Andrew Schulz cast as Hong Kong-born Dan Hibiki in live-action ‘Street Fighter’

American comedian and podcaster Andrew Schulz has been tapped to play Hong Kong–born martial artist Dan Hibiki in Legendary Entertainment’s upcoming live-action “Street Fighter” movie. First introduced in Capcom’s 1995 fighter “Street Fighter Alpha,” Dan is canonically born in Hong Kong to Japanese parents and is known for his overconfident attitude and intentionally weak Saikyo-ryu style.

The outspoken New Yorker, who is of Scottish, German and Irish descent, is cast alongside an ensemble that already includes Andrew Koji as Ryu, Noah Centineo as Ken, Jason Momoa as Blanka, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson as Balrog, Callina Liang as Chun-Li and Roman Reigns, a Samoan wrestler, as Akuma.

A Reddit thread criticizing Schulz’s casting quickly gained traction, with the original poster writing, “Well… Asian whitewashing is happening yet again…” The user continued, “We know Dan is Asian, is it too much to ask for an Asian guy to play him in a live action movie? Live action is not like video games and cartoons, the audience is gonna expect the Asian guy to actually look like an Asian.”

In a separate thread, another user wrote, “Dan is of Asian descent. Therefore, it makes no sense to cast a white guy for the role, especially after the backlash Hollywood had for casting white actors in Asian roles during the past decade.” A reply in that discussion added, “They’re casting Roman Reigns, a Samoan, to play the Japanese man Akuma. I don’t think they give a fuck.”

Production is slated to start in Australia in August although the studio has not set a release date.