The recent Street Fighter reboot was a pretty light-hearted affair for the most part, but one moment did stand out as being surprisingly brutal - and it's now come to light that the scene was originally going to be even more violent.
In an effort to prove her loyalty to the megalomaniacal M. Bison (David Dastmalchian), Chun-Li allows the palm of her hand to be branded with the logo of his Shadaloo criminal organization.
Now, actress Calliana Liang has revealed that her character was going to go much further to get close to the man who killed her father in a scene that ultimately proved too dark and gruesome for Capcom.
"Chun-Li was originally supposed to chop off a finger, but Capcom … They went back and forth with the script, and eventually they decided that hand-branding was the better way to do it," Liang tells THR. "If she had no pinky for the rest of the [potential series], it would be deforming the character in a way."
"I remember testing that scene during the camera test," Liang added. "I tried it, and I thought, It’s a lot. She’s about to physically hurt herself. But Kitao kept going, 'More, more, more. I want to see it in her eyes. She’s almost shaking.' And I was like, 'Alright, say less.'”
Unfortunately, Chun-Li never gets the chance to avenge her father's murder, as the movie ends somewhat abruptly with Bison escaping while the heroes mount a pursuit.
Liang was asked if she was disappointed with how her character's arc played out.
"Honestly, a little bit. The whole film, especially Chun-Li’s storyline, builds toward Chun-Li’s final takedown of Bison. But there’s a reason for everything, and hopefully, if we get a sequel one day, we’ll get to explore that. I’m sure it’d be epic."
Will we ever see that sequel? Street Fighter was panned by critics and, more importantly, hasn't been performing very well at the box office. There's always a chance that the studios will get the opportunity to make another movie if VOD and Blu-ray sales are through the roof, but right now, it's not looking likely.
Have you been to see Street Fighter? If so, let us know what you made of the movie in the comments.
“Set in 1993, estranged Street Fighters Ryu (Andrew Koji) and Ken Masters (Noah Centineo) are thrown back into combat when the mysterious Chun-Li (Callina Liang) recruits them for the next World Warrior Tournament: a brutal clash of fists, fate, and fury. But behind this battle royale lies a deadly conspiracy that forces them to face off against each other and the demons of their past. And if they don’t, it’s GAME OVER!”
The movie stars Noah Centineo as Ken Masters, Andrew Koji as Ryu, Callina Liang as Chun-Li, Cody Rhodes as Guile, Orville Peck as Vega, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson as Balrog, Jason Momoa as Blanka, Vidyut Jammwal as Dhalsim, Olivier Richters as Zangief, Hirooki Goto as E. Honda, David Dastmalchian as M. Bison, Joe “Roman Reigns” Anoa’i as Akuma, Andrew Schulz as Dan Hibiki, Eric André as Don Sauvage, Mel Jarnson as Cammy, Rayna Vallandingham as Juli, and Alexander Volkanovski as Joe.