Callina Liang admitted that she felt a ton of pressure after she saw fans’ reactions to the news of her getting cast as Chun-Li in the Street Fighter movie, specifically mentioning a thread she saw on Reddit.
Yes, celebrities actually read what you say about them on the internet. Speaking with Project Big Screen, Liang revealed what went through her mind after she saw what fans were saying about her on Reddit when Deadline broke the news that she got cast as Chun-Li. And surprisingly, she has a lot more in common with the fighting game community than you might think.
“There was this Reddit thread: ‘Callina Liang’s thighs are nowhere as big as Chun-Li’s,’” she laughed. “But like, absolutely. When I look at it, as a huge fan myself, I would want whoever plays Chun-Li to be what I envision her to be in my head, and what you see of her in the video games and in the anime. She looks insane. Her body is insane.”
But Liang knew her limits. With just two months to prepare for the role, she didn’t have much time to grow her thighs as big as the First Lady of Fighting Games — but she was determined to do her best with the time she had, while making sure to be realistic about her goals.
“I did feel a lot of pressure. I was like, ‘Right, I gotta get my s**t together.’ My motto the whole time was just, ‘No regrets. Give it your all. It doesn’t matter how big you can physically get.’ You know, I only had two months. I had to be realistic with myself. I had to be a functioning human being who could act on screen at the end of the day. If I went full-throttle with building my body a certain way, I probably wouldn’t be able to function normally.
“I was just like, 'Have zero regrets, try your best and some, and whatever result you end up with, you can say, at least I gave it my all.' That’s what I did, and I think I'm happy.”
Photos taken from set prove that Liang’s efforts paid off. In fact, the actress revealed that she ate a dozen eggs every single day, as well as a meal every two hours, in order to meet her calorie goals and grow her muscles — to the point where she almost threw up. It worked, though, as she was able to grow her thighs 6.5 centimeters each. Even her stunt double couldn't keep up, who had to wear butt pads in order to realistically sell the idea that she and Liang were the same person in the film.
"Chun-Li is all kicks. So we did a bunch of Taekwondo training, Muay Thai, and Wushu (Kung Fu). I did two hours of that a day and strengthened my legs a lot and changed my diet drastically. When I was bulking, I ate 12 eggs a day. Every two hours I had to have a meal, and I was on the verge of throwing up. But it worked. By the end of the shoot, my thighs had grown six-and-a-half centimeters each,” she said in an August interview with Empire Magazine.
You can catch Liang’s martial arts skills firsthand in the Street Fighter movie, which releases in theaters this Friday, October 16.