Chun-Li star Callina Liang has revealed that a few of her Street Fighter scenes were cut because video game company Capcom didn't want to damage the character's brand.
In the scene where Chun-Li goes undercover and infiltrates Lord M. Bison's (David Dastmalchian) criminal organization, Liang revealed that an earlier version of the script saw the fighter cut off her finger to prove her loyalty to Bison. However, the scene was cut because Capcom, the creator of the Street Fighter franchise, didn't approve.
"Chun-Li was originally supposed to chop off a finger, but Capcom … They went back and forth with the script, and eventually they decided that hand-branding was the better way to do it," said Laing to The Hollywood Reporter. "If she had no pinky for the rest of the [potential series], it would be deforming the character in a way."
The reason Chun-Li was at odds with Bison in the first place was to avenge her father's death. However, the movie found a way for Chun-Li to continue her mission in another way. Instead of losing a finger, Chun-Li has the mark of Shadaloo imprinted on her palm. Capcom's hesitation makes sense, as if Chun-Li had lost a finger this early on, the team would have to factor in editing her digit off in future sequels, which would have been costly. The issue would have also affected future Street Fighter merchandise.
But that's not all, as Liang said that another scene was altered as well. When Chun-Li is trying to convince Ken Masters (Noah Centineo) that the tournament is just a ploy for Bison to drain Rhu's powers, Liang says that Chun-Li was supposed to slap Ken. Centineo told Liang to hit him as hard as she could for real, but the footage never made it to the final edit. "We actually tried multiple takes where I physically slapped him across the face," added Liang. "There was no way to really fake it, so Noah just let me slap him in the face a couple of times. It didn't end up making it into the final cut, but it was fun."
Street Fighter is out in theaters now. For more, check out our Street Fighter review and list of Street Fighter movie Easter eggs, and keep up with upcoming video game movies on the way.
