to prepare for his role.
Meanwhile, Weir worked with Cpl. David Au of the Richmond RCMP anti-gang
squad on the script.
Mann also objected to his character’s wife being changed to Chinese
because he saw his character as a banana who “grew up thinking he’s a
white man…a guy who has never dated Asian girls.” From the start, Mann’s
character is working through a strained relationship with his Caucasian
wife, and the gangsters hook up with Caucasian women. Unlike most
Hollywood depictions of Asian males as monklike, these Dragon Boys, both
good and bad, are definitely “getting some”.
They’ll also be getting more. Weir says CBC has already commissioned a
two-hour movie-of-the-week sequel that picks up the story three years
later. Work on the script has already begun, with the hope of shooting
this fall. Although it’s the year of the pig, it may also prove to be
the year of the Dragon.
Georgia Straight
January 4, 2007
Two Chinese seniors are bludgeoned to death in a violent suburban home
invasion; a Caucasian drug dealer is hacked up by an Asian gang; a
Chinese Canadian teenager goes missing under suspicious circumstances.
Are these news headlines? A Hollywood movie? While they could be either,
these scenarios are from a new CBC TV miniseries called Dragon Boys
(www.dragonboys.ca/
about Asian organized crime in the Lower Mainland, which airs Sunday and
Monday (January 7 and 8 at 8 p.m.), follows multiple story lines and
covers everything from Triads to seedy massage parlours and employs
multilingual dialogue (English, Cantonese, Mandarin, and Khmer, the
language of Cambodia).
A riveting script is what attracted an international slate of film and
TV stars to the project. Hong Kong luminaries Lawrence Chou and Eric
Tsang are gangsters who face off against the Richmond RCMP anti-gang
squad’s Tommy Jiang, played by Byron Mann (Dark Angel, Red Corner); The
Quiet American’s Tzi Ma and Christina Ma of Long Life, Happiness &
Prosperity are the parents of a troubled teenager (Simon Wong) headed
down the wrong path; and Saskatoon-raised Steph Song (Everything’s Gone
Green) plays a Cambodian girl forced into prostitution.
In a phone interview with the Straight, screenwriter Ian Weir describes
the casting process as “a huge eye-opener” and says it is “jaw-dropping
how deep and broad that [Asian Canadian talent] pool now is.”
Not everyone, however, was as enthusiastic, Weir says. “When the project
was first announced by CBC, there was real concern in the Chinese
community in Vancouver. They’d been burned before, and they’re looking
at a situation where you’ve got a white producer, a white writer: ‘Are
we looking at insulting, two-dimensional stereotypes of Asian characters
that we’ve seen before? Is this what the whole project is going to be
about?’”
Weir describes the learning curve as akin to “climbing Mount Everest”.
He spent two years researching not just Asian organized crime but
Chinese culture as well. To ensure authenticity, Weir worked with
cultural consultants Jim Wong-Chu of the Asian Canadian Writers’
Workshop and journalist-filmmaker Colleen Leung. With such controversial
material, the scriptwriting process became an exercise in the politics
of representation. “What I discovered,” Weir says, “is it’s so easy for
a member of the dominant culture to have one set of assumptions about
power relationships and power structures which is completely skewed
towards my perspective, which is the middle-aged white guy.” He points
out, for example, that the character of a Chinese Canadian RCMP
superintendent was originally Caucasian until Wong-Chu objected, asking
“‘Why can’t he be a Chinese asshole? Why is the boss always white?’”
Cantonese and Khmer translators assisted with the script (the Mandarin
dialogue was improvised by actors Eric Tsang and Jean Yoon). When the
character of Chavy Pahn was changed from Chinese to Cambodian to reflect
current immigration patterns, Steph Song, who had already been cast in
the role, had to learn to deliver lines in Khmer. Chavy’s isolation is
intensified by the language barrier—she can’t speak English, Cantonese,
or Mandarin—and magnifies her helplessness.
Both Weir and director Jerry Ciccoritti (Trudeau; Paris, France)
actively ?solicited input from the actors. Weir says, “As a white guy, I
would never have attempted this if I were a novelist because a novelist
is flying solo, but as a dramatist, you’re working hand in hand with
actors. I was working all the way along with actors who themselves are
Chinese Canadian and were able to go to places which on my own I could
never have gone to.”
Over coffee at a Broadway restaurant, part-time Vancouverite Byron Mann
emphasizes that “the intention of the film was to ‘get it right’, to be
as accurate as possible.” Mann, however, ensured the filmmakers didn’t
shy away from gritty material. “Very early on, one of the things that I
encouraged the producers to do was [to] not go soft on the subject
matter, don’t water it down, don’t be afraid to go all the way to the
truth.’” Accordingly, Mann spent time with RCMP officers and learned
about how they deal with gangs in order to prepare for his role.
Meanwhile, Weir worked with Cpl. David Au of the Richmond RCMP anti-gang
squad on the script.
Mann also objected to his character’s wife being changed to Chinese
because he saw his character as a banana who “grew up thinking he’s a
white man…a guy who has never dated Asian girls.” From the start, Mann’s
character is working through a strained relationship with his Caucasian
wife, and the gangsters hook up with Caucasian women. Unlike most
Hollywood depictions of Asian males as monklike, these Dragon Boys, both
good and bad, are definitely “getting some”.
They’ll also be getting more. Weir says CBC has already commissioned a
two-hour movie-of-the-week sequel that picks up the story three years
later. Work on the script has already begun, with the hope of shooting
this fall. Although it’s the year of the pig, it may also prove to be
the year of the Dragon.
posted by wontonguru @ 8:24 AM
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