David Dastmalchian, star of Late Night With The Devil, has been announced as the Street Fighter film’s primary antagonist, M Bison.
Late Night With The Devil star David Dastmalchian has been unveiled as the arch villain in Legendary’s planned adaptation of Capcom’s Street Fighter videogame series. Fallout's Walton Goggins was previously said to be in negotiations for the role around a month ago, that hasn’t come to pass. Instead – thanks Deadline – it will be Dastmalchian who (presumably) dons the scarlet outfit of M Bison.
M Bison, the Street Fighter series’ big bad, is the kind of sneering villain who rocks a cloak and shoulder pads so you know he’s the final boss to end all final bosses. Nothing says ‘fascism’ like the combination of cloak, shoulder pads and a peaked military hat. And as the terrifying head of the criminal organisation known as Shadaloo, Bison rules with an iron fist. The character was of course memorably played by Raul Julia in his final screen appearance in 1994’s Street Fighter just before his untimely death at the age of 54.
While we would have loved to have seen Goggins chewing the scenery, the casting of Dastmalchian feels like a fun replacement – and ‘fun’ seems to be the order of the day when it comes to casting here.
The ensemble for the film is frankly, a little bonkers. Jason Momoa will be painted green and wearing a crazy orange wig as the Brazilian beast, Blanka. Callina Liang will feature as Interpol officer Chun-Li. Pro wrestler Roman Reigns will also presumably donning all kinds of make-up and a mighty wig as the evil Akuma. Fellow wrestler Cody Rhodes is also rumoured to be playing the series’ troubled military veteran, Guile.
As well as those versed in the showmanship of sports entertainment, you have a legitimate martial artist and actor in the form of Andrew Koji as martial artist Ryu, the videogame’s central character. Koji previously appeared as Storm Shadow in the GI Joe spin-off, Snake Eyes. Noah Centineo – last seen in Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza’s hyper-realistic Warfare, will feature as Ryu’s friend Ken. Then there’s country singer Orville Peck as clawed combatant Vega and even rapper, Curtis ’50 Cent’ Jackson as boxer Balrog. Throw in comic and actor Andrew Schulz as the series’ punchline in the form of Dan Hibiki and you’re getting a melting pot of an ensemble that is looking increasingly wild with each successive new name.
Kitao Sakurai, who has helmed several episodes of The Eric Andre Show, is directing the film after Talk to Me helmers Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou left the project, reportedly over scheduling issues. Videogame publisher Capcom is said to have a fair degree of influence over the proceedings here, which was said to have caused plenty of issues during the production of the 1994 version of Street Fighter. We’ll bring you more as we hear it.
