'Boyz' Club

A preview of motorcycle movie ''Biker Boyz.'' Laurence Fishburne is the leader of a long-overlooked pack -- black riders -- in the film, shot in a breakneck 40 days

Music roars through an L.A. soundstage during a pivotal race scene in ''Biker Boyz'' -- a drama based on true-life African-American motorcycle clubs. Audience member Laurence Fishburne, 41, kicks back on a couch, looking as smooth as his on-screen character, Smoke, the top gun in California. ''I wanted an urban, contemporary cowboy, and that was Laurence,'' says director Reggie Rock Bythewood.

This breakneck project -- which also stars Lisa Bonet, Kid Rock, and ''Antwone Fisher'''s Derek Luke as the kid trying to nab Fishburne's mantle -- was filmed in just 40 days. Part of the reason: It's been racing another black-biker film, Ice Cube's ''Torque,'' for the past year (and will hit theaters first). Yet Fishburne's only concern is that ''Boyz'' (debuting Jan. 31) stays true to its roots. ''When we're shown a movie about bikers, it's usually the long-haired white dude riding a hog or some s--- like that, which is cool -- nothing wrong with that,'' he says. ''But it's a lovely thing for the folks of the [black biking] community to have this kind of attention paid to what they love.''