Marvel's Shang Chi production shuts down after director goes into isolation

The coronavirus crisis has claimed its second big-budget production in Australia, with Marvel's Shang-Chi calling a temporary halt to some production activities at Sydney's Fox Studios.

The decision was made on Friday following director Destin Daniel Cretton being tested for COVID-19 after reportedly feeling unwell.

Director Destin Daniel Cretton, left, and leading man Simu Liu of Shang-Chi.Credit: Invision

The 41-year-old director, who was born in Hawaii, has just become a father. While he had not yet received the results of his test at the time Marvel made the call to halt main unit production, he decided to self-isolate as a precaution to protect the infant.

Marvel issued a memo to crew on Friday.

"As many of you know, Destin, our director, has a new-born baby. He wanted to exercise additional caution given the current environment and decided to get tested for Covid-19 today.

"He is currently self-isolating under the recommendation of his doctor. While he waits for the results of the test, we are suspending first-unit production in an abundance of caution until he gets the results this coming week. Second unit and off production will continue as normal."

The memo promised that crew would receive an update by Tuesday.

"This is an unprecedented time," the memo continued. "We appreciate everyone's understanding as we work through this."

The decision to halt production temporarily follows last week's shutdown on Baz Luhrmann's Elvis Presley biopic, which was due to begin shooting at Village Roadshow Studios on the Gold Coast on Monday.

That start date has now been pushed back at least two weeks following the positive COVID-19 test result for Tom Hanks, who stars as Presley's manager Colonel Tom Parker, and his wife, actor-singer Rita Wilson.

Warner Bros, the studio making that film, reported on Saturday that no additional cast or crew have returned a positive result in testing for the coronavirus.

The financial impact on both films will likely run into the millions of dollars each week shooting is delayed, because of the huge cast and crew payrolls involved.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings , in which Simu Liu plays the first Asian superhero to star in his own Marvel movie, began pre-production last August after being wooed to Australia with a $24 million grant from the federal government, in addition to the standard 16.5 per cent location offset, effectively giving the film a 30 per cent rebate on local production expenditure.

That suggests it has an overall local spend of around $180 million.

Production on the film, which was expected to employ around 770 local crew during the shoot, reportedly began in February. It is currently slated for release in February 2021.

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