Fil-Am stunt choreographer breaks down 'Street Fighter' action
SUBIC, Philippines — "Street Fighter" director Kitao Sakurai wanted to make sure his film would do justice to the original game he was adapting, so he rallied individuals who are "Street Fighter" fans such as Filipino-American stunt choregrapher Jon Valera.
In a seeded interview, Sakurai shared that Valera and visual effects supervisor Sandra Balej "were super passionate about bringing all the iconic moves from the game to life" and teased how much signature moves would be making the big screen jump.
Valera, who also worked as second unit director on the film, admitted to there being "lots of pressure" behind the movie given how iconic and high profile the "Street Fighter" games are.
"I call it 'the Bruce Lee effect.' As martial artists, we always say you never want to touch a Bruce Lee film because it’s almost sacred to us," the Filipino-American said. "'Street Fighter' ranks up there, but if I'm not afraid of a job, then it doesn’t make me work."
The stunt choreographer is best known for his martial arts and stunts work in franchises for "John Wick", Marvel, and DC. The latter pairs him up with frequent collaborator Jason Momoa, who reunites with Valera here as Blanka and as a producer.
Sakurai and another producer Cale Boyter wanted to keep fight sequences faithful to the actual video games moves in a cinematic manner.
Valera initially wanted to move forward with cleaner martial arts sequences as popularized by "The Matrix". However, he noted how fight styles are now more "brutal, gritty and messy" like in "John Wick".
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"'Street Fighter' takes place in the 1990s, and '90s action movies were cheesy, clean martial arts. I didn't want to make it the cheesy, campy, clean martial arts, but to capture the beauty of it," he added.
Still, the Fil-Am wanted the film to reflect the game's Japanese background. His stunt team studied Goju-ryu, Shotokan and Judo, taking in moves from the game for adaptation purposes or as he puts it, "Japanese-based with a little flare."
The stunt team — hailing from the United Kingdom, France, New Zealand, Australia, Canada and Japan — also had to look at other base fighting styles.
Momoa's Blanka has an animalistic fighting style with a capoeira flair; Chun-Li (Callina Liang) is trained in Chinese martial arts like Wu Shu, Tai Chi and Kung fu; and Guile (Cody Rhodes) delivers a lot of big, brutal hits.
Valera described further the unique style of Vidyut Jammwal's Dhalsim, building his character on a yoga style break dancing movement.
"If yogis were throwing punches, that's how you get the feel of it. Mike Tyson was a good model for Balrog," Valera said, referring to 50 Cent's character, As well as one of my favorite characters in boxing, Clubber Lang from the 'Rocky' films, because his style was all power hits.”
One stuntman was a Cirque du Soleil performer who used special harnesses and rigs, as such he could make more complex stunt work.
Related: Jason Momoa praises longtime Fil-Am stunt partner Jon Valera
Balej's team and the people behind special effects would chip in only when pure action choreography was not possible in a logistical sense such as explosions and breakaways, all safety tested.
'There's always situations where we can't do everything with a real human, it's either a safety issue or highly time consuming, so the VFX team was amazing too," Valera added. "This was one of the most collaborative efforts I've been on with those two departments."
Orville Peck, who plays Vega, teased the movie's "burlesque scene", which took two weeks to shoot and features dozens of extras, actors flying through the air and timed pyro effects.
"It's pretty much every fighter. We were all really looking forward to it because it's the moment where all of us are together in one massive explosion of action," the country singer said about the film's longest fight sequence.
Ryu's Andrew Koji commended the love put into making "Street Fighter" by producers, writers, stunt team, crew, cast and Sakurai, noting "The level of care and love put into this film is unlike the making of any big film that I've heard of or been involved with."
"There was a special energy on the set that goes beyond words. A lightning in a bottle feeling of this group of people together creating something special," Sakurai ended. "I think that also comes across on screen. That special energy is something that people can experience in the theater when they see 'Street Fighter.'"
"Street Fighter" will premiere in Philippine cinemas on October 14.
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