Callina Liang claims she built her body up from the legs up in order to portray Chun-Li in Paramount’s upcoming live-action Street Fighter. Liang claims she added six and a half centimeters to her thighs thanks to months of martial arts practice and a tough diet regimen that almost gave her severe indigestion.
As reported by IGN this week, Liang discussed the process in an Empire magazine interview. During the bulk phase, she consumed twelve eggs a day and forced a meal every other hour, feeling as though she was nearly sick from overeating.
“But it worked,” Liang said. By the time she had wrapped shooting the movie, Liang claims both of her thighs had grown to six and a half centimeters (approximately 2.5 inches).
The training focused on Chun-Li’s distinctive weapon. “Chun-Li’s character is known for her kicks; therefore, we focused on training her Taekwondo, Muay Thai, and wushu for a total of two hours a day, as well as leg strength training,” Liang shared with Empire.
Her practice didn’t stop there. Liang revealed that she downloaded every version of Street Fighter onto PlayStation 5 and filmed Chun-Li’s movements on her cell phone in slow motion so she could watch them back and learn.
Chun-Li is special within the realm of gaming since her 1991 debut in Street Fighter II. That made her the first playable female character in the series and one of the best-known characters in video gaming.
Her muscular legs play a critical role in defining the player’s experience of her, so casting a live-action version of her has become a major point of discussion.
When she was cast as Chun-Li, Liang faced some skepticism from segments of the fighting game community. Her Empire interview has produced divided reactions among fans. While some lauded her dedication to her role, others questioned whether actors should go to such extremes for roles they could perform with a costume or visual effect. This issue comes up repeatedly in superhero and video game adaptations.
Street Fighter features a script written by Kitao Sakurai and T.J. Fixman based on a story by Dalan Musson and Gary Dauberman. Sakurai directed the project after Danny and Michael Philippou left to make Bring Her Back, following their work on The Eric Andre Show, Bad Trip, and Peacock’s Twisted Metal.
Set in 1993, when Street Fighter II began to dominate arcade halls, the movie follows Ryu (Andrew Koji) and Ken Masters (Noah Centineo), who are called by Liang’s Chun-Li to compete in the World Warrior Tournament.
Jason Momoa portrays Blanka, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson plays Balrog, Joe “Roman Reigns” Anoa’i plays Akuma, David Dastmalchian plays M. Bison, and Cody Rhodes will play Guile.
Legendary Entertainment is producing the film, in partnership with Capcom, the Japanese game publisher.
The movie started shooting in Australia in August 2025 under the working title Punch and wrapped in November.
It was initially set for release on March 20, 2026, with Sony, but later moved to Paramount after Legendary’s arrangement with Sony ended.
The film opens on October 16th.
