The next Marvel Studios movie to go into production is Shang Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings from director Destin Daniel Cretton with newcomer Simu Liu playing Marvel Studios’ first lead Asian superhero.

There had been word from DiscussingFilm that the project may have hired cinematographer Bill Pope (The Matrix, Spider-Man 2, Baby Driver) for the movie and Cretton has now officially confirmed this while speaking with Collider to promote his upcoming film Just Mercy.

COLLIDER: What made you choose Bill Pope as your cinematographer? Is there something that he brings to that kind of world that you were specifically looking for?

CRETTON: “Yeah. He has a really beautiful style, that’s both naturalistic and grounded, but also heightened, in the best way. And anybody who can shoot The Matrix is probably gonna do great with this one.”

Bill most recently worked on Alita: Battle Angel and Sony’s reboot of Charlie’s Angels.

Filming will primarily shoot at Fox Studios Australia in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia and once it wraps Taika Waitit’s Thor: Love and Thunder will move in.

There is also an expectation that it could also spend some time filming in Thailand as well.

Tony Leung is set to play the real version of Marvel villain The Mandarin with Awkwafina taking an undisclosed role as well.

Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings is set for release on February 12th, 2021.

SOURCE: COLLIDER