It’s a tale as old as time: money and fame changes people. A person’s world transforms when they become, for example, a popular actor, and when that happens, it’s only logical that the person transforms as well. Time will tell if that ends up happening to Simu Liu, who has become a buzzy star thanks to Barbie and his role as Shang-Chi in the Marvel Cinematic Universe – but until he has confirmation that he has become a different person, he is evidently taking opportunities with friends to joke that it’s already happened.
Liu recently gave the Vancouver Sun a fun peek into what he’s like when he’s just hanging out with his friends, and apparently, one thing that he likes to do is feign being an out of touch Hollywood celebrity. He wonders if there is perhaps a line that is blurred between fact and fiction, but the key to his on-going gag is the idea that everything in his life is performed with assistance:
Probably my favorite thing to do is to play into the Hollywood thing, especially with my friends, of how much of a diva I’ve become. Maybe because it’s half true. I don’t know. I like to think it’s not. I like to think it’s still funny. But I like to pretend I don’t know what things are anymore. And say like, ‘Oh yeah, usually I have someone do that for me now.’
He isn’t just joking about doing laundry or taking his dog out for a walk. He goes deep with the gag, suggesting that he doesn’t even imbibe his own liquids anymore. Liu added,
Whether it’s just something really mundane and simple that completely is something that I do on my own. ‘Oh, you drink your own water. I have somebody do that for me now.’ I love it.
It’s a great bit… though I won’t lie and say that there isn’t a part of me that vaguely wonders if Simu Liu actually knows an A-lister whose wealth and power has let them find a way around the human need to consume water.
On a more serious note, it’s pretty wild to see how quickly Simu Liu’s career has changed in the last few years. After a period of struggling, he gained notoriety in 2017 starring as a regular on the Canadian sitcom Kim’s Convenience, but the big level up for him in pop culture came at San Diego Comic-Con 2019 when he stepped on to the Hall H stage at the San Diego Convention Center and was confirmed to be Shang-Chi in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. His first MCU movie was a $400 million hit when it arrived in theaters in September 2021, and a sequel is on the slate of upcoming Marvel movies.
Being a marquee hero in the world’s biggest superhero franchise is a pretty nice feather in Simu Liu’s cap, but now he’s even more popular than ever thanks to his supporting role as Ken in Barbie. The pink-tastic film set a wide variety of records during its big screen run this summer, and it’s now the biggest box office hit in the history of Warner Bros.
Looking ahead, Simu Liu has completed work on a number of upcoming projects, including director Paul Feig’s action comedy Grand Death Lotto, the sci-fi adventure Atlas, the dog-centric drama Arthur The King, and the documentary adaptation Last Breath. Oh, and this summer he also started his career as a recording artist. He has a lot of reasons to be happy now beyond just joking around with his friends.