Actress Kristen Kreuk is upfront about not being a gamer.
"I've only played 'Street Fighter' once," she tells The Japan Times while visiting Tokyo to promote the movie "Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li."
"Growing up, I did watch my friends play it."
Chun-Li is one of the characters who populate Capcom's "Street Fighter" and one of the most iconic female video-game characters of all time. As a character whose huge thighs have captivated adolescents for decades, it's not only the background story for the game version of Chun-Li (she's an Interpol cop) and the movie one (she's not) that are different.
"Chun-Li is ridiculous looking. There's no way I could ever build my body to that point," says Kreuk. "I thought if we were doing something realistic, then it wouldn't be an issue. But for fans, it is an issue, because that's how they see their character."
To get the fight choreography down pat, Kreuk, a former gymnast, spent five weeks training on location in Bangkok.
"I've really come to appreciate action movies," she says. "The choreography is beautiful."
That doesn't mean she's ready to hit the mean street and kick butt. "If I met someone (dangerous) on the street," says Kreuk, "I would be clueless."
But did "The Legend of Chun-Li" make Kreuk want to play more video games? "No," she says. "Not really."
