Shang-Chi and the

Legend of the Ten

Rings

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

is an upcoming American superhero film
based on the Marvel Comics character
Shang-Chi. Produced by Marvel Studios
and distributed by Walt Disney Studios
Motion Pictures, it is intended to be the
25th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe
(MCU). The film is directed by Destin
Daniel Cretton from a screenplay by David
Callaham and stars Simu Liu as Shang-Chi,
alongside Awkwafina, Tony Leung, Fala
Chen, Meng'er Zhang, Florian Munteanu,
Ronny Chieng, and Michelle Yeoh. In the
film, Shang-Chi is forced to confront his
past after he is drawn into the Ten Rings
organization.
 Shang-Chi and the Legend
of the Ten Rings

Official logo

Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton

Produced by Kevin Feige

Screenplay by David Callaham

Based on Shang-Chi
by Steve Englehart
Jim Starlin

Starring Simu Liu

Awkwafina
Tony Leung
Fala Chen
 Meng'er Zhang
Florian Munteanu
Ronny Chieng
Michelle Yeoh

Cinematography Bill Pope

Edited by Nat Sanders

Elísabet
Ronaldsdóttir
Harry Yoon

Production Marvel Studios

company

Distributed by Walt Disney Studios

Motion Pictures

Release date July 9, 2021 (United

States)
Country United States
Language English

A film based on Shang-Chi entered

development in 2001, but work did not
begin in earnest until December 2018
when Callaham was hired. Cretton joined
in March 2019, with the project fast-
tracked as Marvel's first film with an Asian
lead. The film's title and primary cast were
announced that July, revealing the film's
connection to the Mandarin (Leung) and
his Ten Rings organization that appears
throughout the MCU. Filming began in
February 2020, but was put on hold in
March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Production resumed in August before
completing in October. Shooting occurred
in Sydney and San Francisco.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

is scheduled to be released in the United
States on July 9, 2021, as part of Phase
Four of the MCU.

Premise
When Shang-Chi is drawn into the
clandestine Ten Rings organization, he is
forced to confront the past he thought he
left behind.[1]

Cast
 

Simu Liu at the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con

Simu Liu as Shang-Chi: A skilled martial

artist.[2]
Awkwafina as Katy:
Shang-Chi's friend.[3] Awkwafina
described her character as relatable,
saying "she is thrust into a world where
she doesn't really know what to do. At
the same time, she’s discovering things
about herself."[4]
Tony Leung as Wenwu / The Mandarin:
The leader of the Ten Rings terrorist
organization.[2][3] The Mandarin is used
for the role that was filled in the comic
books by Shang-Chi's original father Fu
Manchu, a "problematic character"
associated with racist stereotypes
whom Marvel Studios does not hold the
film rights to.[2] Director Destin Daniel
Cretton said there were also problematic
aspects of the Mandarin's comic book
portrayal that he wanted to change,
saying, "I think [Leung] brings a
humanity that we need for that
character. We are not looking to
contribute anymore to the Asian
stereotypes that we have seen both in
cinema and pop culture... [Leung] is
such an incredible actor and I'm excited
to have him help us break some of those
stereotypes".[5]
Fala Chen as Jiang Li[3]
Meng'er Zhang as Xialing[3]
Florian Munteanu as Razor Fist[3]
Ronny Chieng as Jon Jon[3]
Michelle Yeoh as Jiang Nan.[3] Yeoh
previously portrayed Aleta Ogord in the
MCU film Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
(2017).[6]
Production

