It appears that we’ve finally gotten the big picture on casting for the Street Fighter Movie.
As reported by Deadline/The Hollywood Reporter, they have laid out the people who they believe have been cast, and the roles they’re going to play. To run them down:
- Ryu – Andrew Koji
- Ken – Noah Centineo
- Chun-Li – Callina Liang
- Akuma – Joe Anoa’i, AKA WWE’s Roman Reigns
- Blanka – Jason Momoa
- Vega/Claw – Orville Peck
- Balrog/Boxer – Curtis Jackson, AKA 50 Cent
We just reported on Deadline’s rumor on Callina Liang, the proverbial ‘young single girl’, as Interpol operative Chun-Li. Interestingly as well, this did not include another rumor from the start of this month that Legendary Pictures and Capcom were talking to Walton Goggins, the Ghoul from Amazon’s Fallout show, to play the movie’s natural antagonist, M. Bison/Dictator.
That rumor came from Jeff Sneider, and so its completely separate from the other rumors, all of which have come from Deadline. It’s possible that Deadline will eventually confirm this if their sources corroborate that Goggins and Legendary Pictures/Capcom officially sign that deal.
Deadline’s latest rumor is certainly a huge one as well. 50 Cent is one of the big hip-hop stars of the 2000s, who also successfully parlayed his way into an acting and producing career.
Perhaps the most interesting trivia piece about 50 Cent is he took a minority stake in VitaminWater company Glacéau, a few years before it would be purchased by Coca-Cola. 50 Cent immediately earned $ 100 million from that deal, cementing his reputation as a canny investor and businessman.
We wouldn’t be surprised if 50 Cent haggled to be a producer for this movie with Capcom and Legendary Pictures to. In any case, we’re pretty sure he’s going to take the role seriously on its own terms. Earlier this month, 50 Cent signed on as executive producer for a new boxing drama series called Fightland, between Starz and his production company, G-Unit Film and Television.
It definitely looks like Capcom found a good partner to make a good Street Fighter Movie for this new decade. Of course, good casting can’t save a bad script, or poor direction, as Capcom should have learned from their prior movies. We certainly hope Capcom has learned from more than just earning annual royalties on their 1994 cult classic on how the film business works, to make this new movie the breakout hit that fighting game fans all hope it will be.
