‘Street Fighter’ Director Kitao Sakurai Built a Career by Embracing the Ridiculous
Kitao Sakurai has turned a taste for the absurd into a filmmaking career, bringing that sensibility from The Eric Andre Show and Bad Trip to Street Fighter, now described as America’s number-one movie. His path illustrates how an unconventional style, built around energy rather than strict narrative logic, has carried him from independent projects into a major franchise.
Sakurai grew up in Cleveland, acted as a teenager in Dogma, then moved to New York at 19 and began as a music-video cinematographer. He and Eric André developed The Eric Andre Show after networks repeatedly rejected it; Adult Swim picked it up in 2010, and it has since produced 60 episodes, specials and an Emmy win. His film Bad Trip, planned for a 2019 cinema release, was delayed by the pandemic and ultimately released on Netflix in 2021.
- Sakurai’s absurdist style now shapes the Street Fighter film.
- He helped create The Eric Andre Show, which has 60 episodes.
- Bad Trip’s cinema release was derailed by the pandemic.
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