Development …

According to Margaret Loesch, former

president and CEO of Marvel Productions,
Stan Lee discussed a potential Shang-Chi
film or television series with actor Brandon
Lee and his mother Linda Lee during the
1980s, with the intention of having
Brandon Lee star as the character in such
a project.[7] Brandon's father, martial arts
legend Bruce Lee, was the visual
inspiration for artist Paul Gulacy when
drawing Shang-Chi during his tenure on
the Master of Kung Fu comic book series in
the 1970s.[8] In 2001, Stephen Norrington
signed a deal to direct a Shang-Chi film
entitled The Hands of Shang-Chi.[9][10] By
2003, the film was in development at
DreamWorks Pictures with Yuen Woo-Ping
replacing Norrington as director and Bruce
C. McKenna hired to write the
screenplay.[11] Ang Lee joined the project
as a producer in 2004, but the film did not
materialize after that point and the rights
to the character reverted to Marvel.[10] In
September 2005, Marvel chairman and
CEO Avi Arad announced Shang-Chi as
one of ten properties being developed as
films by the newly formed studio Marvel
Studios,[12] after the fledgling company
received financing to produce the slate of
ten films which were to be distributed by
Paramount Pictures.[13]

According to Chris Fenton, former

president of the Chinese-based film
production company DMG Entertainment,
who was in talks with Marvel Studios to
co-produce their films, Marvel offered to
create a teaser featuring either Shang-Chi
or the Mandarin for the Chinese market
that would be featured at the end of The
Avengers (2012). DMG balked at the offer,
since the Mandarin's negative
stereotypical portrayal in the comics could
potentially prevent the film from releasing
in China and risk shutting down DMG as a
company. Ben Kingsley would eventually
portray Trevor Slattery, an impostor posing
as the Mandarin, in Iron Man 3 (2013),
which DMG co-produced.[14]

Destin Daniel Cretton promoting the film at the 2019

San Diego Comic-Con

By December 2018, Marvel had fast-

tracked development of a Shang-Chi film
with the intent of making it their first film
with an Asian lead. Marvel hired Chinese-
American writer David Callaham to write
the screenplay, and began looking at Asian
and Asian-American filmmakers to
potentially direct the film. The studios'
goal was to explore "Asian and Asian-
American themes, crafted by Asian and
Asian-American filmmakers", as they had
done for African and African-American
culture with Black Panther earlier in
2018.[15] Development of the film also
came following the success of the film
Crazy Rich Asians, also released earlier in
2018, which led to several other Asian-led
properties being developed by Hollywood
studios.[16] Callaham's script was expected
to modernize elements of the character's
comic book story, which was first written
in the 1970s, to avoid what modern
audiences would consider to be negative
stereotypes.[15] Richard Newby of The
Hollywood Reporter said the film could
"break out in a way similar to Black
Panther" by bringing a new perspective to
the character. Newby felt Shang-Chi could
have worked well as a television series,
and said it "speaks volumes" that Marvel
would decide to make a feature film about
the character instead. Newby concluded
that the film is an opportunity to avoid
stereotypes about Asian martial artists
and be "more than Marvel's Bruce Lee".[17]

Marvel Studios hired Japanese-American

filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton to direct
the film in March 2019. Deborah Chow—
who previously directed episodes of
Marvel Television's Iron Fist and Jessica
Jones series—Justin Tipping, and Alan
Yang were also considered.[18] In April,
Marvel Studios and Australian Arts
Minister Mitch Fifield announced that an
upcoming Marvel film, believed to be
Shang-Chi, would be filmed at Fox Studios
Australia in Sydney and on location
throughout the state of New South Wales.
The production received AU$24 million
(US$17 million) in one-off funding from the
Australian government, as well as backing
from the AU$10 million (US$7 million)
"Made in NSW" state fund. The production
was expected to generate AU$150 million
(US$107 million) for the Australian
economy as well as 4,700 new jobs, while
taking advantage of around 1,200 local
businesses.[19] Don Harwin, the New South
Wales Arts Minister, confirmed in July that
this film was Shang-Chi and that it would
be produced back-to-back with Marvel
Studios' Thor: Love and Thunder (2022);
production on Shang-Chi was set to be
completed before work began on Love and
Thunder later in 2020.[20]

