When Kongs of King Street opened, with its collection of retro arcade machines, we knew we would have to show a computer game movie adaptation there. The only question was which one? However, the more we thought about it, the more obvious the answer was: STREET FIGHTER!
The 1994 actioner has gone down in history as one of the notorious films ever made. Everything about it is fascinating: how it was directed by Die Hard screenwriter Steven E. DeSouza, how a third of the budget went to its star Jean-Claude Van Damme, how the production got delayed due to Thailand’s poor movie-making infrastructure and, of course, for starring Aussie pop sensation Kylie Minogue.
Ahead of the screening, we decided we wanted to learn as much as we could about how this film got made and set out to interview as many of the cast as possible. Naturally, we got no response from the likes of JCVD and Kylie, but we were lucky enough to speak to:
Their revelations into the making of this film was fascinating and armed with this behind-the-scenes insight, we decided to pull out all the stops for the screening.
The staff at Kongs essentially shut down the entire bar for the evening and turned it into a mini theatre. Not just that, but they provided free popcorn and allowed us to set up a mini-Street Fighter 2 tournament on their arcade machine.
While the eventual winner was Jamie Cox, it was a close run thing and he barely escaped defeat from Emily Jackson. Let us know how your prize of Street Fighter: Assassin’s Fist turns out, Jamie!
We also recruited local cinema researcher and action film aficionado Peter Walsh to provide the audience with everything they needed to know about JCVD’s career – the highs, the lows and the numerous splits.
We hope the sold out crowd enjoyed the film and that our interviews provide them with the answers to the many, many questions they no doubt have.
Also, their generosity saw us raise over £300 for the Travelling Light Theatre Company! So thanks for that!
See you at Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.
HADOKEN!
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