I’ll be honest with you here: yes, there were a couple of things I wanted to point towards on the subject of the recent Marvel movie Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. But the real reason for this post is an excuse to talk about Simu Liu, who I have become somewhat obsessed with ever since watching the film first time round. That’s the good thing about having a blog, no matter how much or little you post, you can spend lots and lots of time researching things that you’re interested in!

But let’s do the post anyway and not just focus on Simu’s cheeky smile.

1. The Marvel Studios Assembled episode that goes behind the scenes of the making of the Ten Rings movie gave a startling amount of insight. As we’ve already discussed, it sent me down a rabbit hole searching for the One Shots, a series of five shorts that were surprisingly hard to track down. The whole backstory of the rings, the Mandarin, and how it all came together, is fascinating.
2. I hadn’t realised this was Simu Liu’s first feature length film, considering what a great job he did, holding the entire movie together. Previously he’s most known for Kim’s Convenience, which I’ve seen is on Netflix so might already have been added to my To Watch list.
3. I’m always, ALWAYS, astounded by how much goes into making these films. Not just the actual shooting days, although they looked hardcore - the stunts are so impressive. But also the many days of prep that are required, training in martial arts and so much more. I’m jealous of these people who get trained up to do something awesome like that but equally… it looks like a lot of hard work!
4. On that subject, I liked the moment in the Assembled show where Simu admitted to being tired. It’s a fun job and he’s living the dream, but also, it’s not easy:

“We are heading into our last week, we’re on mile 24 of the marathon. You can feel the fatigue and the weariness around set but everyone’s still pulling through… I don’t know what I expected going in… I think it’s just how much of a grind everything is has come as a surprise. It is such a dream to be here every day and to be working as my first film, but as one of the only films that are able to shoot around the world right now, but it’s hard. It’s hard. It’s a lot of fighting. I kind of wish Shang-Chi was the master of non-violent de-escalation at times.”

5. But, also, once the movie is made, the promotion is a lot of fun.