"The Boys" star Karl Urban was the perfect fit to portray Johnny Cage, a popular video game character who finally makes his appearance in the upcoming "Mortal Kombat II", says director Simon McQuoid.
The filmmaker said there were many names that were considered for the part before they zeroed in on the New Zealand-born star, who has played important roles in franchises such as "The Lord of the Rings", Marvel Cinematic Universe, Star Trek and "The Boys".
McQuoid said the character needed someone who could make fans laugh with his absurdity and also embody the truth of the character.
"Well, there were various people thrown out. Karl was one of them... The thing about Johnny Cage is that Johnny is a very broad character in the games. What was really important to me and all of us, the studio as well, was to get someone who understood how to handle that. To be able to deliver a performance that's true to Johnny Cage but do it in such a way that it never got overly broad," the director told PTI in a virtual interview.
McQuoid made his directorial debut with the first part in 2021, which became popular among the fans and helped the team secure a deal for the second part. The movies are based on the popular video game, created by Ed Boon and John Tobias in the 90s.
The video games are about an ancient inter-dimensional martial arts tournament where Earth's champions must prevent the evil realm of Outworld from conquering humanity.
Johnny Cage, whose real name is Jonathan Carlton, is a narcissistic Hollywood action star and one of the original seven characters in the Mortal Kombat franchise and among the original seven fighters. He initially joins the combat to prove to himself that he can truly fight in real life and not just in movies. His introduction was teased in the 2021 movie According to McQuoid, Urban can handle comedy "really, really well" and also the dramatic beats of the character.
"He understands the context, where it's coming from, what his character is and he put a truth inside this rendition of Johnny... There weren't many people who we felt could handle such a thing. I would say Karl was on the top of that list. Thankfully, we got him. And he delivered an amazing performance," he said.
Making a movie adaptation on a popular game that has existed for over 30 years comes with a baggage of fan expectations. McQuoid said they respect fans' opinions, but they also wanted them to go on a journey with the characters.
"We certainly listened in a sense, but I don't think there was anything there that was different to what we all felt we needed to do. Thankfully, what we were wanting to do and where we wanted it to grow was hand in hand to what fans were hoping for. I tend not to read too much.
"As it happens that there's a built-in fan base that we'd be dumb not to listen to. So I don't really ever feel any pressure. It's more like just being respectful to the fans and what they care about, and listening and thinking about how to bring that to a cinematic scale." McQuoid said though they shot the first film before Covid, they did the post-production right in the middle of the pandemic and had an actors' strike during the second film.
"I'm hoping my third film will be a bit easier. But I learned an enormous amount from the first film. And my hope and what I really endeavoured to do was to apply everything I learned. Now, I know what to worry about and where to take the next film... And I think it's bigger and more epic as a result. And I'm pleased about that." "Mortal Kombat II" also stars Jessica McNamee, Josh Lawson, Ludi Lin, Mehcad Brooks, Lewis Tan, Damon Herriman, Chin Han, Tadanobu Asano, Joe Taslim, Hiroyuki Sanada, Adeline Rudolph and Tati Gabrielle.
Warner Bros India will release the film in the country on Friday in four languages -- English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.
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