Fatality! If there’s one universal truth about the Mortal Kombat franchise, it's that there will always be one victor and another really beaten up loser. The popular video game that has remained popular since the ‘90s is infamous for including ruthless combat such as decapitations and disembowelments. And according to one star of the upcoming James Wan-produced live action remake, the movie isn’t holding back. Here’s what Lewis Tan teased:
Let me just say this, there were some days on set that I felt sick. I'm not kidding. They did not... They did not hold back.
Lewis Tan, who's also the star of Netflix’s Wu Assassins, wrapped filming Mortal Kombat late last year with the rest of the cast, but it sounds like he won't be forgetting all the gory details anytime soon. Tan told Comicbook.com that the fatalities were sometimes so intense on set that he felt sick. Writer Greg Russo must not have been exaggerating when he boasted game accurate fatalities would be part of the movie last year.
Mortal Kombat will likely implement some CGI, but a lot of practical effects are being implemented into the movie as well. One of the film’s producers, Todd Garner, has previously said on Twitter that the production doesn’t need much CGI because much of the cast are actually badass martial artists. There must have been a lot of fake blood and guts on set to get Tan feeling sick though.
This is an exciting bit of information for fans of the game franchise hoping to see the movie reflect its grueling combat style. The film’s writer, Greg Russo, previously said this about the live-action movie’s violence:
I think there's always a thin line, you know, you don't want to be over the top, right? With your violence and I don't know that that's really going to put people off. I'm not sure that's even necessary. So you want to be truthful, but you also don't want to be so ridiculous and gratuitous that you may turn people off in the wrong way. So I would just say that it's going to be faithful to the games and it's going to earn it's R rating, I guess I'll say that.
It doesn’t sound like the movie will have any problem differentiating itself from the 1995 PG-13-rated cult classic. The movie follows a slew of successful video game adaptations, including Detective Pikachu and Sonic the Hedgehog, while the Tom Holland Uncharted film is also on the way.
Mortal Kombat will be directed by accomplished commercial filmmaker Simon McQuoid and is produced by Conjuring universe and Aquaman director James Wan. The film will include a slew of well-known Mortal Kombat characters, including Jessica McNamee’s Sonya Blade, Hiroyuki Sanada’s Scorpion, Josh Lawson’s Kano, Joe Taslim’s Sub-Zero, Ludi Lin’s Lui Kang and Supergirl’s Mehcad Brooks playing Jax.
Mortal Kombat began filming in fall 2019 and wrapped things up in December, and remains on schedule for its theatrical release on January 15, 2021. Stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for more updates on Mortal Kombat and other upcoming movies.
