Filming for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings director Destin Daniel Cretton’s new Disney+ series, American Born Chinese, has begun. The Disney+ series is an adaptation of Gene Luen Yang’s 2006 graphic novel of the same name. The series stars Michelle Yeoh, Ben Wang, Yeo Yann Yann, Chin Han, Daniel Wu, and Jonathan Ke Quan.
Released in 2006, American Born Chinese is heavily inspired by Chinese mythology and tells three seemingly unconnected tales that come together to explore themes of identity, culture, and family. Winning multiple awards such as the 2007 Eisner Award for Best Graphic Novel, Amazon’s Best Graphic Novel/Comic of the Year, Publishers Weekly Comics Week Best Comic of the Year, and more, the graphic novel has been praised for its use in schools to help motivate academically struggling students. 20th Century Television picked up the rights to the graphic novel to adapt for release on Disney+, with Cretton joining the project to direct and produce. Following recent casting announcements, it has been confirmed production on the series has begun.
Television producer Melvin Mar, who serves as an executive producer on the series alongside Cretton, shared a photo of himself, the director, and the cast on his Instagram account. The photo featured Marr himself, fellow producers Kelvin Yu and Erin O’Malley, original author Luen Yang, and Cretton alongside stars Yeoh, Wang, Yann, Han, Wu. Jim Liu, and Sydney Taylor. Tagging everyone involved in the photograph, Mar commented that the photo showed a Blessing Ceremony for the show held on the first day of production. Mar also tagged the accounts for Disney Branded Television Communications, Disney+, and Disney TV Studios to thank them. Check out Mar’s post below.
Click here to view Mar’s original post.
American Born Chinese is only one of many projects that Cretton is working on with Disney. In December 2021, it was reported that Cretton is working on a Marvel Disney+ series as part of a multi-year contract with the studio. While no details were revealed on what the series was about, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige did state that he was looking forward to working with the director, praising the ideas that Cretton had shared so far.
With Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings being warmly received for its handling of cultural and familial themes concerning identity, Cretton is a perfect choice for American Born Chinese‘s themes, making it a series to look forward to. As seen with his contract, Cretton has developed a good relationship with Marvel and parent company Disney that already has led to successful releases like Shang-Chi in a tumultuous time for theatrical releases. While fans can look forward to Cretton returning for the MCU sequel, American Born Chinese will be a perfect opportunity for him to showcase his talent in an all-new way.
Source: chineseguy88/Instagram
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