Simu Liuremembers every detail about the phone call that changed his destiny two years ago.
Liu had refused to say the line as written.
And the disagreement ended up halting production for nearly an hour.
Simu Liu on EW’s August 2021 cover.Peter Yang for EW
“It was terrifying.
I was on the verge of tears.
It was actually a really, really rough day.”
Simu Liu.Peter Yang for EW
They were inviting him to become a part of the biggest megafranchise in movie history.
They wanted him to be Shang-Chi, Marvel’s first Asian leading superhero.
One of the Chrises!
“It was insane.”
It felt like the fulfillment of a dream that he had partially willed into existence.
Now how about an Asian American hero?"
It was like casting a 72-character prayer into the void.
Indeed, they talked.
Says Feige: “Simu is so charismatic, so talented.”
For the uninitiated, Shang-Chi is Marvel Comics' “Master of Kung Fu.”
The character’s resemblance to the late martial-arts superstar was not a coincidence.
And yes, his superpower is beingreallygood at martial arts.
It’s compli- cated.
A recent survey byLeading Asian Americans to Unite for Changeasked Americans to name a well-known Asian American.
Nearly half of the respondents answered: “Don’t know.”
And he recognizes the potential pitfalls of playing a kung fu fighting superhero who will be seen by millions.
“There are two paradigms that are completely at odds with each other,” he says.
And then the other paradigm is, like, kung fu is objectively super f—ing cool.
I thinkShang-Chican absolutely be that for Asian Americans.
He and Cretton certainly felt the weight of expectations while buildingShang-Chi’s world.
“There’s no single Asian American voice.
So how do we create something that speaks to the wider Asian diaspora?
How do we make something that will be exciting and entertaining, but also personal to all these people?
Because when we turned on our televisions, neither of us were seeing Asian people.
And we were excited to be able to change that.”
He’s a genius hiding in plain clothes.
Shang-Chi is also somebody who is kind of putting on a mask day to day.
It’s pretty Asian American."
This is an important point.
Asian Americans are at a crossroads of representation and hostility.
But 2021 also finds Asian Americans at a point of crisis.
Racial slurs, Asian-owned businesses vandalized, the elderly assaulted on the street.
Can a superhero address Asian America’s real-life ills?
“That is celebration.
It’s hard enough to celebrate being Asian in normal times.
And that’s what I think this movie is a celebration of our culture.”
Simu Liu is ready to be the superhero he never got to see, on screen and beyond.
But he’s not trying to be the One.
One is not enough.
So, yes, all of that stuff I’m ready for.
It couldn’t come fast enough, actually."
Sept. 3 will have to do.
