'SMALLVILLE' star Kristin Kreuk cast in 'STREET FIGHTER'
TV's erstwhile Lana Lang will play Capcom's favorite thighs-of-steel video game heroine in director Andrzej Bartkowiak's Street Fighter: Legend of Chun-Li.
"Smallville" star Kristin Kreuk will play the title character in Hyde Park Entertainment's Street Fighter: Legend of Chun-Li, reports ComingSoon.net. Directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak (Doom) from a script by Justin Marks (Voltron), the live-action feature, based on Capcom's video game, starts principal photography in Thailand March 2008. 20th Century Fox will distribute the movie, which will focus on female fighter Chun-Li and her journey for justice.
The pic was first announced in October of last year, with a goal toward an '08 release, during the 20th anniversary of the game franchise. Due to the WGA strike, however, an early-to-mid '09 debut is more likely.
This will be Capcom's second attempt at turning its popular fighting title into a viable film franchise. The first, 1994's Jean-Claude Van Damme vehicle Street Fighter, written/directed by Steven De Souza (Die Hard) and featuring Ming-Na Wen (Mulan) as Chun-Li, earned a mere $33 million.
"The last Street Fighter movie killed Raul Julia, for the love of Romero!" wrote DEVIN FARACI at CHUD, of the late actor who portrayed the villainous M Bison. "What kind of havoc could a new Street Fighter wreak?"
"We already said that the movie was Doom-ed (pun intended) to suck when it was announced that the terrible director Andrzej Bartkowiak was attached," commented Firstshowing's ALEX BILLINGTON. "However, interestingly I'm not as worried with Kreuk being cast in the lead."
RYAN C. at QJ.net concurred. "While we can certainly think of actresses who seem more suited to the role--say [Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon star] Zhang Zhiyi for instance--upon closer inspection, it seems that Kristin Kreuk isn't that bad a choice."
It was rumored throughout '07 that Jessica Biel (Blade Trinity) would play Chun-Li in the movie, much to the dismay of fans, who wanted a Chinese thesp for the role.
A 25-year-old Canadian beauty of Chinese descent, Kreuk stars in The CW's "Smallville" as Clark Kent's star-crossed love Lana Lang. She is a Teen Choice Award nominee, and has been the spokesmodel for Neutrogena since 2002.
So, can Kreuk's acting chops and professionalism bring some class to the latest vidgame-to-cinema adaptation? CHUD's Faraci doesn't think so.
"I love terrible movies as much as the next guy who owns two versions of Alexander on DVD," he wrote, "but the truth is that with these folks running things, Street Fighter: Legend of Chun-Li is sure to be the sort of soul-sapping badness with a half life of awful that makes it possible for only the next generation to safely enjoy it in an ironic way."
[Thanks to Mania's JARROD SARAFIN for the link. Thanks also to Aceshowbiz.com, Worstpreviews.com and GOTHIC GIRL at gamegrep.com for additional info.]