Simu Liu Breaks Down His Favorite Romantic Comedies: From 'Pretty Woman' to 'Hitch' (Exclusive)

Liu stars in his own romantic comedy, One True Loves, out in theaters Friday, April 7

Simu Liu is a rom-com enthusiast at heart.

The 33-year-old actor, who plays a romantic interest in his new film One True Loves, reveals to PEOPLE that he is a big fan of romantic comedies, and has many classics on his list.

"I feel like there is a golden era of rom-coms in the mid-2000s, right when I was an awkward teenager learning about love," Liu says. "So, I have a very, very deep impression of them."

He says his favorite movies in the rom-com genre include Hitch (2005), How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days (2003), Maid in Manhattan (2002), Sweet Home Alabama (2002), Notting Hill (1999) and Pretty Woman (1990).

"I just love those early rom-coms because they ask such ambitious questions. Hitch was like, 'What happens? Can you coach love?' I love that philosophical question. 'And can you train somebody to be good at love?,'" he says. "I love that [it] is something that is explored."

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"In Pretty Woman and Maid in Manhattan, it's like 'is love enough? Can love trump status? Can love trump class?' How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days: 'Can you keep secrets from love?' Yeah, just really incredible," he adds. "I love all of that era of movies that ask these really broad questions."

The Marvel actor says he brought some of what he learned from those favorites into his new role as Sam in One True Loves, a film about a woman named Emma (played by Phillipa Soo) who is forced to choose between her husband she thought was dead (played by Luke Bracey) and a fiancé (Liu) she met after.

"I think you go into any project very aware of what the inspirations and what the benchmarks are in that genre. But then you also, as an artist, want to provide the audience with something a little different, or you want to make them think about something they haven't thought of before," he says, noting that his character wasn't just a "stereotypical male lead."

He says he went into the movie with the mindset of "redefining what it means to be a male romantic lead," and hints at a gentler spin on the classically macho role.

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"[Sam] is not your alpha fighter type," he explains. "He is somebody who, above all else, loves his partner and wants to create an environment that's safe for her."

"And sometimes in romantic comedies, we have ... slight, maybe unhealthy expressions of love and maybe things that are not, when applied in the real world, these grand, romantic gestures that sometimes you see in movies — don't always go the way that we're conditioned to believe that they will," he continues.

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"And maybe it's time to show them a bit of a different paradigm."

One True Loves opens in theaters on April 7, on digital on April 14, and on Demand on April 28.

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