LEGEND'S LEGEND

WITH SHANG-CHI, HONG KONG ICON TONY LEUNG IS FINALLY MAKING HIS HOLLYWOOD DEBUT

“One of my favourite experiences is watching the moment when an actor clicks in with the character they’re playing,” says Destin Daniel Cretton. And when it came to Tony Leung, the director didn’t have to wait long. “It was the first time we started rolling on him. He’d had a few months in order to lock himself up and get into the mindset of this character. After his first scene, I yelled, ‘Cut!’ and looked to [producer] Jonathan Schwartz and said, ‘I don’t even know what to direct him to!’”

A giant of Asian cinema, Leung has worked with Wong Kar-wai, John Woo, Ang Lee, and Infernal Affairs duo Alan Mak and Andrew Lau. But he’s always studiously avoided Hollywood’s advances — until now. “I still can’t believe it as we’re sitting here, talking about it,” laughs Kevin Feige. “[Casting director] Sarah Finn had made inroads, and then Destin got on the phone with him.” And where Leung went, starstruck whispers followed him. “I could watch his acting under a microscope,” says Meng’er Zhang, who plays Wenwu’s daughter. “What he brings to that performance is insane,” adds Awkwafina. “Sometimes we would hang out, and it was like a dream.”

But the actor who worked most closely with Leung was the man playing his screen son, Simu Liu. “He’s Brad Pitt, Clooney, De Niro, all rolled up into one,” he laughs. “He’s Ocean’s One! He came up to me and shook my hand with both of his, and I just about died in that moment.” Thankfully, Liu recovered. “He was very patient with me. I’m a guy filming his first movie, and Tony is so much more established. So there was just a lot of patience and generosity, where he had every right in the world to be a little standoffish.”

And how did Cretton manage to direct Leung after that opening gambit? “I just said, ‘Tony, that was incredible. Should we try it again and see what happens?’”

We’ll find out what did soon enough.