Shang-Chi star Simu Liu asked Marvel about playing Shang-Chi on Twitter 8 months ago
Even for established actors, finding work can be painfully disheartening. You can kill an audition, only not to get a callback for any number of reasons completely unrelated to your performance. Maybe you’re an inch too short, your eyes the wrong shade of green, or the casting director had a weird tuna sandwich for lunch. Carol Kane famously recalls not even being asked to audition for parts seeking a “Carol Kane type.” It is a brutal, unforgiving process.
Unless, that is, you are actor Simu Liu, in which case you just ask Marvel nicely, and they get back to you a few months later with the leading role in a brand-new MCU franchise.
Last December, Liu, who features in the well-received Canadian sitcom Kim’s Convenience and the less well-received TV adaptation of Taken, tweeted at Marvel, “OK @Marvel, are we gonna talk or what #ShangChi.” This week, wouldn’t you know it, Marvel announced a bevy of new films for the next phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings, starring none other than Simu Liu.