If you’re pressing start on a Street Fighter movie, you’d better know how to, well, fight. The long-running game series has been a staple of the side
If you’re pressing start on a Street Fighter movie, you’d better know how to, well, fight. The long-running game series has been a staple of the side-scrolling brawler, and now finally makes it way to the large screen courtesy of director Kitao Sukarai – assembling a wild roster of stars to step into the ring for outlandish showdowns. Among them you’ll find Andrew Koji (of Bullet Train and Warrior fame) as Ryu, and Noah Centineo (next playing Rambo in Jalmari Helander’s First Blood prequel) as Ken Masters, battling the likes of Blanka (Jason Momoa), Balrog (50 Cent), and Chun-Li (Callina Liang).
But, as Koji tells Empire, he wasn’t always a K.O. when it came to playing Street Fighter in his youth. “I wasn’t very good at the game, growing up. I was a button-basher,” he admits. “I found it really hard. But being an Asian dude growing up in the West, I’d always play as Ryu because he was the one that was like me.” Thankfully, he has all the skills to bring Ryu’s martial arts mastery to life on screen. “My task was to try and bring as much depth and nuance as possible,” he says. “Ryu’s fighting style is more karate, so I was training and studying Shotokan karate as well as judo, jujitsu, and kickboxing.”
It’s no surprise that a Street Fighter movie required its cast to get in fighting shape. “For the physical side, me, Andrew and Callina trained together every day, six days a week, for six weeks straight,” explains Centineo of the regimen. “I felt like I had something to prove. I think a lot of us did, as we were given an opportunity with this movie to step up into a position we had never been in before. So I think we all felt that responsibility.” Bring on the Vs.
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.
