Dragon Boys Ultimate Fan Site

Q: Favourite Scene and Character!

2007-01-09T03:27:02Z

You saw it. So what is your favourite scene and who is your favourite character?!?! Mine would be.. In part one where Movie Star (Lawrence Chou) is giving money to Willie the Duck (Eric Tsang) as compensation while Willie is watching tv. Willie's lines seem so typical of Eric Tsang's acting. **spoiler warning for below if you haven't seen the show!** My favourite character is Fox Boy (Derek Tsang). In my opinion, I think Fox Boy is the central character to the story but it was never explicitly shown that way. He was the master mind. He eliminated everyone in his way: his Dai Lo (Movie Star - Lawrence Chou), Movie Star's Dai Lo (Willie the Duck - Eric Tsang), and his weakest link - Fat Ass (Michael Adamthwaite)! Maybe Fox Boy had some help from Uncle Three (Greg Chan) but to pull all that off is an amazing feat for a minor player in the gangster game. And you know what? Fox Boy just acts so cool. So who is yours??

Airing THIS Sunday and Monday on CBC!

2007-01-08T04:00:00Z

Don't you dare miss this CBC Special Presentation. Click here for Canadian schedule info. Audiences were blown away at both the Vancouver and Toronto screenings. Terry Woo, author of Banana Boys, was heard saying, "I knew it was going to be good. But not this good! See below for all the reviews and fan-response ... need we say more? All of us UBER-fans want this to get the same attention by CBC as Vanishing Sons (starring Russel Wong, 1994) did -- which also began as a four-part mini-series and followed by 13 TV-episodes (which never got to Canada). DRAGON BOYS IS EVEN BETTER! Superbly written, and stellar acting by an incredible cast!

From Terry Woo, author of Banana Boys:

2007-01-07T22:33:55Z

Totally blew me away... tightly scripted and directed, not an extraneous thread or wasted fragment of dialogue, characters you genuinely cared about. Eric Tsang was supremely entertaining, and great lines for Jean Yoon. Canadian TV at it's best!

Ming Pao Article

2007-01-06T09:59:37Z

If you can read the Chinese, check out this scan of an article that was published in one of the widest read Chinese-language papers, the Ming Pao Daily (GIF Image).

The Mean Streets Of Van City: Dragon Boys takes an unflinching look at Asian-based organized crime

2007-01-06T09:44:32Z

"Dragon Boys is the most provocative piece of drama made in B.C. since 1995, when a TV movie called Little Criminals, written by Vancouver's Dennis Foon, made viewers aware of the province's inability to manage very young offenders. Dragon Boys is bound to have a similar impact. It brings to light the challenges of a fully integrated, multicultural society and the problems of policing in that society's insular communities. Written by award-winning playwright and screenwriter Ian Weir (Edgemont), the miniseries has the edgy pace of a video game. And while Dragon Boys is entertaining and even gripping, it is uncomfortable to watch at times." Published in the National Post: Saturday, January 06, 2007 Continue reading this article by Alison Cunningham, CanWest News Service, here. Read the JPEG scan of the newspaper clipping here.

Dragonslayer: A conversation with Byron Mann, star of the CBC mini-series Dragon Boys

2007-01-06T08:25:19Z

From CBC.ca - Arts | TV "The CBC-TV mini-series Dragon Boys opens with an unsettling one-two punch. A Chinese-Canadian teenager comes alive upon spotting a pretty Asian girl in a Vancouver arcade. A white friend says forget it, she's with the Dragon Boys. The first teen dismisses the threat of Asian gangs with a laugh, saying, "Every time two Chinese guys get together, white people think they're a gang." Next scene, a cleaver-bearing Dragon Boy visits a delinquent drug dealer. The armed enforcer has tattooed teardrops under his eyes that tally his every murder; and from the look he gives the dealer, it would appear that he is about to cry again." (Stephan Cole, January 5, 2007) Continue reading the complete interview by Stephan Cole (CBC.ca) here.

