After losing its original directors, Legendary and Capcom's live-action Street Fighter reboot is moving forward with Kitao Sakurai (Bad Trip) at the helm, and the casting process recently got underway.
Now, Jeff Sneider is reporting that the movie is looking to add some more star power in the form of Walton Goggins, who is in talks to play the villainous leader of Shadaloo, M. Bison. Singer Orville Peck is also on board as blade-handed narcissist Vega, and comedian Eric André will play "the loud-mouthed ring announcer who hypes up the crowd."
Goggins has numerous film and TV roles on his résumé, but has been garnering more mainstream acclaim and attention thanks to recent roles in Fallout and season 3 of The White Lotus (and let's not forget about Uncle Baby Billy from The Righteous Gemstones).
Andrew Koji and Noah Centineo have reportedly closed their deals to play the co-lead roles of Ryu and Ken, respectively, and Jason Momoa and WWE pro-wrestler Roman Reigns (real name Leati Joseph Anoaʻi) are also said to be in negotiations.
Reigns is believed to be in line to play the villainous Akuma, the man who killed Ryu and Ken's trainer and his own older brother Gouken, while several sources are reporting that Momoa will take on the role of green-skinned fan-favorite, Blanka..
Though numerous characters have been introduced over the years, Ryu and his best friend/rival Ken Masters have remained at the forefront of the Street Fighter video game franchise. Both fighters have very similar move sets, including the Dragon Punch and "Hadoken" fireball.
Capcom's Street Fighter series remains one of the most popular fighting games franchises of all time, but hasn't fared very well with live-action adaptations up until now. The 1994 movie starring Jean-Claude Van Damme and Kylie Minogue has amassed a cult following over the years, but is still widely regarded as a misfire, and the less said about 2009's Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li the better!
We know next to nothing about this latest take on the property, so it's impossible to say whether it will break the trend.
Sakurai, who stepped in to replace original directors Danny and Michael Philippou, is probably best known for writing, directing and exec producing The Eric Andre Show, and has also directed the pilot and several episodes of the upcoming Amazon Prime Video series Butterfly, as well as episodes of Peacock’s video game adaptation Twisted Metal.
What do you make of his casting news? Let us know in the comments section down below, and check out a clip of the late Raul Julia at his best as Bison in the '90s movie.