Interview: Cast of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is the latest addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It tells the story of master of kung fu Shang-Chi as he deals with his past and learns about the mystical Ten Rings organization that grants long life and powers.

Join Shang-Chi in this action-packed adventure and catch Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings in theatres September 3!

Here's the scoop on Marvel's Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings!

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings Cast and Crew

The cast and crew of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings cast gather to talk all about the latest Marvel movie.

Simu Liu plays the titular Shang-Chi in the film. At the start of the movie, Shang-Chi is a free guy working in San Francisco, but soon everything changes! The origin story of this superhero film comes from the Asian American hero comic books by Steve Englehart and Jim Starlin.

Canadian actor Simu Liu is also known for his work in the sitcom "Kim's Convenience."

Awkwafina plays Shang-Chi's best friend Katy. Fans will also know Awkwafina from Disney's Raya and the Last Dragon and Crazy Rich Asians.

Tony Leung plays Xu Wenwu, Shang-Chi’s father and the leader of the ten rings.

Meng'er Zhang plays the role of Xialing in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

Florian Munteanu portrays Razor Fist in the film. Fans will recognize hime from Creed II.

Sir Ben Kingsley plays Trevor Slattery. He is also known for his work in Gandhi and Schindler's List.

Michelle Yeoh plays Ying Nan, Shang-Chi's aunt.

Destin Daniel Cretton is the Director of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. His other works include The Glass Castle and Just Mercy.

Kevin Feige is the Producer of the film. Also, he is the current president of Marvel Studios.

All About Shang-Chi

Destin Daniel Cretton reflects on the why he wanted to bring Shang-Chi into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He says, "I really, personally connect with Shang-Chi’s journey.  Um, the, I-I love that this is a superhero that doesn’t get splashed with chemicals to get his superpower."

Cretton adds that the film's a, "Journey of self-discovery, of-of growing up, of learning how to finally deal with pain that he’s been running away from his entire life.  And that when he is finally able to look inside into his past and embrace good, bad, the joy, the pain, and accept it all as a part of himself, that’s when he finally steps into his big boy shoes.

He continues, "I think that’s kind of what we’re all doing as hu-humans in some way or another.  Um, so I really connect with that."

Kevin Feige also talks about the film's significance to the marvel comics and the MCU as well as Asian culture representation in film. This is because Shang-Chi is the first Asian superhero to gain such popularity.

He says, "To bring, um, this specific character into the MCU, um, but-but just as importantly to bring, uh, um, representation of another kind to this-to this film.  And that was really what Destin, uh, brought in his pitch.  Which was yeah, action, cool, Marvel, but it was really the story of this father and son that someday you should put that presentation out into the world actually that he put together."

From Stage to Screen

Actress Meng'er Zhang makes her film debut in the Marvel universe and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. She talks about the difference between her theatre training and acting in a movie.

Meng'er explains that she asked her costar, Sir Ben Kingsley, for advice since he is also a theatre actor. She says he told her, "When we are on stage, we are landscape artists. And we are-when we are in front of a camera, we are portrait artists."

Meng'er adds, "And I think that-that just gave me a very clear image and I just-I learned so much. I literally took notes every time when I talked to Sir Ben."

Kinglsey chimes in and jokes, "I remember you were taking notes. I thought you were correcting my spelling."

An Action-Packed Adventure

Like so many Marvel movies before it, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is full of action and stunts. This martial arts movie is an absolute delight to watch. Awkwafina talks about some of the stunts her character Katy performs in the film.

She shares that, "I actually went to a race track and like learned how to drift." Awkwafina jokes that her drifting skills are, "Probably not practical in-in any scenario."

She also adds, "I learned how to shoot a bow and arrow." Up until this point in her career, many of Awkwafina's roles have been less physical. The actress jokes, "Yeah, I do enjoy sitting down."

Working With A Star-Studded Cast

The latest MCU film has lots of well-known and talented actors. Simu Liu talks about his experience working with such a popular cast.

Liu says, "I mean, it was like imposter syndrome every single-every single day." He adds, "It was all I could do just not to-not to mess it up."

