Fala Chen Reveals What It's Really Like Working With Tony Leung On Shang-Chi - Exclusive
Tony Leung is the latest cinematic legend to cash a check from Marvel Studios. In "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings," he plays Wenwu, the father of the titular Shang-Chi and the wielder of the similarly titular Ten Rings. In China, Leung is known (per Accented Cinema) as "The Man Who Can Speak With His Eyes," and we were fortunate enough to speak with someone who could verify that up close.
In an exclusive interview, Looper spoke with Fala Chen, who plays Wenwu's wife Leiko. Her response to the nickname? "I mean, it's pretty self-explanatory, right? You just suddenly get transfixed into his eyes. When you're looking at him, when you're acting along with him, it's such a learning experience for me to work with the best of the best. He's such a charismatic actor." She also had high praise for his work ethic: "He does so much preparation that you would never imagine such a veteran actor would need to do, but he's constantly thinking about his character." This work ethic claim is backed up by Xialing actress Meng'er Zhang, who told us in a separate interview that Leung never went back to his trailer and never brought his phone on set.
Chen confirms that Leung is 'such a hard worker'
"Anytime we talk about things [or when] we go out to dinner, he's still talking about his character," Chen recalled. "He's still talking about that scene that we already filmed weeks ago. He's like this one part, I was thinking, why did you say that? He was still just going over the scenes in his head over and over. He is such a hard worker that people probably don't know about."
Chen notes that Leung isn't always intense, and that he "also brings this really calm energy on set. He's always very soft-spoken, very humble. That just made all of us feel much less nervous. I was very nervous in the beginning when I started the first scene with him, but he just made it so easy for all of us." She also spoke fondly of the scenes of domestic bliss, where the family bonded and played "Dance Dance Revolution": "The best time I spent was with Tony and the kids, just having a lot of fun on set."
"Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" is in theaters now.