The director of Marvel Studio’s highly anticipated Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings attended the from 1996 to 1998. Maui native Destin Daniel Cretton studied liberal arts there before getting his degree from a university in San Diego.
In a September 2 interview with Hawaii Public Radio, Cretton was asked how the big budget movie relates to his other, much more modest film projects.
“At its core, this movie really is a small family drama that’s wrapped in the genre of a martial arts movie and a big action superhero,” said Cretton. “And I do think one of the strengths that Marvel has in all of their movies is a concentration on character and relationships. I think that’s what they connected to in the movies that I’ve done up until this point. And it was a really was something that they constantly reminded me of, to remember to infuse into this movie as well.”
Shang-Chi’s debut on September 3, marked a significant milestone for Asian Americans in cinema. With the first Asian superhero to lead a Marvel film, Cretton, who grew up in Haʻikū, told CNN, “I could really have used a superhero like this.”
Cretton’s previous films include Just Mercy (2019), The Glass Castle (2017) and Short Term 12 (2013).