Street Fighter film writer explains Chun-Li focus of movie

Can’t wait for the upcoming Street Fighter movie, Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, so that we can finally find out just why she was picked as the focus of the entire film? Well, it seems we won’t have to wait next year, with none other than the movie’s own writer Justin Marks coming forward with his own answers. The exact answer why Chun-Li became the protagonist in this movie after the jump!

For those of us eager to behold just what’s in store for us when the upcoming Street Fighter movie, Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li rolls out next year, here’s a special update: the writer of the movie’s plot itself, Justin Marks, and his explanation just why the movie focuses on the high-kicking wonder rather than the game’s more visible characters.

So, just why Chun-Li, then? Justin Marks reveals that he picked Chun-Li as the focus of the movie simply because he believed films are about unexpected heroes, and not because he wanted to have a “blatantly sexualised female lead”.

While he admits that Ryu and Ken are more visible and familiar in the series, Chun-Li is the heart and soul of the game, having lost her father and being left for dead. His quote, verbatim:

First, I’ve never seen a successful action movie (in my mind) that blatantly sexualised its female lead and succeeded for its audience; Catwoman, Elektra, the list goes on and on.

Then I think back to The Terminator, or possibly my all-time favourite movie, Aliens, and I think of how Ripley is depicted in that film. She’s a tough woman, but not because she came from a place of wearing tight pants and beating up men.

She’s tough because she had this core emotional story about a life that could have been and never was. To me, that’s the way you write a woman in these kinds of movies.

Very well said. Here’s hoping that the movie is worth the wait. Updates as we get them!