David Ing writes about the Toronto Preview of Dragon Boys

2007-01-06T08:09:56Z

Posted on David Ing, at large: "One of the fringe benefits of living in an urban centre like Toronto is events like this free preview screening of Dragon Boys. Dragon Boys is tv mini-series produced by the CBC, with a story centering on a police officer and drug gangs in Vancouver. It has the distinction of being the first major television production in North America with all Asian Canadian leads." Read the complete blog post here.

Fast-paced series gets inside Asian gangs (whatsonwinnipeg.com)

2007-01-06T08:00:23Z

"IF there's one thing that can be said about this country's West Coast TV-production community, it's this: It sure knows how to make a riveting, rip-roaring and really quite unapologetically Canadian cops-and-criminals thriller." Read the whole artcile by Brad Oswald on whatsonwinnipeg.com here.

Response from Toronto Screening, by KWOI

2007-01-06T07:37:27Z

Dear Friends, Dragon Boys, the two part mini-series is airing this coming Sunday and Monday, Jan 7 and 8 at 8 pm to 10 pm. Working closely with the Asian Community, Writer/Exec Producer Ian Weir did a great job keeping it real, working with material outside his own culture. It stars some of my TO friends Jean Yoon and Simon Wong. Simon's character was especially real for me personally as I had started a youth gang upon my early arrival in TO. We even called ourselves "Nine Dragons" as there were initially nine of us from the same hood in Kowloon (translates 9 Dragons). I started the gang as a means of survival. I was constantly getting beat up after school by trailer trash bullies. The same trailer trash that were portray in Dragon Boys. My gang involvement strained my relationship with my dad who's Baldwin St. eatery was struggling with extortion threats from the triad at the time. Watching the preview on Tuesday night was like having my childhood flash me by.]]> Khmer. Byron 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 women.” Unlike most Hollywood depictions of Asian males as desexualized monk-like beings, it was refreshing to see the brothers hooking up with White Woman on the big screen. Thanks Byron, Lawrence and the Dragon Boys for “getting some” on behalf of the brothers. It could have easily been another Asian exploitation flick like Year Of The Dragon, with the dominant culture's set of assumptions about power relationships and power structures which is completely skewed towards the White perspective, but keeping it real with all the family and human stories really made the piece into a Chinese Canadian "Sopranos" if you will. Excellent performance from the cast including the amazing Eric Tsang (East Asia's De Niro) who my friend Jean Yoon got to slap around for real. The Canucks have been known to follow their American counterparts, politically as well as culturally. The Americans pass the Head Tax Law, they follow. The Americans pass the Exclusion Act, they follow. The Americans started the Japanese Internment, they follow. Finally, they've initiated something positive for their American counterparts to envy. The American networks are in envy and amazement how an all-Asian cast without any White stars can be made possible. This would not have been a reality in the States. Now if we can only get our own writers, producers and directors in there. Dragon Boys is a dark and gritty right-between-the-eyes crime story. Please check it out and forward this to anyone you think might enjoy it. Oh heck, on second thought, forward it to them even if you think they might not enjoy it! Cheers! Banana Kowboy.

Comments from Toronto Preview Screening

2007-01-05T10:35:34Z

The best part of the screening was when the crowd cheered at one of the end-scenes!

I am highly impressed with the casting and plot of the story. I'm not a big TV fan but for me to sit there and watch 2 episodes back to back without feeling fidgety, it's a MUST see! I've told all of my friends and colleagues.

Dewey Truong Vice President of Fieerce Inc. | www.fieerce.com More to come ...

Vancouver Premier Screening of Dragon Boys - PICS

2007-01-05T09:33:32Z

Thank you, CAC! See set of photos on Flickr here. 21 photos by Angela Ling, Annie Li and Kathy Lo.

Dragon Boys "Shoot for the Truth"

2007-01-05T09:19:42Z

Great article in the Jan 4th issue of Georgia Straight (Vancouver), by Craig Takeuchi. "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/). The two-part drama 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)." Read the whole article here.

