Kitao Sakurai has traveled one of Hollywood’s more unconventional routes to the top of the box office. The director of Street Fighter, currently the number-one movie in America and now playing in theaters, began his screen career as a teenage actor wielding a hockey stick and wearing rollerblades in Kevin Smith’s 1999 film Dogma.
Sakurai, then based in Cleveland, played one of the demonic Stygian Triplets who attack characters played by Bud Cort and Chris Rock. A local acting agent connected him with Smith while the movie was shooting mostly in Pittsburgh, and Sakurai landed the part after auditioning.
The role came during a childhood acting career that began after the shy Ohio student, who attended Japanese Saturday school, was cast in a play. But Dogma also arrived as Sakurai’s interests were moving toward cinematography, photography and directing.
From Cleveland movie fan to independent filmmaker
Sakurai’s filmmaking education included regular visits to the Cleveland Cinematheque, where its programming exposed him to movies featuring Jackie Chan and Jet Li, as well as the work of Robert Altman. His growing fascination with images led him to build a darkroom in his basement.
At 19, he dropped out of college and moved to New York, initially working as a cinematographer in low-budget independent productions and music videos. One of those shoots introduced him to Eric André in the mid-2000s.
Sakurai was using vintage tube cameras purchased through a camera house from Dolly Parton’s estate. André responded to the visual style, and the two later created a proof of concept for The Eric Andre Show. After multiple networks passed, they expected to release it on YouTube. Adult Swim instead picked up the project in 2010.
The resulting collaboration has produced 60 episodes, several specials and an Emmy win. Sakurai has described the series as a defining lesson in committing fully to absurd ideas, even when they do not follow conventional logic.
“Sometimes things don’t necessarily need to make sense for you to lean in and love them,” Sakurai told The Hollywood Reporter. “There can be elements that are so ridiculous they might not track narratively or make sense conceptually, but because they’re part of an overall energy and feeling, they fit.”
Also in 2010, Sakurai premiered his first feature, Aardvark. The experimental film fictionalized the real-life relationship between blind recovering alcoholic Larry Lewis Jr. and his jiu-jitsu instructor, Darren Branch, before shifting from a docu-narrative into a revenge thriller.
The difficult road from Bad Trip to Street Fighter
Sakurai and André later developed Bad Trip, a hidden-camera comedy starring André and Lil Rel Howery as friends traveling to New York City. Its scripted road-trip story incorporated reactions from members of the public caught up in in-character pranks.
The movie’s release became unusually complicated. MGM’s Orion Pictures originally scheduled it for theaters in 2019 before moving it to 2020. A planned South by Southwest premiere that March and the theatrical rollout were then derailed by the pandemic. Amazon Prime Video also accidentally made the film available before Netflix acquired it for a 2021 streaming release.
Sakurai has said he remained disappointed that the film missed theaters because it was designed to be experienced with an audience. At the same time, he believes its emphasis on human connection resonated with viewers during the pandemic.
Following the reception to Bad Trip and his work directing FX’s Dave, Sakurai was invited to pitch for Legendary and Paramount’s Street Fighter. Danny and Michael Philippou had exited because of scheduling conflicts with Bring Her Back, leaving behind a loose concept centered on Ken Masters and Ryu.
Sakurai transformed that foundation into a story about estranged best friends and adoptive brothers trying to repair their relationship during the second World Warrior tournament. Noah Centineo plays Ken, Andrew Koji portrays Ryu and David Dastmalchian appears as M. Bison.
The project also carried personal meaning for Sakurai. Born in Japan and raised in Ohio, he played Street Fighter at friends’ homes because his family did not own a video game system. The games connected with the manga and anime sent to his family by friends in Japan and gave him an opportunity to see himself represented in popular media.
A deliberately gonzo adaptation
Legendary did not ask Sakurai to deliver a dark, grounded reinvention. Producer Cale Boyter supported an approach that retained the games’ silliness, heightened characters and “gonzo energy.”
That approach extended to the movie’s flashbacks, which use fully hand-drawn, anime-style animation rather than de-aged actors or younger performers. Sakurai said the choice was inspired in part by Kill Bill and was neither quicker nor cheaper than live action.
The Philippou brothers also appear in a cameo, performing their signature fighting bit during an establishing shot of M. Bison’s Golden Bullion Hotel. Sakurai invited them as a gesture showing there was no animosity over the directing change.
Jordan Peele served as a sounding board during Sakurai’s pitching process, offering advice about the archetypal relationship between Ken and Ryu. Jason Momoa, meanwhile, advocated to play Blanka because of his enthusiasm for the character.
ShowBiz Take
Sakurai’s ascent matters because Street Fighter did not require him to abandon the eccentric instincts developed through Aardvark, The Eric Andre Show and Bad Trip. Those instincts were the reason he fit the assignment. His path from a rollerblading Dogma enforcer to the director of America’s top movie may be unlikely, but the creative throughline is clear: wholehearted commitment can make even the most outrageous world feel convincing.
What Happens Next?
Spoiler warning: The ending leaves M. Bison’s story unresolved, while a mid-credits scene shows him seeking Sagat. Sakurai said the filmmakers are thinking about continuing the story and that there is interest among the cast, but no writing has begun and no sequel plans are set in stone.