Marvel boss Kevin Feige explains how Simu Liu came to be cast in Liu's Shang-Chi, who will debut in his first solo movie this September. Known as the Master of Kung Fu in the pages of Marvel Comics, the MCU's version of Shang-Chi will have spent several years running from his family's criminal legacy by the time the movie begins. When his father Wenwu, aka the Mandarin (Tony Leung), comes calling, Shang-Chi must take a stand.
Prior to ing the MCU, Liu was best known for his role as Jung on the hit Canadian sitcom Kim's Convenience. He was officially cast as Shang-Chi in 2019 and was announced at San Diego Comic-Con mere days after learning he had the part. Making Liu's Shang-Chi casting even more perfect was that, years before, he tweeted at Marvel asking to be hired for the part. Though fans still haven't seen his performance in full, they should rest assured he's the right man for the job based on some new comments from Feige.
MCU mastermind Feige recently sat down with Rotten Tomatoes to preview the Phase 4 slate. On the topic of Shang-Chi, the producer revealed how Liu came to be cast in the role. It turns out Liu was a late find, popping up "when you just start to get to that point of maybe it’s not going to happen." He soon proved his chops and won over everyone involved. Feige's full story is as follows:
“How we could find somebody to play Shang-Chi was Destin’s biggest question when he signed up as director. Our producer, Jonathan Schwartz, and casting director, Sarah Finn, looked at hundreds of people and Simu [Liu] came up relatively late in the process, when you just start to get to that point of maybe it’s not going to happen. Because what you want is everybody in your inner circle – the producers, the filmmakers – to see somebody and look at each other and go, ‘We found this person. This is the one.’ We hadn’t had that on Shang-Chi at this point.
Simu came in and Sarah Finn had seen him before and brought him in again and he did a great reading with Destin. He then did a great chemistry read with the Awkwafina, who was gracious enough to do that. And a little bit I was like, ‘Who is this fellow? Let’s look them up.’ (That’s what you do nowadays: You look up, who is this guy?) And he did have this infectious personality online in the way he interacted with the world, and with the fandom of his show that he was doing in Canada at the time, and with his sports team that he was a fan of that was doing well when I happened to search him.
He’s the real deal. Bringing a new Marvel hero into the fold is never easy, and there is always a lot of pressure on us and I’m sure on the actors, but Simu has pulled it off in ways that again, I’m very excited for audiences to finally see in September.”
Liu truly has begun to make a name for himself in the Marvel world in the years since his casting and even before his onscreen debut. From his enthusiastic social media posts to his real life action prowess, Liu already feels like a great fit for the part of Shang-Chi. Marvel has an excellent track record when it comes to casting, even adding people that fans might not expect to be great who go on to become fan favorites. That history only makes Shang-Chi's impending arrival more exciting.
Beyond Liu, Shang-Chi also stars Awkwafina, Meng'er Zhang, Fala Chen, and Michelle Yeoh. The latest trailer revealed two surprise additions to the movie: The Incredible Hulk's Abomination and Doctor Strange's Wong (Benedict Wong). Several details regarding the film are still being kept under wraps, but with Black Widow's release now in the rearview mirror, Marvel will be upping the promotional efforts for Shang-Chi in the coming weeks. In other words, expect to see a lot more of Liu going forward.
Source: Rotten Tomatoes
