Callina Liang on Training for "Insane" Chung-Li Physique in 'Street Fighter'

Callina Liang understood her Street Fighter assignment. Few video game characters have a physique as striking and memorable as Chun-Li, and if she was going to be the actress responsible for playing the legendary fighter in the new live-action movie, she needed to step up her game.

In an interview with Omelete, Liang looked back on the enormous challenge of taking on the role and preparing physically to play it. Between the day she was cast and the start of filming, she had only three months. That meant going to the gym every day. And of course, she could never skip leg day.

Now, Liang has no doubts: she wants to return for a potential Street Fighter 2. According to the actress, now that she has developed the physique, it’s time to put it into action. Speaking with Omelete ahead of the release of the new trailer, she said she’s more than willing to do a sequel. Check out the full conversation below.

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Guilherme Jacobs: All right, let’s do this. Thank you so much for your time. I have to say, the movie looks really cool. I liked the footage you showed quite a bit. I always wonder, with someone who’s still early in their acting career, what it’s like when they step onto the set of a big franchise blockbuster for the first time. Can you take me back to your first day on set and how you felt walking in?

Callina Liang: Wow, it was crazy. Everything was so big. I remember thinking to myself, because Kitao [Sakurai, director] took me to the set on my first day and gave me a tour of the different stages they had built, and I was thinking, “Wow, they really built all these sets. This is so cool.” I was blown away. Even the real locations where we filmed were insane. It honestly felt like something straight out of a video game. Even when we filmed on the cliff in Sydney, we were on this rocky cliff overlooking the ocean. It was wild. So yeah, the whole time I was like, “I can’t believe I’m here doing this.” It was really, really cool.

Guilherme Jacobs: I imagine that when you’re cast as Chun-Li, you immediately think, “I need to look like I know how to fight,” right? You have to physically convince the audience with your strikes or your special powers and things like that. Was that the most challenging part of the role, or did you feel the role was actually closer to other work you’ve done before?

Callina Liang: No, I don’t think Chun-Li is like anything I’ve done before. But it was different in the best possible way. I was a fan of hers growing up, I played as her when I was little. So it was like a dream come true for me. The whole time I was just thinking, “I have to do my best. I have to try everything in my power to do her justice as much as I can, both physically and emotionally.” I spent a lot of time researching her backstory, obviously — I read all the manga, replayed the video games, watched the anime movie. But at the same time, she has an insane physique. From the day they told me I got the role to my first day in front of the cameras, I had three months at most. So I really didn’t have much time. I thought, “All right, three months. Let’s do absolutely everything possible.” I’m very proud of what I did and I can say I have no regrets. That said, do I look exactly like the animated or video game version? Probably not. And I don’t even know if I could have that look and also move as fast as she does, because her moves are incredibly fast. But yeah, I trained a lot. A lot of fight training, a lot of weightlifting. Every day was leg day at the gym. A lot of food — I was eating around 4,000 calories a day, stuffing myself. I thought it would be fun, but it actually wasn’t that fun because half the time I was just trying not to throw up. So yeah, that said, I have no regrets, but if we do a sequel and I have more time, I’ll definitely push myself even harder.

Guilherme Jacobs: I want to go back to your relationship with the character, because I think it’s fair to say Chun-Li is among the most famous Asian characters in the world, and in the West too. For a lot of people, the first Asian character they think of is Chun-Li, because of how long Street Fighter has been with us. Where did you place yourself between the excitement of the role and the responsibility of taking it on? How did you feel about that balance?

Callina Liang: I’d say it’s probably fifty-fifty. It’s very exciting, but it’s also a lot of pressure. As a gamer, I grew up playing and I’m a fan of the character. So even if I hadn’t gotten the role and another actor had, I would think, “All right, I hope they do everything in their power to do Chun-Li justice, because she’s such an iconic character.” That’s why I really did everything I could. I hope audiences can see how much effort, love, and passion not just I but all of us put into the movie, and that they have fun and enjoy it. Because at the end of the day, you also can’t take everything too seriously — it’s Street Fighter and all these people are kind of insane in some way. Trying to portray that as a human being, it’s like, “All right, this is the best I could do with three months.”

Guilherme Jacobs: It seemed like making this movie was a lot of fun, because from everything the cast posted behind the scenes, it looks like you all got really close and there was a lot of camaraderie among the cast members. Why do you think this group worked so well? What made this group so special?

Callina Liang: On paper, you wouldn’t think we’d get along as well as we did, because it’s actors, WWE wrestlers, comedians, 50 Cent is in the mix, singers — it’s a crazy group of people. But I think what brought us together was that we all really loved the game. Every person I talked to who was involved in the project, from actors to producers to the director, Kitao, all of us loved the game. I think we all played it as kids, so it meant something to us. That’s why we clicked. On top of that, we spent a lot of time together, especially me, Andrew Koji, and Noah [Centineo]. We were in Sydney for pre-production for a month and a half, just the three of us. So we got really close because we trained together, ate together, went to the sauna together. It was really special. We went out almost—actually, we went out every weekend with the whole cast. Cody Rhodes got us a boat one day, so we went out on a yacht. 50 Cent rented out all of Luna Park, the amusement park in Sydney, for us. We were there just having fun. It was a really fun time. We went to the movies together and honestly, I really miss that.

