Cody Rhodes walked into Street Fighter with a smaller role as Guile, but that didn’t last long. Andrew Schulz says Rhodes impressed the people making the movie so much that they started adding scenes, kept him around for an extra week and essentially doubled his time in the film.
During Rhodes’ appearance on Flagrant, Schulz was asked how the WWE star handled his first major movie role, and he didn’t bother giving the usual Hollywood-friendly answer. He said Rhodes genuinely surprised people once cameras started rolling.
“Listen, we’re going to do this like typical thing that like we always see with people in movies where it’s like you talk about the experience and like glaze the experience, but like you were f**ing—I think you blew people away.”*
Schulz knew Rhodes had plenty of charisma going into the movie, but acting was still the unknown. He recalled being asked what he thought about Cody playing Guile and said he was already sold on Rhodes as a performer even though he had never actually seen him act.
“When I told him, I was like, ‘I think he’s a f**ing stud and he’s like amazing,’ but I never seen you act.”*
That question apparently got answered pretty fast once Rhodes hit the set. Schulz said Cody came prepared, understood the material and then started playing with scenes instead of simply clinging to whatever was written on the page.
“You were well prepared. It always comes through. You had ideas, too. But what happened very quickly is you just started playing, and there’s like a run where you’re just kind of peppering things.”
Rhodes explained that he approached Guile seriously, digging into the character’s military background and trying to find a believable reason behind even the most exaggerated parts of the Street Fighter character.
“Preparation was all traditional. Let me look into the military and, you know, from ’80 to ’94. Let me look at all this. Let me find a realistic—why is the hair like this?”
Schulz said that work showed up on camera because Rhodes wasn’t simply wearing the Guile costume and repeating lines. He felt Cody knew the character as deeply as anyone he had worked with, and said Rhodes would even casually slip into Guile while hanging around the set.
“I thought that you knew your character, and I don’t want to compare with anybody, but I thought you knew that character as well as I’ve ever seen anybody that I’ve acted with know their character. To the point where you would just kind of be in set with the hair. Whenever you had the hair on, you were kind of in character. Like we could also talk s** about wrestling, our family or whatever, but like you might just mutter s*** in character and then it would work and then it would be in the movie.”*
That’s when Schulz revealed just how much the plan changed. He said Rhodes’ screen time basically doubled after he arrived, and Cody confirmed that filmmakers started giving him more to do while production was already underway.
“Like, I think with you, I think your time in the movie doubled since you arrived.”
Rhodes confirmed his original part was much smaller and said the movie kept evolving once everyone saw what was working.
“I did. I also think—but they added scenes for him. They popped him in other s**. Like, I was very blessed that it went—I stayed the extra week. It was a smaller role. Yeah. And then the movie was a living, breathing organism, and it was great.”*
Schulz then spelled out why Cody suddenly started popping up in more of the movie.
“Let me brag for you. You killed it. And they were like, ‘How do we put him in more things?’”
Rhodes said director Kitao Sakurai and the production team were willing to change things in real time whenever they found chemistry that worked. Instead of leaving those moments alone, they started building more scenes around them.
“They saw stuff that was working and then in real time they were like, ‘Okay, how do we build more of these moments? What can we do that extend? Oh, this relationship dynamic is fun. Let’s milk it. Let’s stretch that out. Let’s put it in other places.’”
The whole experience turned into a much bigger deal for Rhodes than he expected. He admitted Street Fighter was originally a gamble for the filmmakers, with his role starting as little more than a few scenes and lines before growing during production.
“They took a big gamble on me. And he said, ‘This is small scenes, couple lines, pass by these guys, go down the elevator,’ and the next thing you know, it’s just growing and it’s becoming this thing.”
Rhodes has already explained how he landed the role of Guile in Street Fighter, but this makes it clear he didn’t simply get the part and coast. Cody showed up with a smaller role, impressed the people making the movie and left with filmmakers actively looking for excuses to put him in more scenes.
That’s about as good as a first major Hollywood experience gets. Rhodes went into Street Fighter trying to prove he could play Guile, and by the time production wrapped, the people behind the movie had already decided they wanted a whole lot more of him.
What do you think about Cody Rhodes’ Street Fighter role doubling after filmmakers saw him perform as Guile? Do you think Hollywood will come calling with even bigger roles after this? Let us know what you think in the comments.
This transcript was produced exclusively for Ringside News from the original recording. Republishing the transcription in full is prohibited. When using excerpts, provide prominent credit and a link to this article.