CBC breaks new ground with Dragon Boys (Driven Magazine)

2007-01-04T08:06:06Z

From Driven Magazine: Features Armed with one of Canada's most accomplished directors guiding a star-laden cast, the CBC mini-series Dragon Boys thrusts Asian gangs into the national spotlight. The two-part, four-hour thriller gives viewers a rare glimpse into Vancouver's organized crime world and shines a light on the struggles of Asian immigrants trying to forge lives in Canada. Such a seminal project couldn't be trusted to just anyone. With eight Gemini Awards to his credit (as well as having directed Paris, France – known as one of the 50 most erotic films of all time), few Canadian directors have the pedigree of Jerry Ciccoritti (Trudeau, Lives of the Saints). As the son of immigrant parents, he also brought an intimate understanding of the motivation behind the characters in Dragon Boys." Continue reading the article by George Zicarelli in Driven Magazine.

"Mini-Series Delves into Asian Organised Crime" - Canadian Press

2007-01-02T09:28:35Z

Interview by Lee-Anne Goodman, The Canadian Press. Published in 24 Hours Toronto and The Province: "Byron Mann, the star of the CBC miniseries "Dragon Boys," said he knew there was something extraordinary in the making as soon as he read the script that delved into the dark underworld of Asian organized crime in Vancouver." Read the complete article here.

BOYS ON FILM, by Jen Sookfong Lee

2006-12-20T17:31:52Z

As you may already know, Jen Sookfong Lee is about to become one of the most celebrated newly published Canadian authors -- with her first novel, The End of East coming out in March (Knopf Canada), and the second in the works ... we were all really curious to know what she thought. Jen posted her response to the film on her blog. "... easily the best-acted and best-written television movie I've seen in years." More here. ]]> blog: BOYS ON FILM | DECEMBER 19, 2006 Last Saturday, I had the opportunity to attend an advance screening of Dragon Boys, a new mini-series set to air on CBC television on January 7 and 8. You see, this is the thing: I heard about this project some time ago and knew long before I saw it that it would be a two-part film that fictionalizes the world (and underworld) of Chinese Canadian gangs. "Hold up," I thought, "haven't we all heard enough about that?" When I was a teenager in the early 90s, Asian youth gangs were big news. Terms like dai lo, snakehead and triad were being bandied about in the media everyday. One night, I was sitting in my friend's parked car, outside my own house when a police officer pulled up and demanded to see our identification, not trusting, of course, that I actually lived where I said I dd and suspecting that we were home invaders. To me, this was a lot of fear without a lot of substance. Sure, we all knew one or two bad seeds who swaggered through the hallways at school or waited for their grilfriends across the street leaning on their sports cars. But I emerged from my youth, as did all of my friends, totally untouched by the gang experience. So, I had mixed feelings going into the Dragon Boys screening, fearing that I was going to watch three and a half hours of well-produced gang hysteria. As it turns out, I was totally unprepared. Dragon Boys is easily the best-acted and best-written television movie I've seen in years. The actors (including Byron Mann, Tzi Ma, Lawrence Chou, Eric Tsang, Steph Song, Michael Adamthwaite and my two favourites, Jean Yoon and Simon Wong) were so great at giving their characters the kind of depth most television shows can only dream of. The screenwriter and producer, Ian Weir (who, incidentally, taught me my very first term of creative writing at UBC, but I'm sure he has no memory of my crappy, crappy screenplay), wrote a sensitive and far-reaching script with multiple narratives, a little like Steven Soderbergh's Traffic. Chinese Canadian gang activity is a sensitive topic, especially here in Vancouver where gangs are often linked to ethnicity in the media. Dragon Boys is about gangs, sure, but in the same way that The Sopranos is about the mafia. The gang thing is really a landscape, a kind of stage where all the characters and their plotlines converge. (I should mention that Vancouver and Richmond play a huge role and are almost characters in and of themselves. The accuracy of how these two cities feed and play off each other is really very incisive.) Am I gushing? Yes. Listen, I'm not a film critic and never will be. All I know is that this movie, which I expected to be either pedantic or hysterical, was neither of these things and is, in fact, something far greater. Flawed characters who sometimes rise to the occassion and sometimes fail miserably. Plotlines that reveal we are all connected. And a particularly Canadian cinematic portrayal of violence: few guns, no car chases, just suggestion. Brilliant.

