One of the funniest bits of meta-casting in the MCU is Oscar-winner Sir Ben Kingsley as acting flunky Trevor Slattery. First launched in Iron Man 3, the morally ambiguous goofball was so determined for roles that he had to reply to a supervillain’s advert – whereas in real-life, Kingsley is one of the most revered actors of a technology. The truth is, when she wanted advice on the craft herself, his costar Meng’er Zhang (AKA Shang-Chi’s Xu Xialing), went to him for solutions.
This we discovered at New York Comedian Con 2025, the place Meng’er Zhang was showing alongside costar and onscreen sibling Simu Liu at the Shang-Chi panel. At one level in the panel’s dialogue, moderator and Popverse Workers Author Grant DeArmitt (hey! We all know him!) requested about Zhang’s expertise working with the MCU’s Slattery, and what she discovered from it.
“Sir Ben?,” Zhang began, smiling huge, “He’s so cool. [Shang-Chi] was my first movie. I got here from theater, and I do know nothing about digicam acting. So I all the time went to him with my pocket book in my hand, and I simply requested him questions on, like, ‘What’s the distinction between digicam acting and stage acting?’ He simply gave me unimaginable solutions, and I simply put the whole lot in my notes. It is like taking a grasp class – I really feel actually fortunate and privileged about that.”
Very not often will we get the likelihood to listen to Sir Ben Kingsley’s advice on acting from somebody ho discovered it one-on-one, so we needed to know extra. What, we requested, was a selected piece of knowledge Kingsley shared?
“He stated it so fantastically,” Zhang respionded, “Acting on stage is like [being a] panorama artist. Acting on digicam is like [being] a portrait artist. It simply gave me a really clear picture about what it is like; what’s the distinction. It helped me, actually.”
We wager it did, Meng’er. And Marvel, if you happen to’re listening, I believe we would all wish to see extra of what Zhang discovered from these classes. Sooner reasonably than later, OK?
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is streaming on Disney+ now. Simu Liu will return as Marvel’s Martial Arts Maven in Avengers: Doomsday December 18, 2026.