Simon McQuoid Explains Leaving the Tournament for Mortal Kombat 2

Warner Bros. Pictures provided ComingSoon.net with the chance to chat with the director of the highly-anticipated Mortal Kombat movie! We took the opportunity to ask Simon McQuoid -who makes his feature debut- about whether the big tournament teased in this movie will make its way into Mortal Kombat 2 or beyond.

Check out his answer in the player below!

“The tournament is both an opportunity and also a constriction in some ways,” McQuoid explained to us. “There’s something about the idea of a tournament film… We knew it was a key ingredient into Mortal Kombat, obviously, but it really starts to inform and build your film construct, heavily, that it was too powerful an ingredient for the story structure… We could go there, potentially. It’s part of the Mortal Kombat DNA so it’s worth considering, but I don’t really know. The games have sort of moved away from that anyway. It’s better expanding than constricting.”

The diverse international cast of Mortal Kombat includes Joe Taslim as Sub Zero; Ludi Lin as Liu Kang; Jessica McNamee as Sonya Blade; Josh Lawson as Kano; Tadanobu Asano as Raiden; Mehcad Brooks as Jackson “Jax” Bridges; Chin Han as Shang Tsung; Hiroyuki Sanada as Scorpion; Max Huang as Kung Lao; Sisi Stringer as Mileena and Lewis Tan as the leading character Cole Young.

Pick up copy of the 1995 version!

Inspired by Midway Games’ best-selling video game that was based on the original idea by Ed Boon and John Tobias, the film centers around MMA fighter Cole Young, accustomed to taking a beating for money, is unaware of his heritage—or why Outworld’s Emperor Shang Tsung has sent his best warrior, Sub-Zero, an otherworldly Cryomancer, to hunt Cole down. Fearing for his family’s safety, Cole goes in search of Sonya Blade at the direction of Jax, a Special Forces Major who bears the same strange dragon marking Cole was born with. Soon, he finds himself at the temple of Lord Raiden, an Elder God and the protector of Earthrealm, who grants sanctuary to those who bear the mark. Here, Cole trains with experienced warriors Liu Kang, Kung Lao and rogue mercenary Kano, as he prepares to stand with Earth’s greatest champions against the enemies of Outworld in a high stakes battle for the universe. But will Cole be pushed hard enough to unlock his arcana—the immense power from within his soul—in time to save not only his family, but to stop Outworld once and for all?

Directed by Simon McQuoid from a screenplay written by Greg Russo and Dave Callaham, the film is produced by James Wan (The Conjuring universe) and Todd Garner (Into the Storm, Tag) with Larry Kasanoff, E. Bennett Walsh, Michael Clear and Jeremy Stein serving as executive producers. The creative team is also comprised of director of photography Germain McMicking (True Detective, Top of the Lake: China Girl), production designer Naaman Marshall (Underwater, Servant), editor Scott Gray (Top of the Lake, Daffodils), and costume designer Cappi Ireland (Lion, The Rover).