What was it like jumping into Ken?

Amazing.

The character Ken is just so ridiculous and wild and funny and kind of pick me and just nuts, dude.

So I had a great time.

Do you miss your blonde hair? Do you miss the extensions?

I miss filming the movie and spending time with everybody and doing that.

I don't necessarily miss the locks, though.

I had K-tip extensions, though.

... what, what was that element like, you know, as far as like making sure that it was completely relatable and parallel to the game?

So we worked with a man named John Valera.

He was our stunt coordinator.

Um, his team and him meticulously researched the fighting styles of these characters so that when they're composing these fights, they're not just throwing kicks or throws or punches.

They're, they're, each character's fighting in their unique fighting style from the video game.

Yeah.

Which makes it way, way more interesting.

It pulls you in.

Here it comes

... met David, or we were having dinner, something like that, guys.

But, uh, I was like, "So what were you doing to like prep for it?" You know, I'm a big fan of David.

So I was like, "What are you doing to prep for it?" And, uh, he comes to me, he's like, "Dude, I've just been watching a lot of bison videos." And I was like, "Oh, cool.

Like M. Bison the character?" He goes, "No, the animal."

Guile is, uh

uhHe's a, a charge character, you know? I don't know if, if anyone, maybe that's too deep of a cut for the game itself, but when you played the game back in the day, you had to hold the button down a good old three seconds before you pop that flash kick off.

So I am not a charge character in real life, and, uh, Cody Rhodes is a lot more limber, moving around.

Yeah, you, you brought

... you're, you're, you're next level, dude.

You're top tier.

It was so impressive.

And, and honestly, I feel like I, I learned from you.

I, like, you, your ability to just constantly give one-liner after one-liner, new ideas, and rethink a scene, and change the way you're doing it, and take direction.

You know, I've, I've been very fortunate to work on hundreds of episodes of television-

Yeah, you, you absolutely, dude.

So many.

Yeah.

So many.

What, what, what comes to mind for you guys? My, my dad showed me The Matrix when I was eight.

Mm-hmm.

And I mean, from, from the, the level of water that Mor- Morpheus is breaking out- [laughs] Yes ... breaking the chains, running, to the, the shot of the bullet shells falling onto the camera from below- Mm-hmm ...

the helicopter to, of course, him dodging bullets, um, to how did they get the bullets moving in slow motion? Even Matrix 2 when, when, uh, or not Matrix 2, when he, at the end of the first Matrix, when he just holds his hand up and you, it's, everything stops.

She did Matrix

Well, what are some of the options that come your way that makes you choose Street Fighter? Because I'm imagining when you say, "Do whatever I want," and then walk it back, that your options expanded so much that you could be saying no to a bunch of different stuff, but are choosing this one for a particular reason.

Definitely.

I mean, when, when I said, you know, I could do anything I wanted, what I more so meant was there, yes, I'd have op- I, I had people coming to me with roles that I didn't need to audition for, you know, which is a really big moment in an actor's life.

I've audi- I had to audition thousands of times from 8 until, you know, when To All The Boys came out when I was 21, 22.

So that was a really big moment.

Suddenly now I'm not needing to just prove myself every month.

There w- there's, you have a little bit of comfort, comfortability, right? A little bit of financial security to not just say yes to anything that comes.

Uh, Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns, did you get to spend some time with them? I'm a big pro wrestling fan.

Yes

... and wild and funny and kind of pick me and just nuts, dude, so I had a great time.

[laughs]

... and doing that.

I don't necessarily miss the locks, though.

I had K-tip extensions, but.

Oh

yeah, yeah.

It's interesting, you guys wake up before God, and then by the time you get to like a normal lunch time, you just have to fall asleep.

You take like an Australian siesta, and then you wake back up in time for dinner.

Well, you know what? Sometimes I

wake up.

Actually, when I'm home, I wake up when the sun rises.

I have a window, and the sun gets me right in the eye as soon as it comes over the mountains in the distance here in beautiful, sunny California.

Mm.

