With the exciting news yesterday that Mortal Kombat is to be given a film reboot – one of the few instances of a reboot that we’re behind – at the hands of Kevin Tancharoen, casting murmurs quickly began to circulate, especially given that Tancharoen has already directed the Mortal Kombat short films Rebirth and Legacy, which will give him a ripe cast to choose from. Needless to say, it’s encouraging to see that a talented director well-steeped in the material has been chosen; we just hope with a cast like what we’ve suggested, it could be the best video game adaptation to date…
10. Gemma Arterton – Kitana
Gemma Arterton might not be the first name to come to mind when casting a role like this, but Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time proved that a) she can convincingly play people of other races and b) she can totally pull off the action stuff. Arterton has the sex appeal, charm and physical ability to make the role of Kitana work, and though recent roles in the likes of Song for Marion suggest that she’s leaning towards the art-house these days, she’s clearly not averse to the occasional Hollywood blockbuster indulgence.
One has to wonder, however, whether the costumes will be changed a little for the film, given how ridiculously revealing and potentially camp they are; Arterton strutting around in the outfit pictured above would be, um, distracting to say the least, and probably not help reduce the opinion of video games as misogynist male fantasy that many people still think they are. Maybe give her a jacket? Or at least cover her mid-riff?
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10 Comments
I’ll sum up my thoughts about your choices:
10) Kitana in Legacy is honestly allright, I don’t think we need Aterton for the role.
9)I would indeed be awesome to have Momoa as Night Wolf
8)Indeed he was excellent in Legacy
7)On this on I disagree and not just a bit. To me Statham just doesn’t look like Kano at all (not tall enough) plus, once again, Kano in Legacy was fine.
6)I’d love to see Watanabe playing Shang Tsung, in Legacy, he was not threatening at all, he was small, he looked very youg, well it just wasn’t Shang Tsung.
5) I love Raiden in Legacy, he looks like a very brutal person, like he was in the first Mortal Kombat game (He you won the Arcade Mode with him, he wiped out humanity after fighting other gods for years)
4)That’s a yes, nothing to add
3) He was perfect in Legacy, I agree too
2) Not a bad idea, she would make a different although better Sonya than the one in Tancharoen. Sonya is supposed to be sexy and in Legacy she wasn’t. So, here you go, on more yes.
1) And at last, I agree for him too, he could totally do the trick, he could even be awesome as Liu Kang.
And as a sidenote, they coul keep the actors who played Scorpion, Stryker and Shao Kahn in Legacy, they were good (Just don’t gice Shao Kahn a helmet looking like a rubber wig. MK Annhilation, anyone?)
I had a list, back when Rebirth/Legacy first happened, of literally every MK character in the series, yes even Meat. The list was based mostly off of the Rebirth short, and how some of the characters that were a little more outrageous (Baraka, Reptile) would have been portrayed in a grounded, real world setting (Rebirth had Reptile as a normal man with atavism, and Baraka was a cosmetic surgeon who went nuts and grafted blades to his arms and effed his own face up). So I concocted backstories to go with them, and cast who I felt would be perfect. The list was far from finished before my computer crashed, but I’m currently searching for it on back up someplace, if I find it I’ll post my choices in comparison to yours.
As for your list, I am not a fan of Arterton in any way, so I wouldn’t go with her.
Love your choice for Night Wolf. He was one of the characters I believe I hadn’t cast yet, so I think I’d use him as well.
I have nothing against their Cage, but I think Cage is an opportunity for them to get a known actor to really push their film.
Not sold on Statham as Kano. I do think he’s got the look and the action chops, but I just don’t get that “he’d totally work!” feeling.
I actually think I might’ve had Wantanabe as Tsung, but I really don’t remember.
My choice for Raiden was an epic one, but I think I want to save the reveal for when I find that list, but I do like yours.
Park for Reptile is good, in fact it’s pretty great.
MJW is the only choice for Jax. ‘Nuff said.
I loved Jeri Ryan as Sonya. I see no reason to recast her.
As much as I support the Glee stars getting bigger, better gigs post-Glee, I think that Shum is too young for Liu Kang.
I think Shin Koyamada should play Liu Kang not that guy from Glee, Jason Statham as Kano should be left out and the guy from Legacy would play him or other Britsh martial arts actor would play Kano.
Tancharoen should pick Shin for Liu Kang because he has the Liu Kang look and Celina Jade should play Kitana not that bloody Bond girl.
Thank you.
Bruce Acosta
what if…:
- Lord Raiden – Chris Hemsworth
- Kano – Scott Adkins
- Johnny Cage – Cam Gigandet
- Jax – Michael Jay White
- Jet Li – Kung Lao
- Kitana – Gemma Arterton
- Night Wolf – Jason Momoa
- Shang Tsung – Ken Watanabe
- Sonya Blade – Kathryn Winnick
- Liu Kang – Shin Koyamada
I deinately think Jet Li should be involved in the cast, simply because he’s a bad ass.
Raiden – i Really like thomas jane, thought he was brilliant in the punisher so wouldnt mind him playing raiden but for some reason i find it hard to get my head around. I know this is unorthadox but what about keanu reeves? I think he could pull off the role
Kano – Scott adkins is great or even tom hardy possibly
Shang tsueng – ken watanabe good actor
Liu kang – i dont think harry shum jr should play him cuz he just looks like too much of a pussyboy, the original character took alot from bruce lee and that would just be an insult – now i love tony jaa and think he would be perfect for this role, however he just might look a bit odd because he doesnt fit the ethnicity exactly.
The whole cast is great but i think Rain would be a way better fit for Liu Kang, his performance in Ninja Assassins shows he is a great fit for the role
JAX – MICHAEL JAI WHITE
SONYA BLADE – AGREE WITH YOU
KANO – SCOTT ADKINS
SHANG TSUNG – AGREE WITH YOU
REPTILE – AGREE WITH YOU
NIGHT WOLF – AGREE WITH YOU
SCORPION AND SUB ZERO – SAME AS LEGACY
JOHNNY CAGE – AGREE WITH YOU
MELINA – AGREE WITH YOU
GORO – DAVE BAUTISTA. THINK ABOUT IT… MAYBE TAKE A MORE REALISTIC APPROACH.
BARACKA – SAME AS REBIRTH
LIU KANG – AGREE
RAIDEN – AGREE
KITANA – KRISTIN KREUK
Jax: Terry Crews….Kano: Jason Statham or the main guy from the movie 300……Johnny Cage: Chael Sonnen from UFC…..Lui Kang: Rain from the movie Ninja Assassin or Kato from Green hornet. The rest agreed.
Johnny cage: Ryan Renolds Kai: Anderson Silva Shao Khan: Brock Lenar
Johnny cage: Ryan Renolds Shao Khan: Brock Lenar