You know how many actors like to airily insist that no, they had no idea about this comics thing until they were cast, others – like Samuel L. Jackson, for example – are total fanboys who all but forced themselves into the Marvel Cinematic Universe?
Another such is the Canadian actor Simu Liu, who will be the lead in Marvel’s 2021’s Shang-Chi & the Legend of the Ten Rings.
So much so that he did that thing you always dreamed of and just tweeted at Marvel that hell, he should totally get the part. And then he did.
That was in December 2018. And then, the following July, he added the following comment:
And it’s a huge deal, being the first Marvel film with an Asian lead. But it’s not like Liu was some complete unknown, or that his life doesn’t already sound magical.
His family immigrated to Ontario from China when he was five and he worked as an accountant until he was sacked, at which point he thought “eh, might try acting” which worked out pretty well – roles in Fresh Off The Boat, Orphan Black and Bad Blood before becoming a star on Kim’s Convenience.
And after his tweet put him on the radar, and his manager on alert, things moved along with gathering speed. He auditioned for the role on a Sunday. He then had Kim’s Convenience shooting on Monday. And then, as he related to ET Canada,
“It’s about 6:19 p.m. Tuesday and lo and behold, I’m in my underwear eating shrimp crackers and there’s an unknown number from Burbank, California. Now I know Disney Studios is in Burbank so my heart’s thumping out of my chest and I jump and am like ‘Hello!’ and it’s the divine voice of Kevin Feige. I’ll never forget it, it’s so calm, it’s so booming. He’s like, ‘Simu, hi. We’d like you to play Shang-Chi. Also, we need you go to Comic-Con in four days.’”
If that sounds insanely quick then yes, it was. As he said on stage at said Comic-Con: “I feel like I was kind of this social experiment: let’s just take this guy, an ordinary guy, living in Toronto. Let’s tell him he’s going to be in the next Marvel movie and give him four days to prep for it.”
Mind you, given the history of people who were cast and then blabbed (or, in the tragic case of Dane Cook, auditioned to be Captain America and then blew whatever chance he had by excitedly Tweeting about it) maybe not giving him a chance to reveal spoilers was a strong idea.
Still: Marvel have their Shang-Chi, and I’m going to tweet at them about how a bearded, middle-aged Australian with zero acting ability would be a bold choice for the next Jean Grey. See you on the red carpet!