Courtesy Mark Rogers

As Kitao Sakurai approached his high school senior exams, he had a tough choice to make.

After starting as a child actor, appearing opposite Gina Gershon in Best of the Best 3: No Turning Back and Kevin Smith’s Dogma, Sakurai had become infatuated with filmmaking. He was a regular at the Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque, attended Spike and Mike’s Festival of Animation every year, and even shot his debut short film Coda at his high school. 

“Because I had those experiences, I knew what I wanted to do from middle school,” Sakurai says.

So when a retrospective of Robert Altman films was scheduled for the same weeks as his exams at University School, Sakurai prioritized seeing the likes of Three Women, Nashville and The Long Goodbye over studying.

It’s safe to say Sakurai made the right choice. He went on to direct episodes of The Eric Andre Show, Dave and Beef, as well as the feature films Bad Trip and now Street Fighter, the blockbuster adaptation of the beloved video game series set for release in theaters on Oct. 16.

While Street Fighter might seem very different from the anarchic comedies he’s previously made, Sakurai insists the action comedy uses all of the filmmaking skills he’s acquired throughout his career.