Shang-Chi’s Meng’er Zhang Says She Accidentally Punched Simu Liu In The Face During Their First-Ever Fight Scene: ”Audiences Can See It In The Film!”

Meng'er Zhang accidentally punched Simu Liu in the face during their first fight scene together.

The Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings star— who made her acting debut as Simu Liu's estranged sister Xialing in the Marvel Studios blockbuster — admitted she was nervous and went a bit too far after some encouragement from her co-star.

The theatre actress told Collider: My favourite memory on set was my first fight scene with Simu and I did punch him in the face — and yes, audiences can see it in the film!

I was nervous because that was the very first fight scene and Simu encouraged me. He said, 'It's okay, it's okay, just go for it, you can't hurt me!'

So I went for it, I just got into my character. It was an accident but, to be honest... it felt good. [laughs]

Zhang described working on the movie as a dream come true when it comes to her first mainstream project.

She added: I didn't have any camera experience before, so I didn't know what it was like.

The whole journey was just like... a masterclass to me. Because I got to work with so many legends, you know?

It's like a dream come true... I just learned so much from them.

Meanwhile, the actress didn't actually know she was auditioning for a Marvel movie until she was flown out for a screen test with Liu.

She said: That's when I found out I was auditioning for Shang-Chi. After five days of that screen-test, I got a message from my lawyer.

I didn't read through, I just scrolled down to the very bottom and I saw, 'Welcome to the Marvel Universe'! I can keep big secrets. I didn't tell my parents — believe it or not, I didn't tell them!

I kept the secret, you know? And when I had to fly to shoot the film, I had to tell them and they couldn't believe me.

I said, 'Okay, it's a film, it's a Marvel film'. And my mum was like, 'No, you're lying'. 'No I'm not!' They're really excited!

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings grossed an estimated US$94.4 million (S$127 mil) in its opening four-day weekend (Sept 3-5) in the US, setting a new record for the Labour Day openings.

Overseas, the movie, which also stars Tony Leung and Michelle Yeoh, earned US$56.2 million for a global haul of US$150.6 million. In Singapore, the movie opened on Sept 1 and claimed the No.1 spot with a S$1.9 million gross over the weekend. — BANG SHOWBIZ

Photo: Disney