Pre-production …

In mid-July 2019, Marvel began testing

actors in their 20s for the role of Shang-
Chi. The studio was adamant that actors
be of Chinese descent to audition for the
character.[21] This group included Simu Liu,
who tested for the part on July 14 and was
officially cast on July 16. This was
announced by Cretton and producer Kevin
Feige at Marvel Studios' San Diego Comic-
Con panel on July 20, where the film's full
title was announced to be Shang-Chi and
the Legend of the Ten Rings. Feige noted
that the Ten Rings organization has
appeared throughout the MCU since its
introduction in the franchise's first film,
Iron Man (2008), and said its leader the
Mandarin would be introduced in this film
with Tony Leung in the role. Feige also
announced that Awkwafina would appear
in the film.[2] Filming was expected to
begin in November 2019,[22] but Cretton
said in October that production would
begin in early 2020.[23] In December, Feige
said the film would feature a
predominantly Asian cast.[24] A month
later, Michelle Yeoh entered talks for a role
in the film. This was said to be for a
different character than Aleta Ogord who
Yeoh portrayed in Marvel's Guardians of
the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017).[6]

Filming …

Principal photography began in February

2020,[25][26] shooting at Fox Studios
Australia in Sydney and on location
throughout the state of New South
Wales,[19] under the working title
Steamboat.[27] Bill Pope served as
cinematographer for the film. Cretton
chose Pope because he felt the
cinematographer's style could be both
naturalistic and heightened, and because
of Pope's work on The Matrix (1999), which
Cretton believed had the right tone for an
MCU film focused on Asian and Asian-
American characters.[23]

On March 12, after studios had started

halting production on films due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, Cretton decided to
have himself tested for coronavirus after
working closely with people who had
potentially been exposed to it.[26][28] This
was a precaution due to Cretton having a
newborn baby, and he self-isolated while
awaiting these results;[28] the test later
came back negative.[26] While Cretton was
self-isolating, Marvel suspended first unit
production for the film but intended for
other aspects such as second unit to
continue as normal.[28] On March 13, the
rest of the film's production was paused as
Disney halted filming on most of its
projects.[29] Before the shut down, Ronny
Chieng joined the cast in an undisclosed
role.[30] In early April, Disney shifted much
of their Phase Four slate of films due to
the pandemic, moving Shang-Chi's release
date to May 7, 2021.[31]

Work building sets for the film resumed at

the end of July 2020, and by August 2, all
cast and crew members had arrived to
begin shooting "in the coming days".[32]
Any cast and crew members returning to
Australia from outside the country had to
be quarantined for two weeks upon arrival
before returning to work, according to
Australia's guidelines.[33] Later in August,
Yeoh was confirmed to appear in the
film.[34] The next month, the film's release
date was pushed back to July 9, 2021,
after Black Widow (2021) was shifted to
the May 2021 date.[35] In October, filming
took place in San Francisco, also under the
working title Steamboat.[36] Shooting
locations included the Russian Hill, Noe
Valley, and Nob Hill neighborhoods, as well
as Fisherman's Wharf.[37] Filming wrapped
on October 24, 2020.[38] Filming was also
expected to take place in Los Angeles.[22]

Post-production …

Nat Sanders and Elísabet Ronaldsdóttir

serve as co-editors of the film,[39]
alongside Harry Yoon.[40] In December
2020, Marvel revealed roles for several
cast members, including Awkwafina as
Shang-Chi's friend Katy, Yeoh as Jian Nan,
and Chieng as Jon Jon. They also
announced the casting of Meng'er Zhang
as Xialing, Fala Chen as Jiang Li, and
Florian Munteanu as Razor Fist.[3]
Release
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
is scheduled to be released on July 9,
2021.[35] It was previously scheduled to be
released on February 12, 2021,[2] the first
day of the Chinese New Year,[41] before it
was shifted to May 7, 2021,[31] and then to
the July 2021 date due to the COVID-19
pandemic.[35] It will be part of Phase Four
of the MCU.[42]

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External links

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