The Tragic Story Behind This Video Game Movie Appearance - Looper

As detailed by The Guardian and Polygon, the production of "Street Fighter" was difficult, even outside of Raul Julia's illness. It was de Souza's first time directing a film, having previously only worked as a screenwriter on movies like "Die Hard" and "48 Hours." Capcom also proved difficult to work with, making changes and demands throughout the process. For example, after de Souza used a sizable chunk of the budget on Van Damme and Julia, he had five more fighters to cast for the movie. While struggling to secure more actors at a reasonable price, Capcom demanded two more fighters be added to the movie, further straining the budget.

One of the other massive issues involved the stunt coordinator Charlie Picerni, who had told de Souza he would need tons of prep time to properly rehearse the action scenes. Performing the moves from the game would require wirework, which could be dangerous without practice. However, Picerni ultimately met many of the actors when filming started and due to Julia's illness, some of the action scenes were moved up. While video game adaptations being bad is nothing new, "Street Fighter" faced particularly adverse conditions.