Tony Leung - The Man Who Can Speak With His Eyes

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Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, first Asian-led Superhero film of Marvel has finally hit the screens. It has managed to smash few box-office opening records and received high ratings from critics as well as the audience. This film had many famous Asian actors, some of them who already worked in Hollywood and some of them who were making their debut. Among them is a Hong Kong Legend, one of the most famous actors of the modern cinema, Tony Leung, also called as ‘The Man Who Can Speak With His Eyes’. He was considered as a Legend in film circles and when Marvel announced that he was playing the infamous Wenwu A.K.A The Mandarin, everyone was super excited.

As expected, he nailed his performance in the film. He literally dominated everyone with his terrific screen presence. Apparently, he has also mesmerized President of Marvel Studios with his presence. In an exclusive interview to Film Companion’s Anupam Chopra Kevin Feige shared his experience of interacting with Legendary Tony Leung.

"Tony Leung does seem like a whole different layer of movie star. He is a very, very talented man. I don't feel it was a masterstroke for us, I feel we were lucky that he chose us to make his first Hollywood film appearance in [Shang-Chi] and give all of himself and all of his talent to creating this amazing, amazing character of Wenwu. I've been around a lot of movie stars and a lot of living legends, but I was nearly speechless when I met him briefly on the set. Because he seems like such an otherworldly star directly from the sky", said Feige.

In an exclusive interview for Comicbook/marvel, Fala Chen who played Shang-Chi’s mother, talked highly about her on screen husband Tony Leung.

"It's very different onscreen and offscreen because Tony, privately, he's such a gentle, calm, almost shy person in real life, so that you ... if you put him in the room, he's the last person you will look at, because he kind of hides his own energy. He's just very invisible in many ways. He's so shy. And every time you talk to him, because we were hanging out and eating dinner, and the only thing he talks about is the movie, the script. He's like, "Oh, I'm still thinking. I'm not sure." And he comes off as so humble. He's like, "I'm not really sure if I can do that," or "Why did I ... why did your character say that line?" as if he doesn't understand, or he's like, "Oh, I need to go home and practice my lines." And then, once he's on set, he's like the most majestic, charismatic, strong, powerful character in the whole film. And you're just like, what happened? Because I think he just puts so much thought into his character. He spends all his energy outside work to think about ... to work on his character, that once he's on set, he kind of just unleashed all of those preparation and his work, and his experience, decades of experience, it just comes out, and without being too much. It's just perfect in the film.", she revealed.

Previously, when asked about his experience working with Tony Leung, Simu Liu, the star of Marvel’s Shang-Chi shared his experience on social media.

"Like a master class in acting every single day. He is every bit as legendary as the legends say. What makes Tony so incredibly watchable is his stillness, his ability to convey such emotional color with a single glance. For a newbie like me coming to set full of nervous energy, he really grounded me and forced me to be still and present. Also, I just love that my job was to literally stare into Tony's eyes for hours at a time.", responded Simu.

Marvel has repeatedly hit bulls’ eye when it comes to their casting choices. This time they went a bit further with Tony Leung. Fans are already demanding a standalone Wenwu movie about his adventures with Ten Rings. Let us wait and see what Marvel Studios has in store for Wenwu in future.