Written by Paul Attanasio, who is also going to be the executive producer for the show, ‘Tong Wars’ aims to explore the lives of the ‘tongs,’ organized gangs formed by Chinese immigrants in San Francisco’s Chinatown.
“The thing that attracted me to this project was the first opportunity to tell the story of the first Chinese-American experience in the most authentic and proper way,” said Wong at the Lumiere Festival in October, “the format of a TV series just provides filmmakers to have a bigger canvas to tell their stories.”
The open casting call seeks actors who speak fluent Cantonese and American English to play four regular roles in the series: Vicky Sun, a woman in her 70s who rules her global criminal empire; Tom Sun, Vicky’s ‘charismatic,’ ‘ruthless’ adoptive gangster father; Lo Mo, one of Tom’s wives and a brothel owner, and Johnny Young, an all-but-orphaned teenager raised in the street gang life.
Wong is known for his sensuous visual style and unconventional storytelling strategy that allow characters in his romantic dramas, such as ‘Chungking Express’ and ‘In the Mood for Love,’ to reveal their swallowed feelings and haunting emotions. His latest film, ‘The Grandmaster,’ a story based on the life of martial arts master Ip Man, offers the audience more than just an action-packed kung-fu movie. It portrays the characters in a poetic yet authentic way that captures the audience like many of Wong’s previous movies do. Wong has worked with some of the biggest movie stars in the Chinese film industry, including Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Maggie Cheung, Chang Chen, Leslie Cheung, and Zhang Ziyi.
The release date of the “Tong Wars” is yet to be announced.
Source: China Film Insider
