Only Tony Leung could 'powerfully break the cliche of the moustache-twirling villain': Shang-Chi director Destin Daniel Cretton

Being involved in a Marvel project is a huge milestone and is regarded as a badge of honour nowadays for filmmakers and actors alike.

However, the Marvel brand isn't always foolproof in courting some of the heavyweights in the industry.

That wasn't lost on director Destin Daniel Cretton when he took the reins for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

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During a roundtable interview for the film on Aug 30, Destin, 42, said he had only one actor in mind for the role of Xu Wenwu/The Mandarin and that was Asian cinema legend Tony Leung Chiu-wai.

To him, Tony was the one who could "powerfully break the cliche of the moustache-twirling villain".

"The first time that our producer Jonathan asked me who we should go out to for the role of Wenwu, the first name that I said was Tony Leung; but I also said I didn't think in a million years he would actually do it," he told AsiaOne.

A couple of weeks after they reached out, the veteran Hong Kong actor agreed to talk to the director about the role.

Destin said: "He is a very, very open performer who I think likes to go deep. He likes to use his characters to process ideas and emotions that are close to him. And I do the same thing. I use these movies to process questions that I'm struggling with myself.

"And so, we had a very open conversation about the themes of this movie, about the character, about themes of family, obsession, desperation, brokenness and healing. It was a very, very great conversation."

The rest, as they say, is history as Tony's face is plastered over all of the promotional materials for the film. His name is also constantly dropped, alongside veteran Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh, as part of the marketing hype.

That said, the hype is real as Tony has always been regarded as one of the greats in Hong Kong showbiz even if he's not always in the limelight.

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Destin even openly admitted that he was nervous to work with him on set. 

"Once we were on set, I was very nervous to be working with a legend like Tony Leung. But I found him to be a very gracious person and gracious performer, and one of the easiest actors I've ever worked with because he comes so prepared," he said.

"It's weird, because it's like, my opinion of him was so high before I met him. And after working with him, my opinion of him has gotten even higher. So I feel very lucky to have been able to work with Tony."

Experience Marvel Studios' Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings in cinemas now.

bryanlim@asiaone.com