Why did Lucy Liu call a box office bomb her “dream come true”?
Lucy Liu broke through that indefinable Hollywood threshold in the late 1990s, although it was the Charlie’s Angels series that really sold the world on her.
From having the top of her head sliced clean off in Kill Bill to getting up to no good in Chicago, she has done it all; however, for a long time, she felt like a lot of doors were slammed shut in her face as a Chinese-American woman in Hollywood.
Thus, that’s exactly why the opportunity to star in a superhero flick like Shazam! Fury of the Gods seemed enticing, but the potential fizzled out when it actually came down to the absolutely disappointing box office numbers.
Nevertheless, it doesn’t always matter to an actor if their film is a flop or not, and while I’m sure some stars get a little too hung up on the idea of constant success, for others, the experience of working on something they’ve wanted to be a part of is sometimes enough, which was certainly the case for Lucy Liu when she appeared in this movie that proved to be a quite a failure.
Talking to Collider, she revealed, “I think being part of a superhero movie is a super dream, because I am a super fan of comics and of that time, which is my childhood”. Liu played Kalypso, who possesses the power of chaos, starring alongside the likes of Helen Mirren, Adam Brody, and Zachary Levi, and while its predecessor Shazam! was pretty successful, this one just didn’t hit the mark, only just surpassing its budget with its box office earnings.
Still, Liu felt like this was a big moment in her career, continuing, “So it really is a dream to be a part of something that, at that time, was unattainable and to grow into that space, and to have them grow into that space, for diversity, for women, and empowerment. It’s not even just quotables, it’s a real thing and being a part of that is really a dream come true.”
Superhero movies have long felt like a male arena, with female characters historically being hyper sexualised or treated as nothing more than supporting figures. Yet, in recent years, this has started to change, and Liu is happy that she is able to be part of this, even if the movie didn’t turn out to be a success.
Further discussing the importance of finding representation onscreen, the actor added that it’s all about finding one’s standing in a crowd, musing about gathering at social events that celebrate the people on the margins, “We all want to belong, and that’s why we’re all here at Comic-Con. I mean, as a child, for me, coming from an immigrant family, I did not feel like I belonged. Right?”
Concluding this line of thought she added how being in this business of entertainment is a bit like falling “into this circus of people that are trying to find a way”, but she looks back fondly at all she has achieved, attributing it to luck that she has finally found not only success but a sense of place from it, “where I can really feel like I belong, and we’re all looking for that”.