Blink Magazine pres. Toronto Premier Screening of Dragon Boys

2006-12-20T00:14:10Z

Not to be outdone by the uber-fans in Vancouver, Toronto-based Asian Canadian lifestyle magazine will be presenting the Toronto Premier of Dragon Boys. DRAGON BOYS PREMIER TUESDAY - January 2, 2007 The Fairview Library Theatre - 35 Fairview Mall Drive click here for map 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM (2 parts, 90 min. each) Q&A (9:30 PM) with Simon Wong, Jean Yoon and Jerry Ciccoritti to follow. Presented by blink magzine in association with CBC Television, NAAAP Toronto and the Toronto Public Libraries. For more information, contact Lisa dragonboystickets@blinktoronto.com or call

Overwhemling Response from Vancouver Screening

2006-12-20T00:07:07Z

Wish you could have been there! The preview screening of the complete two-part series was amazing. One of the best Q&A sessions ever -- it just couldn't end. And then all the talent and MCs were mobbed by the crowd after the screening. Photos are coming. The feedback from some of Vancouver's most influential Asian Canadians has begun to come in:

A mind-blowing suspense thriller that keeps you sitting on the edge of your seat. A white-knuckled roller coaster ride driven by this fantastic all-Asian cast. Byron Mann thrills, Lawrence Chou chills, and Eric Tsang is, well, classic Eric Tsang. CBC has a hit on its hands!

(Rudy Chung // President, North American Association of Asian Professionals, Vancouver) Photos from the Vancouver screenings here. (Thank You, Byron Mann's Unofficial Fansite!)]]>

"Very intense, real, and fascinating!"

(Iven Tse, Vancouver)

Byron - You da' man!

2006-12-15T06:57:02Z

Many of us martial arts junkies have been watching Byron Mann kicking ass on TV and in movies for a long time! From Streetfighter, The Corruptor, Invincible and the occassional appearance on Dark Angel. See the most complete filmography from his unofficial fansite here. Byron's character in Dragon Boys - Officer Tommy Jiang - gives a solid takedown to some of the stereotypes that have had Asian men by the balls for decades. You'll have to see for yourself, but we can say that he doesn't turn red from either a little alcohol or a lap dance.

Question for BM: How much input did you have in tweaking the portrayal of your character?

More Ask Byron Mann a Question here. Byron Mann's Unofficial Fansite Interview in our favorite magazine of all time ... YOLK

Dragon Boys Pics

2006-12-14T09:43:46Z

If we told you how we got these pics, we'd have to ... well, you know. Some great pics of Fox Boy (Derek Tsang, left) and Movie Star (Lawrence Chou, right). He's totally the character we all love to hate. See photos here.

Tzi Ma's Response

2006-12-14T09:33:31Z

Q: How was the role of Henry Wah different for you, playing the husband of your real-life partner?

Tzi: It was fantastic. I normally don't like to talk or reveal my motivations about my work 'cause you lose the magic of giving the audience's imagination the chance to fully participate and transport themselves to another place and time.]]> And I ended up shooting Christina dead. ☺. Every husband's fantasy. ☺. With Dragon Boys, however, it's a drama with characters so well written and so complex that working with someone who truly can pick up your every subtle nuance on a subconscious level is rare with a total stranger. So, Christina and I were blessed with that rare opportunity as Actors, and I believe the audience do benefit from our “real-life” to “reel-life.” I hope by revealing a little of what is underneath the surface did not take away too much of your viewing pleasure but to enhance it by knowing all of the emotional life of these characters are real. That’s all an Actor can ask for. (Tzi Ma, via email. December 14, 2006)