Marvel Studios and Marvel Cinematic Universe were born with Jon Favreau‘s“Iron Man,” which had a very unique approach to making a superhero movie, as it had a lot of scenes/dialog that were improvised by actors like Robert Downey Jr. and Jeff Bridges. But that collaborative spirit seemingly didn’t always happen when it came to the martial arts side of “Shang-Chi & The Legend of the Ten Rings,” as told by Hong Kong star Tony Leung, who played Xu Wenwu (a modernized reimaging of the “Iron Man” villain, The Mandarin).
In a recent interview with Vulture, Leung recalled voicing some of his objections to director Destin Daniel Cretton concerning their take on martial arts in the film by not having this long-living villain use ALL kinds of martial arts from all over history, and it really didn’t go over well.
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“The production was much bigger than what I had experienced before, and the people were very professional, and we had to finish everything on time every day. It’s very efficient, but you can’t improvise. You can’t change even a word. At the very beginning, I argued with the director: ‘If a guy comes from a thousand years ago, the way he fights must be a combination of all martial arts, like MMA today, because he lived through all that time.’ And the director said, ‘No.’ I said, ‘Why not? Why just typical kung fu in the ’70s?’ He said, ‘This is Marvel.’ I said, ‘Okay,’ and I didn’t argue anymore,” Leung said of his minor creative clash on the project, which, in all fairness, is a martial arts film, which Leung is EXTREMELY familiar with after a long career working in that genre alongside dramas.
Then again, the movie wasn’t without veterans from the martial arts world alongside Leung, we saw Michelle Yeoh, Yeun Wah, Andy Lee (the masked and silent Death Dealer), and the late stunt coordinator/second unit director Brad Allan (notably connected to Jackie Chan and his movies), had worked on other major Hollywood films in a similar capacity with “Kick-Ass,” “Rush Hour 3,” “Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World,” “Hellboy II: The Golden Army,” “Kingsman: The Secret Service,” and “Solo: A Star Wars Story.”
It wasn’t all conflict, mind you, as it was brought up how unique a villain like Wenwu was for the MCU, and Leung explained how that emotional fatherly/husband side came together, which many saw as a romantic element to his character.
“I remember one day [Cretton] suddenly asked me a question when I just passed by: ‘Do you love your kids?’ I said, ‘Yes, but I don’t know how.’ So that’s the relationship between me and my kids in the film. Because I immersed myself with the death of my wife. I don’t care about any other thing. So maybe that brings the romance of that character. He is always living in the past.”
Of course, Cretton has been habitually working with Marvel Studios since “Shang-Chi,” with “Wonder Man” getting a second season, he’s about to release the Tom Holland-led “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” in July (after pivoting from “Avengers: The Kang Dynasty“), and is still developing an undated “Shang-Chi 2” (many hope will include Chan among the main lineup for the sequel after Simu Liu posted a pic with the beloved action star)
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