Interview: Florian Munteanu on Playing Razor Fist in Shang-Chi

The hit Marvel film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is available on 4K, Blu-ray, and DVD on November 30 with a slew of bonus features.

Marvel Studios’ first Asian superhero-led movie is directed by Destin Daniel Cretton. It will be led by Canadian actor Simu Liu (Kim’s Convenience) as Shang-Chi. The film also stars fellow Marvel Cinematic Universe newcomers Awkwafina as Katy, Tony Leung as Wenwu/The Mandarin, Meng’er Zhang as Xialing, Fala Chen as Jiang Li, Ronny Chieng, and Florian Munteanu as Razor Fist.

RELATED: Shang-Chi Featurette Highlights MCU Film’s Epic Fight Sequences

ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke with Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings star Florian Munteanu about bringing Razor Fist to life, his boxing background, and more.

Tyler Treese: You are involved in some awesome fight scenes. I was really curious, I know you have a boxing background, how has that really helped you with picking up fight choreography?

Florian Munteanu: Well, it helps a lot, because you don’t have to you know teach me the basics anymore, you know I know exactly how to move. I know exactly how to place my feet and how to you know actually place my feet to place the punches you know I know all the angles. That’s basically what I did my entire life, so that was easy. The problem was that this was not a boxing movie. It was a lot more to that than just you know just a box, this was an MMA-inspired movie so I had to adapt, I had to learn a lot of things.

Also, the focus was just on the right arm on the weapon on the blade, which meant that we basically don’t use my left hand and so that was like the biggest change because. You know I have an Orthodox stance and I’m used to jabbing a lot, I’m used to using my left hand a lot, so all those kind of things played into it and it was a tough learning process. But I think, at the end of the day, we nailed it and we have some great fighting scenes in it.

You mentioned the giant blade that you’re using and Razor Fist just looks so badass in the movie. How happy were you with just how you looked in the finished product? Because it just looks awesome.

The first time I saw myself with that blade was pretty fucking cool I mean there was amazing and because the whole time you have like that green glow on your arm. You don’t really know how it will look like you know because it’s CGI and you kind of have to wait until you see the end product.

But once you see it that’s like I mean I said it before in other interviews that I have to say it again, like in general, this is a childhood dream that became reality, you know I always wanted to be I was a huge comic book fan, when I was a kid I still am now I’m part of that marvel universe, and then actually seeing myself on the big screen with that cool weapon was simply amazing. And I can’t wait for more.

As you said, now you’re part of the MCU and the fan reaction has been so great. Can you just talk about you know being embraced by the fans of the biggest movie franchise out there?

I mean it’s always great to have a reception like that you know, and I feel like especially coming into this project. We all were a little bit more nervous maybe because this was the first Asian superhero of the amps you. So I feel like there was a lot of pressure, you know, on delivering like everyone wanted to show off and go big on this one, and everyone wanted to bring 100% and even beyond that.

I feel like if you put so much work into a project like that and I’m talking not only about the cast but I’m talking about the whole team, you know everyone was involved. And then the reception is so positive you know that’s like Christmas and birthday together, you know that’s what you want to want to have. That’s what you want to see, and what you want to hear at the end of the day, so we’re all very thankful and happy we all, you know very grateful that the people like it so much, and we all can’t wait to go for the next one.

You mentioned being a big comic fan and Razor Fist might not be the biggest character, but he does have a very interesting past, what does it mean for you to be the person that could say introduce this very rich character to a larger audience.

I mean yeah that that’s a huge feeling, you know I feel like and I compare it a lot to the feeling Stephen has or must have you know he is the one who’s introducing a superhero to the Asian community and to the whole world, and I feel like it’s a lot cooler for me to play a character that has never been seen or played before in movies. Because nobody compares to you know to anyone, you can make this character really your own and bring your own stuff to the table add your own stuff even put some of your own personality to their character or give to their character.

I mean you said before it’s not maybe not one of the biggest characters but that’s why I’m here, right? Let’s make it one of the biggest characters so we’ll see what happens.

You know you mentioned the difference in how the fights were compared to Creed, but Marvel can be very secretive. How was it working on this Marvel film compared to your past experiences? Was there anything that surprised you?

Well, the surprising factor was that in general Creed was like a real-life movie even though you know it’s boxing and fighting but that’s part of real-life as well. This time around, with a lot of CGI, it was a lot more imagination. It was a lot more creating a movie or pictures in front of your own eyes, you know and in your own head, I always remember you know when we were in that final battle and those soul suckers, those little demons, they come out of that gate of hell. Obviously, there weren’t there, but we had to create that. Somehow every one of us, we had to create them.

We all gave them a certain look whatever we did, and that was new, but that was also the fun part I mean you know if I remember, being a being a child, playing on the on the playground with my buddies. That’s what we did you know, so it was basically being a little kid again, but now I’m getting paid for it, so that was awesome.

So we don’t see a ton of Razor Fist’s backstory in the film but do you think we’re going to explore them in the future, what do you view as a wife picked up this? I mean, obviously, the blade is just cool so it doesn’t I don’t think you have to really be sold on that, why do you think he got that blade.

So you know now that Shang-Chi is coming out on Disney+, and I think like two weeks later, and they will release the Blu-ray and DVD. You will see a lot of the bonus material, a lot of the deleted scenes, and yeah there was a lot more of Razor Fist and in the original script but obviously, not all the scenes can make it and it was very important that this is an origin story about the lead hero. That was the most important part to introduce him that’s why we didn’t have too much room to show all the other background stories. 

You will get a cool glimpse, a bigger glimpse of what you know where Razor Fist comes from and what is really all about in those deleted scenes and I can’t wait for people to see that and but you know with that hand I mean coming into a project, you talk a lot with the director and you know you as an actor, you want to know as much as possible about the character.

I can say nothing about that you know we, we have to wait and see what will happen in the future, but all I can say is that there’s a lot more to tell and there’s a lot of cool background stories around Razor Fist and a lot more layers to peel off with that character so be excited for it.

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