Um, like, like Adam said, you have to know exactly what it is that you're, you're gonna prioritize in the day.

Um, I love, at least with Union County, uh, the, there was not...

Sometimes on a larger set, there's a lot of pretending that needs to happen, or there's blue screens for CGI, or there's huge camera equipment and lights in your face, and all these different factors that kind of pull you away from-

Yeah.

Um, you know, coming, coming to, you know, Bellefontaine with, with, you know, nowhere near the same experience, um, as any of the part- participants, um, but having my own experience with it certainly helped, um, I think have a little bit of, of empathy.

How was the regime getting into shape for this?

Yeah, it was great.

Like you said, for Black Adam, in the past I'd worked with trainers before and people that kind of helped me with my nutrition.

And so I felt pretty primed and capable on this one to do it myself.

And we had 12 weeks of prep before we started the movie.

Yeah.

Yeah, you've got incredible coastal towns.

Your saunas and cold plunges, phenomenal.

So people like me who grew up playing this game with their brothers wanted to, right? Yeah.

Hell yeah.

Oh, man, that means the world to hear that.

We did.

We totally did.

So the fact that you received that from the trailer and that other people have as well, it's really sick.

I'm happy to hear that.

You are.

Yeah.

But no, I, I think that's perceptive and correct, Matthew.

I th- more than anything, what it was was, uh, it, having the time.

As Will said, the community was very generous with their lived experience and in their time.

We were able to be in Bellefontaine two weeks before we ever said, "Action." We were also there seven months prior to sit in on some court hearings and, and to meet some folks.

Um, and so we had ample, ample time and opportunity to rehearse, so to speak, or rather develop our characters, their dynamics, their stories, um, their tics, you know, like, who they were, um, with the community.

The community was so generous but vulnerable and, and willing to...

And this has a similar feeling, I imagine, where there is now, like, this very special, unique bond that has to have been formed between the two of you having gone through these experiences.

[laughs]

I mean, we were like California girls, Oh, oh my God [laughs].

I'm, I know this is one of those, like, I'm sure, like, warfare that's gonna, like, stick with you for a long time.

Yeah.

Thanks, dude.

Yeah, it, landing the plane, coming back around, speaking of Union County, like, I think oftentimes in the world today, you look at the world and you look at yourself and you try to, you kinda, at least for me, I struggled, as I get older, to, to feel like, um, there are solutions to some of our problems.

And, uh, Adam Meeks has opened my eyes, uh, through this film, uh, in a way that I, I now know, yeah, there are solutions and they exist and they're out there, and they need to be supported and they need to be amplified.

Um, you know, Union County is one example of 4,000 different programs, um, that all span from, you know, child protective services to domestic violence to substance abuse and, and, and they're there to support their communities.

What does that do when you're able to fully immerse yourself in experiences like that? How does that inform

your portrayal of a character? think we were very fortunate adam meeks the the writer and director of the film provided um for him it was very important that we did actually get to sit and meet the participants in bed with the community and even when it came to developing the characters um we really got to extract as much information as we could or they were gracious with their lived experience so that we could start to put together our characters with them as well and that i don't know it kind of took a bit of the pressure off we're not fabricating

Have you gotten feedback from them, from folks who've actually seen the film? What have they said?

You've actually had the opportunity to tour it around Ohio.

Yeah,

Mm.

And I would say that after spending the hours that we did speaking with them, and then to go and try to embody characters that are representations of them, m- like, uh, Will said earlier, amalgamations of them, you know, w- what you can l- what I try to learn from it is if they can sit in a room with two strangers because of the trust that Adam's built with them and share their lives and their emotions with us and vultur- and their vulnerabilities with us, hopefully we can do the same thing for them-

Mm.

Um, like, like Adam said, you have to know exactly what it is that you're, you're gonna prioritize in the day.

Um, I love, at least with Union County, uh, the, there was not...

Sometimes on a larger set, there's a lot of pretending that needs to happen, or there's blue screens for CGI, or there's huge camera equipment and lights in your face and all these different factors that kind of pull you away from-