Producer James Wan and Director Simon McQuoid talks about the diverse international cast of “Mortal Kombat”
From New Line Cinema comes the explosive new movie “Mortal Kombat,” bringing to life the intense action of the blockbuster video game franchise in all its brutal glory, pitting the all-time, fan-favorite champions against one another in the ultimate, no-holds-barred, gory battle that pushes them to their very limits. The film is helmed by award-winning Australian commercial filmmaker Simon McQuoid, marking his feature directorial debut, and produced by James Wan, Todd Garner, McQuoid and E. Bennett Walsh.
The diverse international cast of “Mortal Kombat” reflects the global nature of the brand with talent spanning the worlds of film, television and martial arts. Every actor in the film was cast not only for their talent, but also because they accurately represent their character as the fans know and love them. Talking about the international ensemble, director McQuoid says, “With this film we are elevating these much-loved characters onto a platform that is even more massive than in the games, so we respected every character as best we could in order to bring them to the big screen in a way that feels authentic.”
Adding further, Producer James Wan (who previously directed The Conjuring) says, “In the world we’re living in today, representation is extremely important. When you have a film like this, there’s nothing better than embracing the way the characters were designed and casting talent from around the world.”
The ensemble includes Lewis Tan as Cole Young; Jessica McNamee as Sonya Blade; Josh Lawson as Kano; Tadanobu Asano as Lord Raiden; Mehcad Brooks as Jax; Ludi Lin as Liu Kang; with Chin Han as Shang Tsung; Joe Taslim as Bi-Han and Sub-Zero; and Hiroyuki Sanada as Hanzo Hasashi and Scorpion. Also featured are Max Huang as Kung Lao and Sisi Stringer as Mileena.
Directed by Simon McQuoid, Mortal Kombat is set to release in India on April 23 by Warner Bros. Pictures in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu languages
