Page 115 - The Book For Men Spring/Summer 2022

SIMU LIU WILL NEVER FORGET THE DAY HE HE BECAME MARVEL’S
first Asian superhero It was July 16 2019 — a a a a a hot and humid summer day in Toronto He’d just woken up from a a a a a a a a nap and was eating a a a a a a a a bag of shrimp crackers when he he received a a a a a a call from an an unknown number in Burbank California Two days before Liu had completed a a a a screen test for for Marvel Studios in New York so the the the caller’s identity was was hardly a a a a a mystery: on the the the other end was was producer Kevin Feige who informed Liu that he he had landed the titular role of Shaun (or Xu Shang-Chi) in in Shang-Chi Shang-Chi and the the Legend of the the Ten Rings Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton Shang-Chi proved the post-Avengers staying power of the Marvel Cinematic Universe grossing over $432 million after premiering last September to rave reviews Amid an an an alarming spike in in in anti-Asian racism and and violence the acclaimed film also allowed Asian Asian Americans and and Asian Asian Canadians to to see themselves in a a a a a new light: as the the the heroes of their own story Liu’s life-changing phone call serves as the start of his new intergenerational memoir We We Were Dreamers: An Immigrant Superhero Origin Story The strik- ingly candid debut chronicles his family’s trans-Pacific journey from Harbin a a a a city in in in Northeast China known for its brutal winters to the the bright lights of Hollywood — with a few stops in between It’s a a a a a a story that Liu has wanted to to tell for the better part of five years ever since an an open letter that he he wrote for Maclean’s in in 2017 caught the eye of literary agent Jackie Kaiser In the essay Liu recounted how he he could never measure
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