Sometimes, Street Fighter is more than just a game. That was the approach of David Dastmalchian when getting ready to press play on Kitao Sakurai’s f
Sometimes, Street Fighter is more than just a game. That was the approach of David Dastmalchian when getting ready to press play on Kitao Sakurai’s film adaptation of the beloved fighting series, as the star stepped into the boots of the series’ villain: M. Bison. A cruel dictator who wields considerable power, Bison has been a major figure in the games since Street Fighter II – and in preparing for the role, Dastmalchian wanted to go more than pixel-deep on what exactly makes Bison such a compelling leader.
“I’m curious about films where there are these villainous leaders that have endless armies of foot soldiers willing to throw themselves into certain death to defend them,” he tells Empire. “I was like, ‘How do you achieve that authentically? How do you become the person that all of these people are going to follow into the fire?’” He looked for answers in much more solemn places than you might expect from a side-scrolling video game movie. “We started studying cult leadership and historical figures that were able to use terror and intimidation, but also cunning, charm and seduction, to make these major movements happen,” he says. “People like Idi Amin, Jim Jones and Mussolini. We dove in with a very serious approach. People might think, ‘Oh, it’s just a video-game bad guy. It’s just a big boss,’ and I was like, ‘No, it’s something much deeper than that.’”
After putting in the background research, Dastmalchian really found the character when he donned Bison’s costume – stomping around in it while listening to Tool, and the Imperial March from The Empire Strikes Back. “Putting on the costume for the first time was right up there with the greatest moments in my career,” he enthuses. “I had my boots the summer before we started filming, so, much to the chagrin of my children, I had been wearing them around and learning how to live in them and feel the power in them. I’m not someone who can find a character without first figuring out how he walks. So that was so crucial.” Get ready for a KO.
Read Empire’s full Street Fighter feature in the Digger issue, on sale Thursday August 17. Pre-order a copy online here. Street Fighter comes to cinemas on October 16.
