Exclusive Interview: Orville Peck makes his movie acting debut in Street Fighter “queer people are drawn to video games – it’s an escape for us”

With Street Fighter opening in US theaters this Friday, October 16th, award-winning musician Orville Peck speaks exclusively with The Queer Review’s editor James Kleinmann about making his feature film acting debut as Vega, representing gaymers with the role, the significance of gaming to queer people, and putting his latest deeply personal album, Muse, out into the world.

Set in 1993, estranged Street Fighters Ryu (Andrew Koji) and Ken Masters (Noah Centineo) are thrown back into combat when the mysterious Chun-Li (Callina Liang) recruits them for the next World Warrior Tournament: a brutal clash of fists, fate, and fury. But behind this battle royale lies a deadly conspiracy that forces them to face off against each other and the demons of their past. And if they don’t, it’s GAME OVER!

Helmed by director Kitao Sakurai, Street Fighter is set to bring the battle from the arcade to the big screen with Hadoukens, roundhouses, and all your favorite characters including Oriville Peck as Vega, Joe “Roman Reigns” Anoai as Akuma, David Dastmalchian as M. Bison, Cody Rhodes as Guile, Andrew Schulz as Dan Hibiki, Eric André as Don Sauvage, Vidyut Jammwal as Dhalsim, Olivier Richters as Zangief, Hirooki Goto as E. Honda, Rayna Vallandingham as Juli, Alexander Volkanovski as Joe, Curtis ‘50 Cent’ Jackson as Balrog, and Jason Momoa as Blanka.

Watch the full Orville Peck Street Fighter interview here:

Street Fighter is in theaters this Friday, October 16th, 2026.