In a new featurette for “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” star Simu Liu explains the myriad of martial arts styles that went into creating the fight sequences of the Marvel film — not to mention immense the effort he and the cast put into training.
Liu talks about learning both tai chi and wing chun in the clip, which also gives a behind the scenes look at some of his rehearsal and the elaborate stunt work that specifically went into the film’s action sequence aboard a runaway bus.
“‘Shang-Chi’ is at its core a Marvel movie, that comes with a promise of action and a certain promise to the quality of the sequences we’re about to deliver,” Liu said. “We’re going to incorporate a lot of different styles of martial arts. Tai chi, which is very, very flowy. Another one is wing chun, which is a bit more combative, and then looking at different regional styles that kind of fill in this mosaic of how this character moves.”
“Shang-Chi” co-stars Fala Chen and Tony Leung also gave a look at their process, with Chen explaining that she worked with a world champion tai chi master who was “absolutely amazing,” while Leung spent two weeks rehearsing his fight sequence.
“It’s a symbol of the aggressiveness and anger of the character,” Leung said.
“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” opens in theaters on Friday, September 3. The film also stars Awkwafina and is directed by Destin Daniel Cretton. Check out the teaser featurette for the film here and above.