Tai-Pan — Trailer 1986 film — Stars Bryan Brown, Joan Chen, John Stanton

Director: Daryl Duke
Stars: Bryan Brown, Joan Chen, John Stanton

There can only be one.
Smuggler. Prince. Murderer. Father. Sinner. Saint.

Tai-Pan is a 1986 film directed by Daryl Duke, loosely based on James Clavell's 1966 novel of the same name. Filmed under communist Chinese censorship, some portions of Clavell's story were considered too offensive to be filmed as written and considerable changes were made. The De Laurentiis Entertainment Group handled the production and were actively seen battling the Chinese Government and Labor boards over the film during shooting. Director Daryl Duke believed that a mini-series à la Shōgun or Noble House would have been a far superior means of covering the complexity of Clavell's novel.

There had been numerous attempts to film Tai Pan over the years. Patrick McGoohan was announced to play Dirk Struan in a version for MGM in 1968 which was postponed due to high costs, despite Carlo Ponti and Martin Ransohoff as producers and Michael Anderson attached to direct.