Introducing TVB Anniversary Drama, “Lord of Shanghai”
Succeeding the time slot of TVB’s first anniversary drama Captain of Destiny <張保仔> is the period epic drama Lord of Shanghai <梟雄>, a series led by Hong Kong award-winning film actor Anthony Wong (黃秋生), Wayne Lai (黎耀祥), and returning actor Kent Tong (湯鎮業). Produced by Amy Wong (王心慰), the 30-episode drama was filmed at the Shanghai Chedun Film Park, a 400,000-square-meter compound that is a recreation of Republican-era Shanghai.
Filmed in late 2014, Lord of Shanghai is Anthony’s first return to television since 2004’s Kung Fu Soccer <功夫足球> and Kent Tong’s first TVB drama in almost 30 years. The series took over half a year to film due to its extensive location shoots outside of Hong Kong. Lord of Shanghai is inspired by the stories of real-life mob leaders Huang Jinrong, Du Yuesheng, and Zhang Xiaolin, all who were active in Shanghai during the early 1900’s.
Lord of Shanghai will premiere on October 24. It also stars Kenneth Ma (馬國明), Ron Ng (吳卓羲), Myolie Wu (胡杏兒), Louisa So (蘇玉華), and Alice Chan (陳煒).
Synopsis
In a time when Shanghai was controlled by the merciless warlords, sworn brothers Kiu Ngo Tin (Anthony Wong) and Kung Siu San (Wayne Lai) have to rely on each other. Together, the ruthless Siu San and the cunning Ngo Tin create a world of their own, but in order stay on top, Ngo Tin has no choice but to leave his past behind completely, including his confidant and true love Ku Siu Lau (Myolie Wu), a Peking opera apprentice.
Ngo Tin gets the attention of casino boss Yiu Gwai Sang (Alice Chan), who recommends him to her husband Kam Tong (Kent Tong), Shanghai’s most powerful tycoon. Along with Siu San, Ngo Tin and Kam Tong become legendary figures in Shanghai, dominating all lands of The Bund.
But a single city cannot accommodate three leaders; Siu San and Kam Tong enter a battle for power, creating havoc in Shanghai. Ngo Tin uses this opportunity to suppress both of them, becoming the sole leader of China’s largest port city, controlling the police and the underground triads on both fronts.
Amidst the glitz and the glamour, Shanghai enters a period of chaos when the Japanese Empire starts making moves to attack the city. To protect his people and the country, Ngo Tin donates his wealth and time to deflect the Japanese. But Siu San, in an attempt to save himself, becomes a traitor and works for the Japanese army. For his people, Ngo Tin has no choice but to forsake his family loyalty, and destroy everyone in his way.
Source: IHKTV
This article is written by Addy for JayneStars.com.
These synopsis sound more like spoilers! O_o Regardless, I’m looking forward to it due to the male leads.
It seems like Wayne is playing what he’s best at and known for: a power hunger and desperate for the top. Yay! I have a feeling he’s gonna take BA. This series will have the most “noise.” It definitely has the grandest casts. This type of series usually fare better and be more popular or talked about.
Plot sounds intriguing enough, ill definitely watch it for Wayne! I haven’t seen him in a villainous role in a while and the role seems tailor made for him.
I don’t care abt the plot; everybody is too old for everybody.
The actors I will not doubt will be powerhouse except kent tong.
But the poster.. woahhhh… now this looks fantastic! For the poster and Wayne alone, I will watch this wrinkle laden series.
Poster reminds me of BBJZ poster,. Never mind, looks creative.
Finally read the synopsis. SOme bromance involved. Sounds very good but as with TVB I am just afraid the love story will unbalance everything.
End of the year will be busy for me. Finally got THREE TVB series I wanna watch. THREE I will sit down to watch. Please be great!!
Interesting that TVB was able to get Anthony Wong to film a drama series! It must of been a deal too good to be true or perhaps Eric Tsang was able to sweet talk Anthony Wong?
@shimmerstars Nope, had nothing to do with Eric Tsang actually. Anthony returned because of the producer of the series, Amy Wong, who was Anthony’s ‘mentor’ of sorts — back in the 80s when both of them worked for ATV, Amy was one of the first producers to cast Anthony in TV series despite him being a newbie…she also continued to believe in his abilities as an actor and gave him many opportunities both at ATV and at TVB. Anthony said in interviews that he filmed this series because Amy Wong asked him to, so he did it for her, not for TVB.
Anyway…out of the current lineup of already filmed (or in the process of being filmed) series, Lord of Shanghai is pretty much the only TVB series I’m interested in watching, mostly because of Anthony, Wayne, and Kent. The rest of the cast — especially the female cast — is kind of weak in my opinion…and none of the females ‘match’ the male cast (Myolie paired with Anthony? Seriously?) I’m also hoping that TVB doesn’t screw this up and put so much emphasis on the love relationships that it overshadows the actual plot (as is TVB’s typical pattern).
Lastly, I’m also looking forward to seeing Wayne in a ‘true’ villain role again, as it’s been too long since he’s done one. Overall, hope this series doesn’t disappoint like all the rest of TVB’s series have so far this year….
This content has been hidden as the member is suspended.
@llwy12 Yes, the female cast isn’t as impressive but I’m hoping they’re just sidelines and the story truly focuses on bromance. Then again, it’s tvb we’re talking about… So is Moylie considered to be the lead and not Louisa? The latter has much better acting chop…
@jjwong Well, considering Myolie IS a former TV Queen winner plus she’s more popular with audiences (compared to Louisa) and she is (or was before she left) one of TVB’s top fa dans, I would say that Myolie is considered the lead and Louisa is supporting (or, at most, second lead, though we’ll have to see with her character and screen time what it ultimately ends up being.) Also, there has been very little ‘talk’ about Louisa’s role in the series — most of the media material about the series have focused either on the 3 males or on Myolie….so I would venture to say that on the female side of things, Myolie is the main focus.
@llwy12 Agree with everything you said about Myolie. However, I still hope Louisa has more screentime because I like her acting much better than Myolie xD
Dang I wish Sheren Tang and Nancy Wu were in this 🙂 miss seeing Sheren with Wayne and it would be interesting to see Nancy in this kind of drama. Louisa is not bad though. And agree with everyone about Myolie. Never thought she was good at acting tbh. She’s smart for leavingTVB while still at top. Really not sure but I’ll watch it because of Kent and Wayne and the plot.
@kaykay408 Agree with you. It would be a lot better if Sheren is the female lead as all 3 actors (at least Anthony Wong and Wayne Lai) are strong actors. You need both parties to act well in a romance. Myolie’s acting is too weak to be paired up with either Anthony Wong or Wayne Lai. Nancy Wu is another good 2nd lead actress.
looking forward to this one too! October will definitly be busy. i haven’t watch any tvb or any chinese drama for the last couple of months as nothing looks interesting.
The plot is too old school for my liking.