7MMO
Moderator
Towards the end of 2025, IGN was invited to the Sydney set of the new Street Fighter film, where we were able to spend a day wandering the sets and meeting the cast and crew of this nose-breaking, nunchuk-slinging dose of hard-hitting ’90s nostalgia.
Chaperoned by Noah Centineo, who plays Ken Masters, we met with stars Callina Liang and David Dastmalchian, stunt coordinator Jon Valera, and director Kitao Sakurai as they finalised filming on their bone-busting blockbuster.
Here’s everything we learned visiting the set of Street Fighter.
1: Callina Liang’s Grandma Has No Chill
Yes, Callina Liang saw the concerns that she wouldn’t be able to bring Chun-Li’s legendary legs to life on screen. No, she doesn’t agree – and nor would her grandma, for that matter.
“I literally grew up playing the game, so as soon as my managers told me about the project I was, like, so excited,” says Liang. “Chun-Li was also the character I played, growing up.”
“I always had kind of thicker legs; I know the internet is, like, ‘Oh, her legs are not big enough!’ But, I don’t know, for some reason growing up I was always made fun of and my grandma would always be, like, ‘Oh hey, you got little fat legs!’ And playing with Chun-Li was the reason I stopped feeling insecure about them, so it just really feels like a dream come true, getting this role.”
There you have it, internet. You can’t disagree with grandma because, frankly, it’d be disrespectful.
2: Street Fighter’s Connection to Greek Mythology
Director Kitao Sakurai has a respect for Capcom’s cast of high-kicking characters as their own pantheon of modern day mythological heroes.
“To me it sort of feels a bit like Greek mythology, you know?” says Sakurai. “You have these characters that you have always known, and have always been part of the culture. Even if you never really grew up playing the game, and I wasn’t a huge gamer growing up; we never had a gaming system or anything like that. I would always go over to my friend’s house to play. But it was just infused into the culture, and these characters are just such an iconic part of culture in the world, that you can’t help but to think of them in terms of, ‘Oh, yeah, Ryu, and Ken, and Blanka.’ They’re so iconic and engraved into what we know of that time.”
Sakurai may not be the biggest gamer on set, but he does know a little about beating up gods on screen; that is, prior to his directorial career he did attack God with a hockey stick in 1999’s Dogma.
3: Everyone Is Taking It Seriously
As a video game adaptation, Street Fighter may sit on the non-Shakespeare side of the storytelling spectrum, but Bison star David Dastmalchian is impressed with how seriously the huge cast is taking it – especially considering the mixed level of acting experience across the whole ensemble.
“I’ve been so impressed and grateful for the level of commitment that you see from 50 Cent showing up every day to go to the gym to train as a boxer, to Orville’s incredible work, to Callina, Rayna, and Mel and all of these performers that I’m around watching and seeing,” says Dastmalchian. “You know, Cody and Roman, professional athletes, who of course know about entertaining and they understand how to work with storytelling, but their commitment! Every single person. I’m sure I’m leaving a lot of people off of that list, but I swear to God, every single person who’s shown up that I’ve gotten a chance to either watch work, or work with, has taken this seriously the way I do and that made me feel really grateful.”
4: Yes, the Iconic Moves Are In Here
We’ve seen some very familiar fighting in the trailers already, but second unit director and stunt coordinator Jon Valera confirms the moves you know and love are here – and the actors themselves are the ones getting them done.
“We try and stay true to the game, try and bring the actual iconic moves to life,” says Valera. “We always want to please the fans and everybody out there, and it’s been great. We haven’t needed any digi-doubles or anything; all the guys are doing the iconic moves from the game.”
It’s new territory for Ken star Noah Centineo, but it’s a challenge he seems to have enjoyed.
“Yeah, it’s completely different; I’ve never done a film with martial arts, that’s for sure,” says Centineo. “I’ve never done a film with so much action. I’ve never done so many of the stunts myself.”
“We were here training for six weeks before we ever said, ‘Action!’ and working with Jon Velera, our stunt coordinator, under his guidance, and his team’s guidance. Yeah, it was an incredible process. We’re shooting main unit but also second unit simultaneously; second unit’s mainly a lot of the stunts and stuff. Being able to really fight and get into it. Or dance. It’s more like dancing; it’s choreographed dancing that looks like fighting; it’s awesome.”
5: Ken’s Favourite Characters are Blanka and Dhalsim
Like Chun-Li star Callina Liang, Ken star Noah Centineo also maintains fond memories of playing Street Fighter II in his early childhood. Unlike Liang, however, his favourite characters aren’t actually the one he’s playing in the film.
“My first interaction with Street Fighter, I must have been seven years old, or six years old, and my cousins that, at the time, lived in New Jersey – I went over to their house and in their basement they had one of the cabinet, old school arcade games of Street Fighter II. And I played that game religiously whenever I would make it up to New Jersey, which was, like, once a year for a lot of my early childhood. It was just countless hours spent playing that video game; playing Street FIghter II. I’d always play as Blanka, or Dhalsim. Those were my two favourite characters; I just thought they were sick.”
6: David Dastmalchian Might Have the Hardest Job Here
The original 1994 Street Fighter adaptation – starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, Raul Julia, and Ming-Na Wen, and coincidentally enough also filmed in Australia – was admittedly a strong commercial success. However, while it’s not a famously esteemed movie, there is one element of it held in enormous regard, and that’s Raul Julia’s impeccable performance as Bison. It was his final film appearance, with Julia passing away in the lead up to its release. New Bison star David Dastmalchian is conscious of the gravity added to the Bison role, with it being the most revered component of the 1994 film.
“So, with Bison, knowing how big of an impact Raul’s performance had on me and millions of other people, I wanted to carry a sense of honour for that, and honour it by doing the best job I can do,” he says. “And also let go and know that he would want me to bring David into the role, which is what Kitao asked me to do, which is the best thing I can ever do for something, and if I fail, I fail.”
“But I’ve got to bring all of David that I can, and also I’m trying my very best to honour a game that has such a special place in so many people’s hearts. So, when they watch, I pray that whatever I can bring out of me when they’re watching it, they forget about David. They maybe even forget about Raul for a minute, and they just see Bison. That is my dream. I guess we’ll see.”
“My son is the biggest gamer I know. Both of my kids – my son and my daughter – are so excited about seeing me do this, and they’re very, very honest critics. So they’re gonna see this movie and, as soon as they walk out, they’re gonna either turn to me and go, ‘Good job, Dad’ or they’re gonna go, ‘ Eh, sus.’ So I’m praying for [the former].”
7: If Fans of the Game Like It, That’s a Victory
So what will represent a win for Centineo?
“I hope that people see it, and the people that have grown up playing the game, and still play the game and love the game and live by the game, watch the movie and go, ‘Yeah, they did the game justice,’ says Centineo. “I think that’s the biggest thing for me; those that have played the game, and grew up playing the game and know the game well, watch the movie and go, ‘Yeah, they respected the game; they respected our world, and we appreciate that.”
“And I hope that people that aren’t too familiar with the game watch the movie and walk away going, ‘Yeah, that a great movie and it was a cool world, and I wanna see more of that.’”
Street Fighter is in cinemas this week. IGN’s review of the film says there’s an “infectious and celebratory energy coursing through Kitao Sakurai’s Street Fighter at every turn,” even if it “never lets good sense get in the way of a good time.”
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