Of all the rivalries in the new Mortal Kombat film, none are perhaps quite as contemptuous as the dynamic between Sonya Blade and Kano. Portrayed by Jessica McNamee and Josh Lawson, the duo is forced to work together as the tournament between Earthrealm and Outworld looms and the battle lines form. The special forces officer and ruthless criminal may be the planet's last, best hope to save them from otherworldly conquerors but, while they share a mutual goal, the two find themselves at odds and poised to erupt into full-on violence.

In an exclusive interview with CBR, Lawson and McNamee discuss approaching the fan-favorite fighting game characters and their own on-screen rapport as the characters spend a lot of time together in face of overwhelming odds.

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You're working with nearly 30 years of backstory for your characters. What was something you wanted to retain and what was something you wanted to make your own?

Jessica McNamee: For me, it was just her badassery. I just wanted to be able to hold my own in a room of such strong characters. Something I really wanted to bring to the character was a shared sense of humor, a lightness, and I think you get to see glimpses of that, particularly in the scenes where Sonya and Kano are together. I thought it would be really fun to play with that dynamic as much as I could.

Josh Lawson: Yeah! Obviously, Kano is an iconic character in the game and he's notoriously a dick and a bastard. [Laughs] He's greedy and he's a bit of a cheat and a dirty dog; I can go on and on. I wanted to protect all that stuff but, once we got on set, I was able to play around a little bit. He inevitably becomes whatever I bring to it, for better or worse, so I guess it is my interpretation of him at the end of the day, but it's definitely influenced by everything I know about him from the game.

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Both of your characters come in right around the same time and I feel like you play off each other more than any other character in the film. How was it developing that rapport as scene partners, especially as your dynamic becomes more physical?

McNamee: Josh and I knew each other before we started working on this movie; I think we were two of the only ones that did know each other. So we already had a natural rapport with one another: We're both Australian, we have a similar sense of humor, so that all really helped to get comfortable when we were shooting these scenes. And there is a certain amount of trust you have to have in a scene partner when there's that much violence involved, really. I remember feeling quite overwhelmed in our fight when I'm getting choked out and I was like "Thank god, it's Josh, who's a friend of mine, that's doing this!" [Laughs] I trust him and know he's not actually trying to choke me, that helped.

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Lawson: Yeah, and the more we got to do with each other, the easier that got because the rapport just naturally grows and develops on-set. I agree, it's one of the more satisfying evolutions of a relationship in the film because they have a history before you even meet them and there's a clear dynamic between them, and it grows and develops and there's a few twists and turns, and, ultimately, it erupts in a pretty dynamic fashion.

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 23.

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