At a virtual global press conference, attended by t2, some members of the cast and crew of Mortal Kombat II, including Tati Gabrielle (Jade), Martyn Ford (Shao Kahn), Joe Taslim (Bi-Han/ Noob Saibot), Chin Han (Shang Tsung), writer Jeremy Slater, producer Todd Garner and executive producer James Wan, were at hand to talk about the film that has taken the box office by storm worldwide. Excerpts.

NEW FOCUS

When asked what were the lessons learned from the 2021 film Mortal Kombat that the makers applied to the new film, producer Todd Garner ventured: “We didn’t know much about what we were doing in 2021, it had been so long since a Mortal Kombat movie had been made... as a result, we made some assumptions of how to get into the story that the fans didn’t need ultimately. What is great about Mortal Kombat fans is that they are incredibly vocal. They play the games religiously, they know the canon. They were direct in saying: ‘Hey, this is the stuff we didn’t love about the first movie.’ And so we all met and said that we can either ignore it or we can learn from it and apply it to this film. And that is what we did.”

Writer Jeremy Slater added more insight into what went into creating Mortal Kombat II and on the video game-to-film franchise as a whole. “I was 13 when the original arcade machine came out and we lost every week’s allowance just pumping quarters into that machine! So I tried to write the movie that I think the teenager in me would have walked out of the theatre saying: ‘That was the greatest thing I have ever seen in my life.’ I wanted to make it a love letter to the characters in this world that Ed Boon (the creator of the Mortal Kombat video game) and Netherrealm have created over the last 30 years. In this film, we have tried to take everything that was great about the first movie — the fight choreography, the great casting, the costumes, the grounded reality — and tried to infuse it with a little bit more fun.”

For executive producer James Wan, the “tournament” was a big part of Mortal Kombat II. “We felt like we wanted to push in that direction this time around,” was the word from the man behind superhit franchises like The Conjuring and Saw, among others.

FEMALE FIRST & PHYSICAL LIMITS

Tati Gabrielle joins the new film as warrior Jade, upping the female representation that was missing five years ago. “It was a joy and an honour,” said the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina alum. She added: “People have been used to seeing these characters from more of a male gaze... but in the new film, it has been with such a joy to play them with such strength, such grace... with vulnerability and ferocity. Jade was one of my big inspirations as a kid. I did martial arts growing up and she was one of the only examples I had.”

For the formidable Martyn Ford, playing the iconic Shao Kahn came with challenges, both physical and emotional. “The performance of the stunts while in costume was challenging, and so was the preparation. I often had a 2am call time and before that, the craziness within me compelled me to go and train in the gym because Todd (Garner) told me that under no circumstances was I allowed to slip!”

The 43-year-old bodybuilder-actor added: “It was an incredible experience. To be able to do the fight scenes myself and to look back and smile with pride that I was able to put myself through that regime at my age. Thanks to Mortal Kombat II, I now feel that I am 76!”

REAL TO REEL

Joe Taslim brought a lot of his real-life experience as a martial artist to his role. When asked about the highs of doing that, Taslim said: “I used to be a fighter, and half of my life, I was a judo athlete representing my country, Indonesia. For Mortal Kombat II, I had to prepare like I was training for war... I had to keep pushing. The same ethics apply on screen as they do in real life. When I am on set fighting, I can shoot 12 hours nonstop. To me, it feels like playing... it feels like a kid running in the rain.”

It was then up to Chin Han to talk about his soul-stealing shapeshifter antagonist Shang Tsung. “Shang Tsung is a very interesting character because all the battles are played out in his head. It was very hard to work with a character where all his motivations are unspoken and unknown, and as an actor, you have to navigate it that way. For me, it was more of an acting exercise. In Mortal Kombat II, I didn’t have the carte blanche that I had in the first film to just go rogue! This time around, I needed to move and live in the shadows and still be a significant part of this story. That was the fun part of it,” he signed off.