The latest "Street Fighter" film is out, and while the video game adaptation had a decent opening that has put a dent in it's reported $82 million budget, fans and critics seem to be divided on its quality. Prior to the movie's release, RomanReigns expressed just how much work he put into bringing Akuma to life onscreen.During an interview with Sam Robert's "Notsam" radio show, Reigns explained that his character only makes an impact during the third act of the film, and as such, he treated it like competing in the main event of a WWE show. "I just try to keep that type of weight on it, you know what I mean? ... The stakes are as high as can be, so you need to be able to come in and match what everybody's done," the TribalChief explained.While he found his feet on set, Reigns is still well aware that he's not a full-time professional actor, and admitted that it wasn't exactly easy for him to step into Akuma's shoes. "It really helped me to be able to see what [my castmates] had done and the way they had led the film, and it kind of set the tone for what needed to be matched," he admitted. "It wasn't easy, but there were a bunch of things that I was able to rely on from wrestling to kind of help me to take this on."Reigns also explained that working in front of an audience was definitely something that helped him portray Akuma. Still,while there might be similarities between his "Street Fighter" character and the TribalChief,he considers character work as "a dial" which he can tune, allowing him to adjust the amount of influence he draws from his WWE persona.If you use any quotes from this article, please credit the "notsam" podcast and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
