7 Things We Learned From Visiting The Street Fighter Collection

We visited the set of Street Fighter and found out a lot about how to put together a giant action movie.

In late 2025, IGN was invited to the new Street Fighter movie set in Sydney, where we were able to spend a day wandering the sets and meeting the cast and crew of this epic '90s nostalgia hit.

Led by Ken Masters' Noah Centineo, we caught up with stars Kalina Liang and David Dastmalchian, stunt coordinator John Valera, and director Kitao Sakurai as they put the finishing touches on their bone-chilling blockbuster.

Here's everything we learned visiting the Street Fighter set.

Yes, Kalina Liang saw the worry of not being able to bring Chun Li's legendary legs to life on screen. No, she doesn't - and neither does her grandmother.

"I literally grew up with this game, so as soon as my managers told me about the project, I was very excited," says Liang. Chun Li was also a character I played growing up.

“I've always had fatter legs; I know the internet is like, "Oh, her legs aren't big enough!" But, I don't know, for some reason growing up, I was always made fun of and my grandma was always like, "Oh, you have fat legs!" And playing with Chun Lee was the reason I felt insecure about them anymore."

There you have it, the internet. You can't disagree with Grandma because, frankly, that would be disrespectful.

2: The connection between street fighters and Greek mythology

Director Kitao Sakurai pays homage to Capcom's cast of iconic characters as the pantheon of modern-day mythological heroes.

"It sounds a bit like Greek mythology to me, you know?" Sakurai says. “You have these characters that you've always known and have always been a part of the culture. Even if you didn't really grow up playing games, and I wasn't a huge gamer; We never had a gaming system or anything like that. I always went to my friend's house to play. But it was just infused into the culture, and these characters are just part of the culture that can help you. From "Oh, Yeah, Rio, and Ken, and Blanca."

Sakurai may not be the biggest stage gamer, but he knows a thing or two about beating the gods on screen. That is, before his career as a director, he attacked God with a hockey stick in 1999.

As a video game adaptation, Street Fighter may be on the non-Shakespearean side of the storytelling spectrum, but Beeston star David Dastmalchian is impressed with how seriously the cast is taking it — especially given the mixed level of acting experience across the entire cast.

I was so impressed and grateful for the level of commitment that you see from 50 cents every day to go to the gym to train boxers, the incredible work of Orville, Kalina, Rayna, and Mel, and all these musicians that I'm around. "You know Cody and Roman, professional athletes, who know entertainment and know storytelling, but their commitment," Dasmalchian says. every single person "I'm sure I'm leaving a lot of people off that list, but I swear to God, every single person that has shown up that I've gotten a chance to watch work with or work with has taken it seriously the way I do, and that makes me feel really grateful."

We've already seen some very familiar fights in the trailers, but second unit director and stunt coordinator Jon Valera confirms that the moves you know and love are here — and the actors themselves are doing them.

"We try and stay true to the game, we try to bring real iconic moves to life," Valera says. We always want to please the fans and everybody and that was great. We don't need any digi dubs or anything. All the kids do the iconic moves of the game."

It's new territory for Cannes star Noah Centineo, but he seems to be enjoying it.

“Yeah, it's totally different. I've never made a martial arts movie, that's for sure. "I myself have never done so many stunts."

Before we say "action!" We rehearsed here for six weeks, working with Jon Velera, the stunt coordinator, under his direction and his team. Yes, it was an incredible process. We are shooting the main unit as well as the second unit simultaneously. The second unit is mostly a lot of stunts and stuff. To be able to really fight and get into it. or dancing is more like dancing; It is a choreographed dance that resembles a fight. That's great."

5: Ken's favorite characters are Blanka and Dhalsim

Like Chun-Li star Kalina Liang, Cannes star Noah Centineo has fond memories of playing Street Fighter II in his early childhood. However, unlike Liang, her favorite characters are not actually the characters she plays in the film.

"My first interaction with Street Fighter, I must have been seven or six years old, and my cousins who lived in New Jersey at the time - I went over to their house and in the basement they had one of those old school Street Fighter II cabinet games. And whenever I wanted to get to New Jersey, I played that game religiously, which was once a year for most of my childhood. Just countless hours spent playing that video game. Street Fighter II. I always played Blanca or Dahlsim. They were my favorite characters. I just thought they were sick."

6: David Dastmalchian may have the hardest job here

The original 1994 Street Fighter adaptation—starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, Raul Julia, and Ming-Na Wen, and incidentally also filmed in Australia—was arguably a strong commercial success. However, while this is not a famous film, there is one element in it that is highly regarded and that is Raul Julia's flawless performance as Beeston. This was her last appearance in the film and Julia died before the release. David Dastmalchian, the new star of Bison, is aware of the gravitas added to the role of Beeston, and the role is the most revered component of the 1994 film.

"So, knowing the impact that Raul's performance had on me and millions of other people, with Bison, I wanted to feel proud of that and do the best I could," he says. "And also let me know that he wants me to bring David into this role, which is what Kitao asked me to do, which is the best I can do for something, and if I fail, I fail."

"But I have to bring all the David I can, and I also do my best to respect a game that has a special place in a lot of people's hearts. So, when they watch, I pray that whatever I can get out of me, when they watch it, they forget David. They might even forget Raul for a minute, and they just dream of me."

My son is the biggest gamer I know. Both my kids—my son and my daughter—see me doing it, and they are very, very honest critics. "So they see this movie and as soon as they walk out, they either walk up to me and say, 'Okay, Dad,' or 'Okay, Dad,' ex]."

7: If fans of the game like it, it's a win

So what would mark a win for Centineo?

"I hope people see it, and people who grew up with the game, and still play and love the game and live the game, see the movie and say, 'Yeah, they did the game justice,'" Centineo said. Those who played the game and grew up with the game and know the game well, watch the movie and say, “Yeah, they respected the game. "They respected our world and we appreciate it."

And I hope that people who aren't very familiar with the game will see the movie and walk away, "Yeah, that was a great movie and it was an interesting world, and I want to see more of that."

Street Fighter hits theaters this week. IGN's review of the film says that "there's an infectious, celebratory energy flowing through every moment in Kitao Sakurai's street fighter," even as it "never lets a good sense of humor get in the way of a good time."

Luke Reilly is an award-winning journalist with 23 years of media experience at Official PlayStation Magazine, Australia 360, and IGN - which he joined in 2011. You can find him at Bluesky @mrlukereilly and ask him about things.