2013 may possibly be the year we will remember the names of producer Jacqueline Quella, and martial arts actor, stuntman and action filmmaker Joey Ansah for helping bring to life what could possibly be the best live-action adaptation of Campom’s long-running video fighting game franchise, Street Fighter, that any fan may ever see.
In 1993, Hong Kong cinemas were first given a taste of Street Fighter characters in such films as Future Cops the live action manga Hong Kong action comedy, City Hunter. Film goers would also get a few more heavily-invested features with the distribution of the 1994 feature, Street Fighter, with then-rising international action star Jean-Claude Van Damme in the lead. The film became a big commercial success, with nothing following up thereafter except several animated features from Japan, until 2009 when 20th Century Fox attempted to revamp the film franchise with director Andrzej Bartkowiak, for the origin-story of Street Fighter: The Legend Of Chun Li. That particular film became a critical and commercial disappointment.
Martial arts stuntman, fight choreographer, actor and filmmaker Joey Ansah (The Bourne Ultimatum) was able to get Capcom’s blessing with the development and viral success of Street Fighter: Legacy, a three-minute live-action shortfilm directed by Owen Trevor, and starring actor and martial artists Jon Foo (Vikingdom, Bangkok Revenge) and Christian Howard (Warrioress, Green Street Hooligans: Underground), the latter who also co-wrote the shortfilm. As time passed, fans took the shortfilm to heart as a sign that better days were ahead for the franchise. And that point could not have been made more clearer when the series was officially announced during the San Diego Comic Con last year.
Photo Credits: Facebook, IMDb