#7 Four Actionable Life Lessons I Learned from the latest Marvel movie, Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings

Setbacks, preparation and opportunities

Sep 11, 2021

Hi Guys!

Hope you had a good week!

In this week’s newsletter, I go through four lessons I am going to apply for myself after watching Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings.

I also made a new Day-In-My-Life YouTube video which I’ve linked to below. I must have spent 10+ hours writing the script, filming, getting the music, doing up the thumbnail, etc.

There’s a long way to go in my video editing upskilling journey but I’m happy about my progress so far. Please check it out!

Have a great weekend and week ahead!
David

Four Actionable Life Lessons
from Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings

I watched the new Marvel movie, Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings, last Saturday morning.

The movie is notable for being the first in Hollywood to have an Asian superhero.

I thought it was awesome and you should check it out if you haven’t done so!

Without giving anything away, here is a behind-the-scenes look at filming in San Francisco for one of the iconic sequences in the movie:

Following the movie, I did a bit of research about the lead actors and actresses.

Here are four lessons that I am going to apply to my own journey, both in the 9-to-5 job and my side pursuits/hobbies:

Setbacks or unexpected events can serve as permission to pivot
The lead character, Shang-Chi is played by the Canadian actor Simu Liu.
Liu studied a business degree at the University of Western Ontario, Canada. He graduated in 2011 and worked as an accountant in Deloitte.
He was laid off in 2014:
“I spent the better part of my life trying to live up to my parents’ expectations of who I ought to be. And I was bad at it. I remember being in the offices of Deloitte, counting down the seconds until five o’clock, or whatever time it would be that I could finally leave, and just feeling miserable every day at the office. Feeling like I wasn’t where I wanted to be.”
He was finally made redundant (“It was, honestly, in many ways a relief”), and decided to pursue acting – something for which he had always had a hankering.
“I didn’t have to put up a façade any more, and I could finally be authentic, be real and honest, and live life on my terms. I finally made the decision to try something different.”
After seeing an advert for extras in Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim, he got an uncredited part in a crowd scene – and never looked back.
Excerpt from: “‘I was drowning in debt’: How Simu Liu went from failed accountant to Marvel’s first Asian superhero Shang-Chi”
Just go ahead and put yourself out there…
…either to show your work or state your dreams, or both.
It’s a good way to stay accountable to yourself and if anything, fun to look back on in future, as these screenshots of past tweets from Liu show!
The (now) iconic tweet
2014 -> 2019 when the role was announced
Nothing beats preparation and there is nothing wrong with being over-prepared/practised/rehearsed
One common point brought up the cast is the on-set work ethic of Tony Leung, one of Hong Kong’s most recognised actors, who plays the father of Shang-Chi:
One of the lead actresses, Fala Chen, summarises nicely how Leung exudes passion for preparation in this interview:
"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."
If more practice is good for Tony Leung, it is certainly good for me.
Be aware of and seize every opportunity you can
Meng’er Zhang, who plays Shang-Chi’s sister, found out about the casting call on a group chat.
Imagine if she missed that message or said no! She also met her significant other on set:
You saw the Shang-Chi audition in a group chat. What happened next?
I didn’t know I was auditioning for a Marvel film. I saw that audition call in a group chat and it said they needed a girl who could speak Chinese and English, so I thought, “I can do that.” I sent my self-tape and I got a callback. They flew me to do a screentest with Simu and that’s when I found out I was auditioning for Shang-Chi.
You got married during this movie. What is the process of having a wedding while doing a giant movie as well?
Yes, you heard. (Laughs.) I met my husband on this film. He is one of the action designers of our film. We didn’t prepare anything for our marriage, we just decided to get married because that just felt right. The production threw a very big celebration party for us and Simu took us to a Disneyland trip. He surprised us, and Awkwafina booked a whole venue to celebrate for us. We are a big family. It’s really special.
From ‘Shang-Chi’: How a Group Chat Led to Meng’er Zhang’s Life-Changing Role
Two life-changing moments which go to show you never know what is around the corner. These are available to you provided you are open to saying YES.