Reflecting on his screen test with Awkwafina, he says, "She did such like a wonderful job of putting me at ease." Simu explains, "My nerves were sky high.  I was an actor from Toronto, and I really had never in-li-i—i-allowed myself to imagine being a part of the MCU. I mean, it’s the craziest dream that someone can possibly dream.  And, uh, Nora did such a great job of putting me at ease and just, you know, b-being in the moment with me and we had such a beautiful chemistry."

He adds that he and Awkwafina share, "This like bickery old couple chemistry like right from the get-go."

Commenting on the chance to work with the rest of the cast Simu says, "Every day it was like waking up to a-another dream." The actor praises the strong performance of his cast mates in this Marvel film!

All About Friendship

The primary relationship in the film is the friendship between Shang-Chi and Katy. Director Destin Daniel Cretton talks about crafting the characters' relationship and the actors playing as friends rather than as potential love-interests.

Destin explains, "One of our co-writers, Dave Callahan, and I were-were creating this relationship, we actually have a lot of friends who are not the same gender as us." He continues,"It is strictly platonic and-but also very intimate, caring, and you-we haven’t seen a lot of that on screen, and we’re really excited to-to create that relationship between Shang-Chi and Katy."

Destin adds, "It also just naturally felt like the only way to go with this movie because Shang-Chi is so deep in his own inner struggle. I don’t think there’s emotional space for anything else."

Marvel Speaks Mandarin

This film is also setting Marvel records for representing Asian Americans. It is an incredibly popular film compared to Kung Fu Hustle from years earlier. More importantly it features a mostly Asian cast, compared to david carradine and his role in Kung Fu.

Destin Daniel Cretton talks about having an Asian American cast and Asian characters speaking Mandarin Chinese in the film.

He says, "I can talk to the conversation behind which language should be speaking was always rooted in just the logic of the characters.  And, uh, who would naturally be speaking what language."

Cretton adds, "That conversation started in the write-in the writer’s room and then once our actors came in it was always a dialog what-what these are all bilingual, trilingual, quadrilingual, um, characters who could-could speak whatever they-whatever made sense at the time.  So, we were constantly having the discussion of what made sense for the scene."

Simu Liu chimes in adding, "What I really loved is that moment where, I don’t think it’s a spoiler, but where, you know, your character is talking to-to Awkwafina’s character...and, uh, and she’s like oh, no, my Chinese isn’t good.  And you’re like no worries, I speak ABC."

Liu explains the conversation between these Chinese characters, "They called it out and ABC, of course, means American born Chinese, but it’s just this-this-the first time that you really see in a movie, um, someone just calling out, you know, a lived experience." Asian American audiences will appreciate the authentic interactions.

Where to Watch

You can watch now Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on the big screen in movie theaters everywhere! If you want to watch it on a streaming service you will have to wait. The good news is that the film will be available on Disney Plus after the last week of the short term running an exclusive theatrical release according to Disney's CEO, so you can watch on your mobile app or find a quiet place at home.

Rather than give Shang Chi a premier access release the Disney CEO Bob Chapek called this an "experiment."

The movie's release date was impacted this past year because of the pandemic and delta variant, but lots of new movies like West Side Story took to social media to promote themselves.

Upon release in North America, the film's ticket sales grossed about $160–165 million at the domestic box office. Marvel’s Shang-Chi also set a record for Labor Day weekend releases and on the second weekend continued to rule the box office with an iron fist.

With lots of action, heart, an Asian lead, a Steven Spielberg reference, and even a few bus fights, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is a delight for Marvel fans everywhere! It joined the ranks of other heroic films like Iron Man, Black Panther, Captain America with Steve Rogers, Captain Marvel, Wonder Woman, Star Wars, and Doctor Strange.

Whether you come from a family of theater owners or live in Hong Kong or New York you can enjoy Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings! Let us know if you give this MCU movie a positive review!

For more Marvel scoop check out these articles:

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• Marvel’s “What If…?” Interview: Making the Multiverse
• Top 12 Quotes From Marvel’s Black Widow Starring Scarlett Johansson