Heart of a Dragon
Heart of a Dragon is a 2008 film produced by Thunder Bay Films Inc (part of Associated Film Producers Ltd) located in Vancouver, Canada. The film is inspired by the true story of Rick Hansen's 1986 Man in Motion Tour that challenged perceptions about disability.
Plot
A reporter, Ivan Kostelic waits on a railway platform in China. It is late in the day. The reporter is laden with camera equipment. He is tired and walks slowly with a cane toward the arriving train. Ivan is in China to investigate reports that millions of Chinese have flooded into the street to welcome a hero from the West. Rick Hansen is a world champion athlete and advocate for the disabled who has set out across the world in his wheelchair to prove that disabled people can do anything if given the chance.
China has a long relationship with disability. One of its political leaders is a much admired figure who as a boy, was beaten by the Red Guards and thrown off the roof of a University in Beijing as a warning to his father Deng Xiaoping, the target of Mao’s wrath as his reign was ending. The boy was left to die in the street but unknown to the Red Guards, emissaries from US and Canadian diplomatic staff rescued the boy, hiding and secretly transporting him out of China to Canada, where he was rehabilitated and eventually returned to China when his father Deng Xiaoping became Premier.
Deng Pufang waited in his wheelchair as Rick Hansen arrived in China, remembering the people who saved and rehabilitated his life. He had become an important and legendary figure in Chinese life. Rick Hansen knew the story but what happened next changed his life as millions streamed into the streets. Western media wondered out loud about what was happening. Ivan Kostelic covered Rick Hansen when he competed and while the reporter applauded his athletic achievements, Kostelic was not convinced of the Hansen's intentions or commitment.
Ivan followed Hansen through China to the Great Wall and witnessed an impossible ascent. Those supporting Hansen clashed repeatedly as the reporter struggled to understand their loyalty. Finally in a moment of clarity, Ivan sees Rick fall apart physically and emotionally. In that moment, a reporter senses that for disabled people - being invisible is no longer an option.
Cast
- Jim Byrnes as Ivan
- Jiayang Cheng as Little Boy
- Wei Dongzhen as Tai Chi Master
- Ethan Embry as Lee
- Zhang Fu as Lion Dancer
- Zhu Li as Musician
- Aleks Paunovic as Tim
- Andrew Lee Potts as Don
- Sarah-Jane Potts as Amanda
- Yuna as Maylee
Background
In 1998 Sherry Lansing CEO of Paramount Pictures optioned the life rights to the story of a man who pushed himself across the world in a wheel chair. Rick Hansen an athlete and advocate for social justice had long dreamed about the potential of a disabled community marginalized by history. Living in the shadows, being denied opportunity was not a future Hansen could accept for himself or others who knew disability. In the 1980’s Hansen was a world champion wheelchair racer. He used success in athletics to create the Man in Motion World Tour in 1985 wherein he wheeled 40,000km, through 34 countries raising millions of dollars for spinal cord research and lifting the veil of invisibility for a community, desperate to be seen.
Upon securing the rights to the story, Sherry Lansing secured producers Mark Gordon, David Foster and Michael French whose backgrounds lent themselves to creating a motion picture that embraced Rick Hansen’s ambition, his struggle and the triumph of the human spirit. Gordon’s ’Saving Private Ryan’, Foster’s 'St. Elmo’s Fire’ and French’s documentaries all touched the story elements Paramount was looking for. Following two years of script development at the Studio, the story Gordon, Foster and French knew, was not to be a movie Paramount would produce.
The producers quickly embraced a decision to proceed independently as a theatrical film, inspired by real life events French witnessed in 1987 when he directed a Canadian television documentary (Heart of a Dragon) in China that witnessed Rick Hansen’s unexpected heroes welcome everywhere in the Middle Kingdom and his impossible ascent of the Great Wall. Seeing this historic documentary introduced Sherry Lansing to a story that later as CEO of Paramount, Ms.Lansing would develop as a feature film alongside Mark Gordon, David Foster and Michael French,[3] all of whom had connections to the story. None more direct than David Foster who after seeing news coverage of Rick Hansen pushing himself in a wheelchair was inspired to write the song St. Elmo’s Fire with John Parr. The song was a hit for David and torch that Rick would light Rick Hansen’s journey everywhere he travelled.
The theatrical adaptation produced by Gordon, Foster and French of was shot principally in China beginning in 2005, with assistance from the China Film Group and screened extensively throughout China in 2008. Heart of a Dragon played in limited theatrical release in Canada in 2010 and became available for streaming in the US in 2012.
Production
Heart of a Dragon,[4] was filmed on location in Beijing and on the Great Wall of China.
Crew
Heart of a Dragon was produced and directed by Michael French[5] with Executive Producers, David Foster and Mark Gordon.
Sherry Lansing, while heading Paramount Pictures and before as an independent Producer, developed the Rick Hansen Story, that would become Heart of a Dragon, and introduced producers French, Gordon and Foster to the project.
Chris Ainscough[6] composed the score, edited and supervised the post production for Heart of a Dragon.
Albert Normandin, a photographer long steeped in Asia’s natural light provided the still photography for Heart of a Dragon.
Other members of the crew include:
- Colette Gouin[7] - Co-Producer
- Bingjian Zhang[8] - Assistant Director
- Bing Rao[9] - Cinematographer
- Blaise Noto[10] - Associate Producer
- Chris Earthy[11] - Associate Producer
- John Bromley[12] - Associate Line Producer
- Britt French[13] - Production Coordinator
References
- ^ Interview: Victor Webster
- ^ Heart of a Dragon article on The Georgia Straight
- ^ PressReader Moviemaker in Motion
- ^ CTV News - Rick Hansen biopic relives incredible journey
- ^ Michael French on IMDB
- ^ Chris Ainscough on IMDB
- ^ Colette Gouin on IMDB
- ^ Bingjian Zhang on IMDB
- ^ Bing Rao on IMDB
- ^ Blaise Noto on IMDB
- ^ Chris Earthy on IMDB
- ^ John Bromley on IMDB
- ^ Britt French on IMDB