Guilherme Jacobs: Sounds great! I know you’ve already done your share of internet content and, at least from what we’ve been able to see of the movie, this version of Street Fighter seems very connected to a young, online energy. Do you agree with that?

Callina Liang: A disclaimer: I still haven’t seen the full movie, so this is based only on everything I know. I think so. I think it stays true to a lot of the original game — the story and the relationships between the characters stay faithful. But there’s definitely a newer, fresher perspective that Kitao brought, one that I think a lot of younger audiences can relate to. So I think it’ll appeal to both older and younger audiences.

Guilherme Jacobs: Speaking of that, I know you haven’t seen the movie, but I imagine the scale of action you had to do during filming must have already been pretty impressive. So I wanted to know if you got a taste for action and want to work in action again, fighting in more movies. Beyond the fighting, which seems so fun for an actor, what do you like about action movies?

Callina Liang: Wow, I’m a huge fan of action movies. It would be my dream to do more, especially if I were in the military, playing a cop shooting guns. I’m also a huge fantasy fan, like riding a dragon or something in the style of Avatar. That kind of action is really cool too. Literally, yes, I want to keep making action movies if I can. I really fell in love with it. Even now, I train Muay Thai at least twice a week and it’s very therapeutic for me. I just want to keep getting better and better.

Guilherme Jacobs: It’s almost addictive, right? With Street Fighter, it’s unique because you have monsters, magic users, and soldiers. Did you feel like that gave you room to get creative with the action? You didn’t just have to do the usual punching and kicking, you went beyond that. Did you feel that on set?

Callina Liang: 100%! Yes, we went beyond that. I think we included every fighting style and then some in the movie. John Valera, the stunt coordinator, was incredible and very creative. He stayed true to a lot of the kicks and moves the characters do. I’m only talking about kicks because that’s all I did — I only did kicks. But at the same time, they added things: I got to use nunchucks, so I used some weapons. Other characters fought with a cane, Vega with his claws... We really embraced and made the most of each character’s uniqueness and what they fight with, and just took it to the next level. It was a lot of fun.

Guilherme Jacobs: For a long time in Hollywood, video game movies were that weird thing people just couldn’t get right, but it definitely feels like we’re at a turning point. Do you see this kind of production as the next big trend in Hollywood, with video game adaptations coming out every year?

Callina Liang: I think so, because if you look at what’s been happening with Minecraft, Mortal Kombat, Super Mario Bros., Street Fighter... And I’m a gamer, so I follow this stuff. I know they’re making a live-action Call of Duty and one for Dead by Daylight. I play those games, so I’m like, “Oh my God, get me an audition!” But I definitely think it’s opening a door. I just hope that, like Street Fighter, we do it the right way. If we’re going to choose to turn a video game into a live-action adaptation, let’s do it justice and do it well. If we keep doing that, it’ll definitely be a huge market.

Guilherme Jacobs: Why do you think we’re seeing this shift now? As a gamer, I’ve played my whole life too, and for a long time, whenever a video game adaptation was announced, the immediate feeling was, “This probably isn’t going to work.” Over the last five years, it’s been a very different experience. What changed in the last half decade?

Callina Liang: All that comes to mind is seeing earlier success. Remember when The Last of Us came out? It was a big success, and I think that opened the minds of a lot of producers and executives to think, “All right, maybe video games do work.” Because if you stop to think about it, there are a lot of gamers in the world. It’s a huge market. But we gamers also like watching movies and TV shows. If you’re already a big fan of the game, the audience for that game becoming live-action is already there. But again, it’s also important that they do it well. If they don’t do it well, I know fans will be disappointed and upset. But I think that’s why it’s working so well, simply because the world is finally realizing how big the gaming community is, because yes, there are a lot of us.

Guilherme Jacobs: When you were cast as Chun-Li, what was the one thing you were dying to do? Maybe a special move or something with the character that made you think, “As soon as I step on set, at the first opportunity, I want to do this”?

Callina Liang: Wow, so many things. I think I was just excited to kick someone in the face! And I got to kick so many people in the face in so many different ways, so that was a dream come true. I was also excited to try on her costume. Being a fan of hers, I’d never cosplayed as her in my life, so I was like, “Oh my God, I’m going to wear her dress and do her hair and makeup.” That was a dream come true for me. But yeah, definitely kicking people in the face.

Guilherme Jacobs: If you say you kicked so many people in the face, I have to ask: who was your biggest victim?

Callina Liang: Vega, I’d say! Or Valera, who was my partner, because I did the Lightning Kick to his face about 20 times. I hope he handled it well!

Guilherme Jacobs: I have one more question and then I’ll let you go. Thank you again for your time. If you make a sequel to this movie, how committed are you to this character if it moves forward?

Callina Liang: Oh, fully committed! Portraying Chun-Li and working on her for this first movie made me put a lot of my own heart and soul into it. I found many parts of her personality that I could personally relate to. And also, having trained so much and worked so hard on these legs, I would love nothing more than to keep going, get stronger and stronger, and use what I’ve learned. If the fans are happy and the production is happy and they want me to keep going, absolutely, because I love her so much.

Guilherme Jacobs: Well, I can’t wait to see you kicking people in the face on the big screen. Thanks again for your time, I’m super excited for the movie, and congratulations!

Callina Liang: Thank you so much!