Spoilers are included in this interview.
Superheroes form an indelible part of the storytelling landscape. They mean different things to different people and writer/ director Destin Daniel Cretton is no exception. “Superheroes bring me back to my childhood when I thought anything was possible… when I thought I was invincible, I could fly… or live forever,” exclaimed Cretton. Superheroes are part of his subconscious mind that he’s always tapping into when writing stories including Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings.
That said, not all superheroes need to be larger than life. “We wanted to create Shang-Chi as a very relatable character when we’re initially introduced to him. It was important to put him in a setting that felt very familiar whether it was part of an Asian-American or other ethnic experience.”
Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) starts off as an average valet worker before he embarks on his MCU superhero journey. Cretton and co-writers Dave Callaham (Wonder Woman 1984) and Andrew Lanham (Just Mercy) focused on keeping Shangi-Chi’s emotional journey as grounded as possible throughout the story. “We needed an emotional spine of self-discovery within the big spectacle.”
The writing trio kept working together to mold the screenplay into shape. “Each one of us had our individual strengths, but there were moments of bursts of creativity that hit a certain writer’s brain at a certain time. When one brain burned out, another one would kick in with a fresh idea to take us in a new direction.” It was a true collaboration.
Destin Daniel Cretton admitted that he wasn’t a long time fan of Shang-Chi before co-writing the screenplay for the film. “I didn’t grow up with a superhero that looked like me. It was extremely exciting to be part of the conversation to boost an Asian-American superhero for a new generation of kids.” Dave Callahan is also Asian-American, so when they met they explored their joint deep desire to bring a superhero on our screens worthy of the attention of their children by infusing their childhood experiences into them. He also wants his stories to be enjoyed by his mom and his community at large.
Destin Daniel Cretton
Unfazed by the abundance of MCU comic book source material and the expectations of diehard fans, Cretton and crew “knew that Shang-Chi needed a drastic update that wouldn’t be offensive to the Asian-American community.” They held onto the core idea of a complicated relationship between a father (Xu Wenwu played by Tony Leung) and his son. After that, they were given creative freedom to divert from the comic book stories and breathe new life into Shang-Chi’s character.
Crafting The Origin Story
Ostensibly, Shang-Chi is an origin story where the superhero has to reconcile a troubled past with the present and future. “Our movie was filling in the gaps and answering the questions that were asked in the first Iron Man movie.” The writers were also able to give more context to the characters presented at that time, “The Mandarin heading the Ten Rings being the main one,” continued the writer/director.
Cretton and company took great care in crafting a fleshed-out villain in The Mandarin by giving him many emotional layers rather than being a one-note villain with a sole aim of conquering the world. By carefully exploring the past, Cretton opened the doors to future adventures of these characters.
Cretton doesn’t subscribe to a specific template of creating the perfect origin story. They are all about discovering a character’s past. “Technically, all my movies are origin stories because you’re introducing characters into the world that nobody knows, so the audience understands their backstory, what they’re after, their weaknesses and insecurities.”
The key to a writing a great character is to make their triumphant moments as relatable as their painful ones
Destin stated that writers can’t jump straight into the action and know exactly who Shang-Chi is because they need context first.
The Ten Rings
The Ten Rings had multiple meaning in Shang-Chi. There was the Ten Rings organization as well as the literal ten rings that WenWu uses both a weapon and a means to have eternal life. “The Ten Rings represent WenWu’s biggest strength and weakness which is his lust for power and control. They are an addiction.”
When Wenwu has a family with wife Li (Fala Chen), and we find out that Shang-Chi is his son and Xialing (Meng’er Zhang) his daughter, the Ten Rings come off and he transforms into a loving father for the first time.
Then tragedy strikes and Li is presumed dead, Wenwu puts the rings back on and the evil organization comes back into fruition. At this point, Shang-Chi is forced to learn how to navigate and live alongside the ten rings as his hero status emerges. “The Ten Rings become the source of all of Shang-Chi’s problems both internal and external.”
“He’s broken and sharpened as he’s made into a killer. He’s forced to confront the choices that he made as a result of his childhood abuse.”
Despite his tumultuous childhood, Shang-Chi can finally stop running and process the tragedy of his past. Up until now, Shaun (Shang-Chi) suppressed his trauma and lived an unfulfilled, goofy life working as a valet. “When his mask his torn off in the first act, he begins to deal with the issues he’s avoided. By the end of the movie, he can look inward and embrace it all as a part of himself – darkness and light, good and bad, joy and pain.”
Once he embraces that musical theme of mom and dad, Shang-Chi hears a new melody forming.
Female Characters
Destin Cretton and Dave Callahan were initially looking for Shang-Chi’s Asian-American counterpart when they wrote the female characters. They wanted to give him a female best friend and guide rather than a love interest. Both Cretton and Callahan drew on their experiences of rewarding platonic female friendships growing up. “That was the genesis of the Katy (Awkwafina) character. Katy also best represents the Asian-American experience in the movie.”
Katy, Shaun’s co-worker at their dead-end valet job, summons up the courage to step outside her comfort zone and take some big swings in life.
Katy (Awkwafina) & Shaun (Simu Liu)
Cretton wanted all the female characters “to have their own trajectories, attitudes, and views on life and their own hopes and dreams.” He wanted them to be integral to Shang-Chi’s journey into becoming a superhero. They were more than crutches to his journey. They prodded and cajoled him along his path by telling his that the only way to overcome fear was by moving through it.
Destin Daniel Cretton has been in the business for two decades and he’s produced a large body of work. The theme of family is an aspect that keeps cropping up in most of it. “They are essentially family dramas even in the absence of a nuclear family. They are about people forming families even if they are not related. They are either ripped apart by circumstance, personal pain or their inability to know the right way to love somebody.”
Cretton declined to give specific advice on screenwriting career because he’s uncomfortable with the terms “aspiring” and “working” writer. “Psychologically and creatively, these terms are harmful. There’s a certain hustle involved in building a career, but it’s only beneficial if it’s coupled to the love of writing.”
“If a career is driven by a need to be validated by Hollywood, a pay check, it’s harmful to a writer. It shouldn’t feel like a failure if you don’t get there.” These accolades should only be the icing not the cake not the reason to write. “This made me realize I had more power in my personal journey than I thought.“
