Street Fighter: Legacy Interview

IGN sits down with the creator's of this epic fan film based on the bestselling game franchise.

Street Fighter: Legacy Interview Joey Ansah: I’m a huge Street Fighter fan. I played it for ages. I saw the first movie in ’94, the Van Damme one. Then saw the Legend of Chun- Li. And you know, I think I can speak for every Street Fighter fan or I can say it wasn’t -- well, we wanted it fairly well short the mark. The Hollywood system is just not getting it right. And the same way that they did with comic book movies for awhile but now they are with the Chris Nolan and Zack Snyder out there. You’re getting utterly faithful adaptations that are doing great business and now Hollywood are okay, we can have fanatical filmmakers make these things really faithful and they’ll still be bankable. But it hasn’t crossover to the video games yet. I wonder why because a lot of these games have great back stories. So I thought, you know, someone has to do it, and it might as well be me. I’ve got the fighting know how. I live with the living incarnation of Ken. Christian and myself have just thought, imagine if Street Fighter was like this and this is how we would do it. Christian Howard: I’ve known Joey, the co-director of for a long, long time. We’ve been great friends and also fellow Street Fighter fans. So when this idea kind of came about and it was kind of like there was any -- there’s anyone role for me, and it’s going to be Ken Masters. So, yeah, it kind of from conception. I was there at the beginning and we enjoyed work together as well. So coming out with the ideas for it and we co-wrote it together and so from the get go of being kind of involved. I’m kind of think like which Street Fighter character is your favorite who do you want to be and it’s always been kind of Ken Masters for me. And then to get the opportunity to actually bring that to life was incredible. I mean it was like a dream come true. Joey Ansah: We didn’t have much, I’m actually raised me a kind of budget that would be the equivalent of a days shoot on a commercial or something, you know? It’s -- so it was lot of favors. A lot of favors and a lot of fashion to it. Get all the pieces together to the point where we knew we could actually shoot. It only happened about 12 days before we shot. All the costumes have to be made from scratch in that period. All the prosthetics and make ups stuff had to be done. John Foo who played Ryu only flew in eight days before we actually filmed. Christian Howard: It was a hell of lot of prep time to actually -- you know, do the RND on a lot of stuff. Joey Ansah: So it was a mad, mad rush and we shot the actual thing in two and half days in Ashwood which is National Trust Estate just north of London. It was a great location because they have these quite dramatic landscapes and very few people would think that’s just an hour out of London. Christian Howard: We were shooting barefoot in -- you know below zero temperatures. It was done in February and it was freezing cold. I’m going to tell you, so you’re running around the woods, you’re feet are numb. I mean there are all sorts on the ground. We didn’t pull any punches, you know it wasn’t like we had comfortable studio. This was out there for real. There were all kinds of twigs, seed buds on the floor -- I mean I end up ripping a hole in my foot but you kind to go to carry on. I can’t really put a bandage around it because you’re going to be able see that. So we we’re trying to keep through to these characters. They don’t wear shoes -- they are that hardcore. Shooting fights you get not—and so you get punch and what not so John is a little notorious in my opinion for it. Not really pulling his punches and I had an incident where he managed to elbow one of my eyebrows off, so we had to stick about back on. But I did get my revenge with the show where you can if you look carefully, you can see the impact Johns ear is moving from that impact under the chin. Joey Ansah: And for casting something like this, the characters have to have the right look, you know facially and physique wise they’ve got to able to act. And they’ve to able to do the moves. That’s so important. There’s no good having characters that look great but they can’t fight. That’s a really hard thing in something like Street Fighter. I mean you could see the characters here -- getting someone that looks the old style larger than life. Getting someone that looks like this; facially has the physique and can also fight because it’s the fighting thing people want to see. Christian Howard: We wanted to do as many practical effects as we could not just make this all about CGI and we’re fill in the gaps later. We got to prosthetics girl to make up the silicon glove that was going to protect my hands and you know it’s covered in flames gels, so I wasn’t going to get burns and I said do it. Joey Ansah: Well that was a brave move. Because nobody that thing, “Oh, just CG it, just do as imposed.” But you’ll when his fist first ignites, it’s real flames and it’s actually on fire. Christian Howard: Definitely I like playing the character. I mean -- you know there’s a big plans for what’s going to happen, it all needs to be sorted out. Joey Ansah: Street Fighter would work very well in the series format. I mean in the way that Lost for examples is a huge ensemble of characters but it takes the time with each episode to dwell on each character and character development. So then when you see the group together, each person means something, and you know what their motivations are. They’re not throw-away characters. And Street Fighter they deserve it because of course, okay, Ryu and Ken are basically are the popular ones probably with fans are Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li and Guile. So in a Hollywood format, that probably focused on these ones and this make the others throw away quick cameo goons. But look, Zangief is some people favorite character. You know, Blanka is some people’s favorite character. And it’s a disservice to them to write off their character. So in a series format, you could have each episode doing the back story and giving that character their time to shine. So then later when it’s the ensemble piece, sure some of these characters will get knocked out on the tournament and won’t be seen again but at least you think “Okay they had their ten minutes of fame.” And you know, and the fans are obsessed about that character can re- watch that episode, you know? I think a combination -- I mean -- but then the trilogy of films could work because you’ve got the world warrior tournament which is the Street Fighter Story. But then you’ve got this whole -- you know Gouken, Akuma, Ryu, and Ken they’re whole story in Japan that needs to be told. So we’ll see. Possibly a series it could be web series or a movie deal. I mean this is what it needs to be worked out. Christian Howard: This is a pivotal role for me, and you know, some think that I feel so in tuned with that I’ve come to known this guy for awhile and to get the opportunity to do it and hopefully on a larger scale would be amazing. Joey Ansah: To all the fans out there who’ve watch the 1.2 million who’ve watch this so far, you know, I thank you loads.