“Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings” is the groundbreaking for Marvel Studios as it is the first of their standalone films to be helmed an Asian director and a predominantly Asian cast. Written and directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, it stars Simu Liu as the title character forced to confront his past after he is drawn into the Ten Rings organization, which is led by his estranged father Wenwu (Tony Leung).
Earlier this week, ThatsItLA had the chance to join their fellow journalists to participate in the virtual press conference for “Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings.” During that time, the cast, including Liu, Awkwafina who plays Shang-Chi’s best friend Katy, Meng’er Zhang who plays Shang-Chi’s sister Xialiang, and Sir Ben Kingsley who reprises his role as Trevor from “Iron Man 3” talked about cultural significance of their film, the phsycaility of being in a superhero epic, and what it was like to get to be a part of something big like a Marvel Studios film.
One of the biggest surprises to come to “Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings” is the return of Kingsley as Trevor. The hapless actor who found himself in a bind when he found himself working for Aldrich Killian in “Iron Man 3,” was eventually arrested and taken to prison. He would later reappear in the Marvel One-Shot “All Hail The King,” was presumed to have been killed by the real members of the Ten Rings for using their name and disparaging it. We won’t get too much into how he returns, but his appearance does give us some sense of closure, and provide the necessary meta-commentary on the use of The Mandarin.
So when it comes to the social impact of a movie like this, Kingsley sees how it may have an impact on the film’s storytelling. “I think when you when you hear Dustin, you know, that the motives behind telling this story are pure, crystal clear or lucid, pure motives. They are motives to their life enhancing. And they’re not patronizing, because they do introduce in a beautiful way, memory, ancestry loss. And, and families torn apart and reunited, reconfigured,” Kingsley said. “All of this is from Dustin’s heart, and Kevin’s heart, and the writers heart. And if your motives are pure as a storyteller, the angels will come to assist you with that story.”
“This story, because it’s so beautifully told, and so rich, will ultimately be healing because it’s not propaganda. It’s just a really beautiful story,” Kingsley added. “as soon as I arrived on set, the fact that my colleagues were from a different culture was immaterial, completely immaterial and irrelevant. We are actors together, we live on empathy and transformation. And this is our currency. All the rest is irrelevant. If we can we if we can demonstrate the energy. I think it will ultimately be soothing and healing. And and people will forget, Oh, actually, people will realize there’s very little difference in storytelling and very little difference in art.”
Zhang is making quite the leap from being a stage actor to starring in “Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings,” which also happens to be her very first film. She considers herself to be very lucky to work with the entire cast, and even took some time to ask questions to Kingsley about the differences between the two art forms. According to her he said “So when we are on stage, we are landscape artists. And we are when we are in front of a camera, we are portrayed artists. And I think that that just gave me a very clear image.” Zhang also commented on how she literally took notes from him and joked about the stunt work and how they would take time to readjust the make up during some scenes. Which is a stark contrast because you never reset on stage.
Of course, a superhero film like “Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings” is going to be physically demanding. Which is something very new to Awakwafina given her filmography. “It’s more like I was working as a team with gravity,” she joked. “When I when I fall, my neck kind of gives out. It’s a me problem. You know, I just don’t have the kind of willpower to lift it up. So that’s more on that physically.”
Not only did Awkwafina learn the art of falling, she also took lessons in archery and how to drift, the latter of which was cool at the time but she doesn’t see the practical use of it should she run into that particular scenario like Katy did. “I actually went to a racetrack and like learned how to drift,” she said. “Which is really fun, right? Probably not practical in any scenario that like in kind of traffic, right. But like, yeah. And then I learned how to shoot a bow and arrow.”
While the cast learned how to be heroes, some going stop and be in awe of such legends like Kingsley, Tony Leung, and Michelle Yeoh. “it was like imposter syndrome every single every single day. It was truly truly it was it was such a such a treat. And it was all I could do just not to not to mess it up,” Liu said about leading Marvel Studios first Asian-led superhero film. “When I was first cast, I did my final screen test with Nora, and she did such a wonderful job of putting me at ease my nerves were sky high. I was an actor from Toronto, I really had never allowed myself to imagine being a part of the MCU I mean, it’s the craziest dream that someone could possibly dream.”
Liu compared his onset chemistry with Awkwafina to a bickery old couple. “As I met more of the members of the cast like Tony [Leung] and Michelle [Yeoh] and Sir Ben [Kingsley], I mean it just every day it was like waking up to another dream. And it was really beautiful. And then and then having Meng’er [Zhang] Come and join us to when we were all in Sydney was fantastic. She was great. I can’t wait for people to watch the movie and to know you because yeah, who you are in real life and who you are in the movie, they are both parts of you. But they’re so hilariously polar opposite too.”
But one has to wonder how an actor from Toronto with no prior experience being an action star could get a massive role like this. Well, when Marvel first announced they were turning Shang-Chi into a film, Liu took to twitter to express his interest.
OK @Marvel, are we gonna talk or what #ShangChi
— Simu Liu (刘思慕) (@SimuLiu) December 3, 2018
At first he thought nothing of it because only “19-year-old interns” read those tweets. But a few years later, here we are with Liu as Shang-Chi. Many believe that the tweet was the spark of inspiration for Marvel Studios and Kevin Feige to cast Liu in the titular role. But, the latter had a different response. “I did not see that. Unfortunately, Simu, it was not your tweeting, it was your acting ability, your constant professionalism and the multiple reads and meetings that you did. Now did Sarah Finn see that, our casting director, I don’t know the answer,” he said.
Cretton agreed with Feige’s sentiment, adding: “I don’t think so. But I do think the universe saw that.”
“So the narrative still holds true man, speak into the universe, and it will find a way,” Liu chimed.
“Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings” opens in theaters on September 3, 2021.
“Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings” is groundbreaking for Marvel Studios as it is the first of their standalone films to be helmed by an Asian director and a predominantly Asian cast. Written and directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, it stars Simu Liu as the title character forced to confront his past after he is drawn into the Ten Rings organization, which is led by his estranged father Wenwu (Tony Leung).
Earlier this week, ThatsItLA had the chance to join their fellow journalists to participate in the virtual press conference for “Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings.” During that time, Liu, Awkwafina, who plays Shang-Chi’s best friend Katy, Meng’er Zhang, who plays Shang-Chi’s sister Xialiang, and Sir Ben Kingsley, who reprises his role as Trevor from “Iron Man 3” chatted about the film. The four talked about the cultural significance of their film, the physicality of being in a superhero epic, and what it was like to get to be a part of something big like a Marvel Studios film.
One of the biggest surprises to come to “Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings” is the return of Kingsley as Trevor. The hapless actor who found himself in a bind when he worked for Aldrich Killian in “Iron Man 3” was eventually arrested and taken to prison. He would later reappear in the Marvel One-Shot “All Hail The King,” was presumed to have been killed by the real members of the Ten Rings for using their name and disparaging it. We won’t get too much into how he returns, but his appearance does give us some sense of closure and provide the necessary meta-commentary on the use of The Mandarin.
So when it comes to the social impact of a movie like this, Kingsley sees how it may impact the film’s storytelling. “I think when you when, you hear Dustin, you know, that the motives behind telling this story are pure, crystal clear or lucid, pure motives. They are motives that are life-enhancing. And they’re not patronizing because they do introduce in a beautiful way, memory, ancestry loss. And, and families torn apart and reunited, reconfigured,” Kingsley said. “All of this is from Dustin’s heart, and Kevin’s heart, and the writer’s heart. And if your motives are pure as a storyteller, the angels will come to assist you with that story.”
“This story, because it’s so beautifully told and so rich, will ultimately be healing because it’s not propaganda. It’s just a really beautiful story,” Kingsley added. “as soon as I arrived on set, the fact that my colleagues were from a different culture was immaterial, completely immaterial, and irrelevant. We are actors together. We live on empathy and transformation. And this is our currency. All the rest is irrelevant. If we can demonstrate the energy. I think it will ultimately be soothing and healing. And people will forget, or people will realize there’s very little difference in storytelling and very little difference in art.”
Zhang is making quite the leap from being a stage actor to starring in “Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings,” which also happens to be her very first film. She considers herself to be very lucky to work with the entire cast and even took some time to ask questions to Kingsley about the differences between the two art forms. According to her, he said “So when we are on stage, we are landscape artists. And we are when we are in front of a camera, we are portrayed as artists. And I think that that just gave me a very clear image.” Zhang also commented on how she literally took notes from him and joked about the stunt work and how they would take time to readjust the makeup during some scenes, which is a stark contrast because you never reset on stage.
Of course, a superhero film like “Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings” will be physically demanding. Those physical demands are very new to Awakwafina, given her filmography. “It’s more like I was working as a team with gravity,” she joked. “When I fall, my neck kind of gives out. It’s a me problem. You know, I just don’t have the kind of willpower to lift it up. So that’s more on that physically.”
Awkwafina learned the art of falling, and she took lessons in archery and how to drift. She considers the latter was cool at the time, but she doesn’t see its practical use should she run into that particular scenario. “I actually went to a racetrack and like learned how to drift,” she said. “Which is really fun, right? Probably not practical in any scenario that like in kind of traffic, right. But like, yeah. And then I learned how to shoot a bow and arrow.”
While the cast learned how to be heroes, some stopped and be in awe of such legends as Kingsley, Tony Leung, and Michelle Yeoh. “It was like imposter syndrome every single day. It was truly truly such a treat. And it was all I could do just not to mess it up,” Liu said about leading Marvel Studios’ first Asian-led superhero film. “When I was first cast, I did my final screen test with Nora, and she did such a wonderful job of putting me at ease my nerves were sky-high. I was an actor from Toronto. I really had never allowed myself to imagine being a part of the MCU. I mean, it’s the craziest dream that someone could possibly dream.”
Liu compared his onset chemistry with Awkwafina to a bickering old couple. “As I met more of the members of the cast like Tony [Leung] and Michelle [Yeoh] and Sir Ben [Kingsley], I mean it just every day it was like waking up to another dream. And it was really beautiful. And then having Meng’er [Zhang] come and join us too when we were all in Sydney was fantastic. She was great. I can’t wait for people to watch the movie and to know you because who you are in real life and who you are in the movie, they are both parts of you. But they’re so hilariously polar opposite too.”
But one wonders how an actor from Toronto with no prior experience being an action star could get a massive role like this. So when Marvel first announced they were turning Shang-Chi into a film, Liu took to Twitter to express his interest.
OK @Marvel, are we gonna talk or what #ShangChi
— Simu Liu (刘思慕) (@SimuLiu) December 3, 2018
At first, he thought nothing of it because only “19-year-old interns” read those tweets. But a few years later, here we are with Liu as Shang-Chi. Many believe that the tweet was the spark of inspiration for Marvel Studios and Kevin Feige to cast Liu in the titular role. But, the latter had a different response. “I did not see that. Unfortunately, Simu, it was not your tweeting. It was your acting ability, your constant professionalism, and the multiple reads and meetings that you did. Now did Sarah Finn see that, our casting director, I don’t know the answer,” he said.
Cretton agreed with Feige’s sentiment, adding: “I don’t think so. But I do think the universe saw that.”
“So the narrative still holds true. Speak into the universe, and it will find a way,” Liu chimed.
“Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings” opens in theaters on September 3, 2021.
