Mehcad Brooks has revealed how he helped develop his role as Jax Briggs in Mortal Kombat.
"The preparation for Jax is mind, body and spirit," Brooks said in an interview with The Root. He discussed the physical training regiment he went through for the role, saying, "I gained 25 pounds...I was in the gym six days a week, sometimes twice a day. I was doing fight choreography, boxing training, army boxing training five days a week, sometimes on set as well. And I was going home after 14-hour days and watching an hour, two hours of footage on Joe Frazier and Mike Tyson. And then also playing the game to make sure that I was moving like Jax, right? Like I want the fans who play the game to go 'Oh that's Jax.'"
Brooks was asked about what he thought made Mortal Kombat and his portrayal of Jax special, and answered that it reflected the diversity that was present in the games. "We've spent the last couple of years engrossed in this human equity consciousness where black lives have begun to matter on a global scale...I didn't know we needed a slogan to say 'Stop Asian Hate' but evidently we do. And then here we have this movie where you have people from all over the world, all different types of nationalities, steeped in diversity, where they're coming together and they're unifying for a larger purpose to save the world."
He compared Mortal Kombat to the original feature from 1995 -- specifically the controversial casting of Lord Raiden. "Not to take anything away from them, but the Japanese thunder god in the ‘90s was a guy named Christopher Lambert. He’s not Japanese. He’s a fantastic actor, but what we’ve done in Hollywood for way too long is help America launder its own bigotry." In the new film, Raiden is played by Japanese actor and musician Tadanobu Asano.
"African-Americans can tell a story from a perspective that no one else can," Brooks said. "Being Black in America...it’s a constant state of alchemy. Of transmuting anger into purpose, or pain into passion, or sorrow into fuel. And we were systematically held from having our voices heard and expanded upon and I’m looking forward to those days being over and us telling stories -- truly American stories -- from our own perspective. I think people are really gonna take to those stories."
Brooks was also asked who his favorite MK fighter besides Jax. "The obvious answer is Scorpion because I grew up playing with Scorpion. I actually was Scorpion five Halloweens in a row, to the point where my older brother made fun of me." When asked to see pictures, Brooks jokingly answered "No, those have been lost in a fire."
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 is now in theaters and available to stream on HBO Max.
Source: The Root