‘Shang-Chi’ director wants Jackie Chan to be in the sequel

“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” director Destin Daniel Cretton just opened up the possibility of adding Jackie Chan to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

A director’s dream: In a recent interview with CinemaBlend, the 43-year-old filmmaker picked the martial arts icon as the legendary Asian actor he’d love to cast in the “Shang-Chi” sequel.

“I mean, if we could ever get Jackie [Chan] into a movie that would be a lifelong dream of mine,” Cretton was quoted as saying.
Gamely agreeing with interviewer Law Sharma’s suggestion to “put that grand idea out into the universe,” the director said, “Yeah. Let’s put it out there.”
Cretton previously shared in an earlier interview that the first film’s aesthetic was influenced by “every Jackie Chan movie ever made.”
“We watched a lot of these classic movies to make sure that we were paying proper respect to them and to the long history of martial arts and kung-fu movies that came before us,” Cretton told Fandango in August.
Fight coordinator Andy Cheng and late stunt coordinator Brad Allan, who both worked with Chan on several films, crafted the fight sequences in “Shang-Chi.”
Subtle but noticeable references to Chan and his films can be found throughout the Marvel Studios hit, such as Shang-Chi’s reluctance to fight, his fluid fighting moves (jacket wraparound technique Chan did in “Rumble in the Bronx”) and high-rise vertical chases (scaffolding scene in “Rush Hour”), among others.

A legendary actor in the legendary IP: Chan’s martial arts fighting style and inherent humor would seem to fit right into the fun and action-packed world of “Shang-Chi,” an assertion bolstered even more by Cretton’s revelation that “Shang-Chi” was directly influenced by Chan’s filmography.

Should the film delve into a more somber tone, the 67-year-old star has already shown his versatility as an actor through his recent forays into more serious, dramatic roles.
However, Chan has expressed reluctance in starring in more Hollywood films as he feels he is not getting offered roles that he wants to play, NextShark previously reported.
“All these years after the ‘Karate Kid’, I received so many scripts, but the role is [always] a Hong Kong policeman,” Chan said in an October 2020 interview with Filmelier. “That’s why it took me seven years to accept a role in another Hollywood film, with ‘The Foreigner.’ I want to make sure that the audience can see these different sides of Jackie Chan. I would like the public to consider me an actor who does action, not just an action star.”

While it was recently announced that Marvel Studios has greenlit the upcoming Shang-Chi sequel, no other details about it have been revealed yet.

Featured Image via Marvel Entertainment (left) and Every Frame a Painting (right)

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