The Hilarious Way Ben Kingsley Agreed To Appear In Shang-Chi

Contains spoilers for "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings"

"Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" is the newest release from Marvel Studios that is captivating MCU fans at the box office. The film centers around Master of Kung Fu Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) and his quest to take down his father Wenwu (Tony Leung) — the fearful Ten Rings organization leader. A handful of new characters are introduced in the film, including Shang-Chi's pal Katy (Awkwafina), sister Xialing (Meng'er Zhan), and mother Li (Fala Chen). Benedict Wong reprises his role as sorcerer Wong, marking his fourth appearance in an MCU film.

Also popping up in "Shang-Chi" for a fun cameo is Trevor Slattery — a character made famous by Sir Ben Kingsley in "Iron Man 3." ​​Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce) pays the out-of-work actor to impersonate The Mandarin, so Extremis-related accidents could be masked as terrorist attacks. Trevor is locked up at the end of "Iron Man 3" thanks to the intervention of Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), and it seemed like we would never see the kinda-sorta-villain again. It was a delight to see him show up in "Shang-Chi," and it turns out that convincing Kinglsey to appear in the movie was relatively easy — and quite hilarious.

Director Destin Daniel Cretton revealed to Variety that he wanted to include Ben Kingsley in "Shang-Chi" to connect the story to the larger MCU. Cretton called up Kingsley personally to ask him if he wanted to return as Trevor in the new film. "That first conversation ended with Sir Ben Kingsley shouting to somebody from the other room," the director said. Cretton admitted he was a little confused at who the actor was yelling to but eventually realized Kingsley was having a conversation with himself.

"Trevor starts shouting from the other room, 'Who are you talking to?' 'I'm talking to Destin.' 'Who's Destin?' 'Oh, he's directing the new Marvel movie. They want you to be in it.' 'They want me to be in it?! When do we start?!' 'Uh, I don't know, we haven't gotten into that yet," Cretton recounted of the conversation. Kingsley pretended to be Trevor in the other room — that same out-of-work actor who was ready to get back in front of the camera. Cretton said the conversation lasted about two minutes, and that was all it took to get the four-time Oscar-winner back in the MCU.