Inside the Shanghai International Film Festival With Marvel Star Chloe Bennet

Janelle Okwodu

Inside the Shanghai International Film Festival with Marvel Star Chloe Bennet

Good morning Shanghai! Starting the day off with the most dramatic sip of espresso you’ve ever seen.
Good morning Shanghai! Starting the day off with the most dramatic sip of espresso you’ve ever seen.
Photo: Courtesy Chloe Bennet
I’m not sure I’ve ever been more excited about a dress before.
I’m not sure I’ve ever been more excited about a dress before.
Photo: Courtesy Chloe Bennet
It. is. rose. gold. perfection. My dreams of being able to physically embody a glass of rosé have finally come to fruition. Yay me.
It. is. rose. gold. perfection. My dreams of being able to physically embody a glass of rosé have finally come to fruition. Yay me.
Photo: Courtesy Chloe Bennet
No one likes espresso breath.
No one likes espresso breath.
Photo: Courtesy Chloe Bennet
They—stylist Sonia Young, makeup artist Melissa Hernandez, and hair stylist Wenzhi—deserve ALL the awards. Between the language barriers, jet lag, and my complete and utter inability to sit still, they are heroes.
They—stylist Sonia Young, makeup artist Melissa Hernandez, and hair stylist Wenzhi—deserve ALL the awards. Between the language barriers, jet lag, and my complete and utter inability to sit still, they are heroes.
Photo: Courtesy Chloe Bennet
And bam! We are in the dress. Very excited because this dress gives me boobs. So naturally, I stood in front of mirrors and looked at said boobs as often as possible.
And bam! We are in the dress. Very excited because this dress gives me boobs. So naturally, I stood in front of mirrors and looked at said boobs as often as possible.
Photo: Courtesy Chloe Bennet
This aesthetic is such a vibe — and I’m not even sure what a “vibe” is, but that still feels like the right way to caption this photo.
This aesthetic is such a vibe — and I’m not even sure what a “vibe” is, but that still feels like the right way to caption this photo.
Photo: Courtesy Chloe Bennet
Emails and automobiles. On our way...
Emails and automobiles. On our way...
Photo: Courtesy Chloe Bennet
....to another hotel. For more touch ups. ’Cause the two hours beforehand were not enough I guess.
....to another hotel. For more touch ups. ’Cause the two hours beforehand were not enough I guess.
Photo: Courtesy Chloe Bennet
Today was the day of dramatically drinking beverages on beds.
Today was the day of dramatically drinking beverages on beds.
Photo: Courtesy Chloe Bennet
Met up with my costar, Everest. What you don’t see is that my sequins are actually stuck to his fur; that was a fun five minutes of panic trying to get the fur out of my dress!
Met up with my costar, Everest. What you don’t see is that my sequins are actually stuck to his fur; that was a fun five minutes of panic trying to get the fur out of my dress!
Photo: Courtesy Chloe Bennet
WE FINALLY MADE IT. Fur free.
WE FINALLY MADE IT. Fur free.
Photo: Courtesy Chloe Bennet
Ended the night along The Bund. This pic may have been blurry due to more wine but can’t confirm or deny that.
Ended the night along The Bund. This pic may have been blurry due to more wine but can’t confirm or deny that.
Photo: Courtesy Chloe Bennet

The Shanghai International Film Festival is a showcase for the best in world cinema, though for Chloe Bennet the event took on a deeper meaning. As one of the stars of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Bennet is best known to American audiences as the gutsy superhero Quake, but long before her big break she was a teenager growing up in China’s biggest city. Originally Born in Chicago, Bennet moved to Shanghai at the age of 15 to pursue a career in entertainment. Bennet remembers the ups and downs of those formative years vividly. “I wanted to act, I wanted to sing, and man I ran around this city with so much excitement, confidence and hope of what I was going to do with my life and my career,” said the 27-year-old actress via email from Los Angeles. “I didn’t have my family with me, I didn’t have friends, I just had the dream of what could be.”

At the festival to represent her latest project Abominable, the DreamWorks animated drama about a young girl who reunites a yeti with its magical family, Bennet returned to the city in high spirits. The first Hollywood children’s film to have an Asian lead since Mulan in 1998, Abominable is set to break barriers when it’s released in September. Now on screen acting, singing, and giving kids a new heroine to look up to, she stepped onto the red carpet at Shanghai Grand Theatre in her glittering Vivienne Westwood gown with the heartwarming feeling that she’d come full circle. “Man, I’ve got to say, it’s been over a decade since I lived here, and every time I’m back the city makes me feel like that same little girl,” she said. “I love that feeling [and] I love this city.”

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Originally Appeared on Vogue