Chun Li actor makes Street Fighter fans eat their words with incredible thigh transformation

Callina Liang has let her legs do the talking when it comes to criticism over her Street Fighter casting.

The actor is taking on the iconic role of Chun-Li in the newest adaptation of the gaming series, which hits cinemas this weekend, and anyone familiar with the games will know that the character has some seriously jacked thighs.

Which meant that Liang had to put in some serious hours at the gym to prepare.

The 26-year-old has now spoken about the gruelling process of transforming into Chun-Li, revealing that she was aware of critical fan comments after her casting was announced.

"When I got cast in this role, I remember that there was this Reddit post saying that my thighs were nowhere near as big as Chun-Li," the Tell Me Everything actor said in a recent interview with IGN.

Which isn't something that should've come as too much of a surprise to Street Fighter fans, given that Chun-Li is a fictional character with exaggerated leg muscles.

However, Liang wasn't fazed by the critical internet comments, going on to add that she was committed to pulling off the most accurate portrayal of Chun-Li possible.

"As a huge fan myself, I would want whoever plays Chun-Li to be what I envisioned her to be like in my head," she added to Project Big Screen. "I was just like, 'Have zero regrets, try your best and then some,' and then whatever result I ended up with, I know I gave it my all."

Inside Callina Liang's insane Street Fighter transformation

Despite having just two months to prepare, Liang decided to throw everything she had at transforming herself into Chun-Li, growing her thighs a whopping 6.5cm before cameras started rolling.

"Chun-Li is all kicks," she previously told Empire Magazine, explaining that her training regimen involved two hours of Taekwondo, Muay Thai, and Wushu a day.

When she wasn't hitting the gym, Liang was loading up on protein, eating as many as 12 eggs a day in order to hit her 4,000-calorie-a-day target.

"Every two hours I had to have a meal, and I was on the verge of throwing up," she added. "But it worked."

Liang's dedication to getting into character was something which didn't go unnoticed by Street Fighter viewers either, with fans praising her muscle-building efforts on a recent Reddit thread.

"I was sceptical, as I am with all adaptations, until I heard about the work she put in to get her legs right for the character," one fan commented, while a second added: "She worked damn hard to get those legs. Respect."

Liang isn't the only actor who looks unrecognisable in the film either, with Jason Momoa and 50 Cent also undergoing pretty wild transformations into Blanka and Balrog, respectively.

While the transformations for the film are no doubt impressive, reviews have so far been mixed, with Street Fighter currently sitting at just 45 percent on Rotten Tomatoes for critic reviews.

In a review for Variety, one critic says the film 'nosedives into nonsense', while The Times brands the fight scenes as 'bafflingly dull'.

However, it does appear that fans have been more receptive to the film, giving it an overall rating of 82 percent on the review aggregator site.