Mortal Kombat is getting a new cinematic reboot in April. with filmmaker Simon McQuoid marking his feature directorial debut. However, he wasn't initially a fan of the video game series.
In a roundtable interview attended by CBR, McQuoid said he was intrigued by the possibility of delving into the complex characters and the brutally authentic nature of the fights in Mortal Kombat.
"Really what connected me to doing this wasn't because I was Mortal Kombat fan -- I wouldn't consider myself that -- what I love doing is being able to bring a sort of authenticity, honesty and a rich layer of complexity to characters like this," McQuoid admitted. "To be able to bring characters in this world and sit them in this authentic unreal, yet real feeling, to see the fundamental ingredients in the DNA of Mortal Kombat and the violence of it -- I'm not a particularly violent person, I'm a lover not a fighter -- but what that important part of the DNA is it allowed us to be really authentic with the fights so you could believe them more. We certainly embrace and take the fatalities and do them justice but throughout it, what it mean, we didn't have to hold back."
McQuoid worked tirelessly with the production's numerous departments to ensure fidelity to the original source material as much as he could while also slightly redesigning certain elements to better suit the film's story. With rival ninja clans at the heart of the film's story, McQuoid found thematic inspiration in the franchise's use of blood in more than just its signature violence.
"When I dug deeper, deeper and deeper, the thing that this is about is it comes from blood and what blood means. It's about bloodlines and blood means our connection and family...it just also happens to mean blood spraying everywhere which fits right in with Mortal Kombat," McQuoid continued. "I just wanted to take that idea and add a few facets to it to bring that out and have that mean a bit more and that what the story is really about aside from the discovery of all the Mortal Kombat lore."
Directed by Simon McQuoid and produced by James Wan, Mortal Kombat stars Lewis Tan as Cole Young, Jessica McNamee as Sonya Blade, Josh Lawson as Kano, Tadanobu Asano as Lord Raiden, Mehcad Brooks as Jackson "Jax" Bridges, Ludi Lin as Liu Kang, Chin Han as Shang Tsung, Joe Taslim as Bi-Han and Sub-Zero, Hiroyuki Sanada as Hanzo Hasashi and Scorpion, Max Huang as Kung Lao, Sisi Stringer as Mileena, Matilda Kimber as Emily Young and Laura Brent as Allison Young. The film arrives in theaters and on HBO Max April 16.