Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Short description
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings centers on a young man who has built an ordinary life in San Francisco under a different name, parking cars and spending his free time with his friend Katy. That life is disrupted when figures connected to the Ten Rings, the secret organization led by his father Xu Wenwu, draw him back into the world he was raised in and trained for. The conflict sets Shang-Chi against his own family history and the legacy of the ten rings themselves.
The film is directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, who wrote the screenplay with Dave Callaham and Andrew Lanham. It followed Cretton's earlier features Short Term 12, The Glass Castle and Just Mercy, and came before Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Simu Liu plays Shang-Chi, with Tony Leung Chiu-wai as Wenwu, Awkwafina as Katy, Ben Kingsley as Trevor Slattery, Zhang Meng'er as Xialing and Fala Chen as Li. Kevin Feige and Jonathan Schwartz produced the Marvel Studios release, which runs 132 minutes.
Made for a reported 150 million USD, the film took in about 432 million USD worldwide. On IMDb it holds 7.3 out of 10 from roughly 485,000 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 7.5 from a much smaller base of about 10,700. A critics' score of 7.5 from 345 reviews places it level with the TMDB audience figure and slightly above the IMDb one.
What's left behind the scenes
- The first Marvel Studios film about a superhero of Asian origin.
- Simu Liu, who played Shang-Chi, already knew Korean and Chinese martial arts, and for filming with Destin Daniel Cretton, he additionally studied Tai Chi, Wushu, Thai boxing (or Muay Thai), Silat, Krav Maga, Jiu-Jitsu, boxing, and hand-to-hand combat.
- In the comics and various animated projects, the Mandarin wears ten rings on his fingers. In this film, the rings are worn on his arms (five on each). Such rings are traditionally used in martial arts to strengthen the hands or wrists. This deviation from canon was necessary to bring an element of Chinese culture into the film, and because similar ornaments had already been used in the case of the Infinity Stones and the Infinity Gauntlet.
- For the role of Katy, Awkwafina learned to drift (using controlled skidding while driving a car) and shoot a bow.
- Stan Lee (1922-2018) in the late 1980s considered creating a film or television series about Shang-Chi and casting Brandon Lee (1965-1993), son of Bruce Lee (1940-1973), in the lead role. Shang-Chi himself was modeled after Bruce Lee, so the idea of casting Brandon seemed quite logical, but it never went beyond the idea stage.
- Tony Leung Chiu-wai specifically trained for the role of the Mandarin, although director Cretton warned him that this was unnecessary, as computer technology would be actively used in the making of the film.
- Simu Liu gained 4.5 kg of muscle for the role of Shang-Chi in this film.
- For the role of Xialing in this film, Meng'er Zhang trained in mixed martial arts, taijiquan, and shengbiao (rope dart).
- While preparing for the role of Yin Li in this film, actress Chen Fala studied the technique of taijiquan.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
