Shang Chi’s Fala Chen Explains Her Marvel Journey and Learning From “Fanatic Fan” Simu Liu

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is now playing in theaters and has been met with positive reviews from critics and movie-goers alike. The film currently has a 92% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes after 210 reviews and a 99% audience score after 1,000+ reviews. In honor of the movie’s release, ComicBook.com recently had the chance to chat with Fala Chen, who plays Shang-Chi’s mother in the film. Chen talked to us about working with her co-stars, Simu Liu and Tony Leung, and we asked if she was a Marvel fan prior to being cast or if she’s read any Shang-Chi comics.

“I have, but not till I got the offer. I became a fan … well, I’ve seen many Marvel films, but I didn’t keep track of where everyone is in the universe and all of that. But once I got the offer and I was like, ‘Oh, no, I’ve got to catch up, I’ve got to’ … because Simu is such a fanatic fan that he knows everything, and he would shame me for not knowing the smallest characters,” Chen joked.

“I was like, ‘Wait, who’s that?’ He’s like, ‘You don’t know who this is?’ So I was like, ‘Okay, I’ve got to catch up.’ Either that or he would make fun that I’m old because I play his mom, but we’re almost similar in age, so … but he would always make fun of me. He’s like, ‘Oh, because you’re so old, you don’t know.’ I was like, ‘Okay, you’re the cool kid,’ I’m all, ‘Tell me who this is.’ So we have this kind of a little bit of banter going on. So it got me into reading a lot about … of course, I had to research a lot about Shang-Chi, the character and around our story, but at the same time, learn a lot about different phases of the MCU and knowing a little bit more about, like, why are we telling our story where we are in kind of this part of the history. And that also helps me to understand why we’re doing this film, as well.”

During the chat, Chen also spoke about what drew her to the project.

“I think there are so many things that’s so amazing about this project. I mean, it’s a no-brainer that I accepted the offer. But I think it’s such a beautiful story that incorporated, without hard-selling, but naturally incorporated a lot of nuanced cultural elements into the story that I really appreciated. Not only Destin [Daniel Cretton], but the whole team investigating and putting all their efforts into the smallest details in our film, and that made … people can … not only people from the Chinese culture or whatnot, but to resonate because it’s authentic. Once a story is authentic, I feel like people can resonate and understand it better.”

You can watch our full interview with Fala Chen at the top of the page.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is now playing in theaters. The rest of Marvel’s 2021 line-up includes What If…, which releases new episodes on Disney+ on Wednesdays, Eternals in theatres on November 5th, Hawkeye on Disney+ on November 24th, and Spider-Man: No Way Home in theatres on December 17th.