How Much Gore is Too Much? MORTAL KOMBAT Director Simon McQuoid Walks The Line
Gamers and horror fans are buzzing over Mortal Kombat, the next cinematic adaptation of the decades-old video game franchise known in equal parts for its violence and intricate mythos. Dread Central was lucky enough to join a media roundtable where we got to talk it up with the film’s director, Simon McQuoid. Read the most relevant details revealed below the trailer and synopsis!
Synopsis:
MMA fighter Cole Young, used to getting beaten for money, is unaware of his legacy – or because Emperor Outworld Shang Tsung sent his best warrior, Sub- Zero, an otherworldly Cryomancer, to hunt Cole. Fearing for the safety of his family, Cole sets out to find Sonya Blade and Jax, a special forces major who carries the same strange dragon that Cole was born with. Soon he finds himself in the temple of Lord Raiden, an Elder God and Protector of Earthrealm, who grants sanctuary to those who bear the mark. Here, Cole trains with seasoned warriors Liu Kang, Kung Lao, and devious mercenary Kano, as he prepares to take on Earth’s greatest champions against enemies of Outworld in a high-risk battle across the universe. But will Cole be under enough pressure to unlock his arcane – the immense power in his soul – in time to not only save his family, but also stop Outworld once and for all?
McQuoid directs Mortal Kombat from a screenplay penned by Greg Russo; the film stars Joe Taslim (Sub Zero), Ludi Lin (Liu Kang), Jessica McNamee (Sonya Blade), Mehcad Brooks (Jax), Josh Lawson (Kano), Chin Han (Shang Tsung), Hiroyuki Sanada (Scorpion), Tadanobu Asano (Raiden), and Sisi Stringer (Mileena).
About Mortal Kombat‘s multiple timelines and what fans can expect, McQuoid explains:
“There are a lot of different timelines, different interactions with characters and all sorts of stuff that comes out of the source material. We were conscious of that, the same way we were respectful of everything that comes out of the source material but we don’t really mess with time per se. But aside from that opening which is set in ancient Japan, it’s present day, so we don’t mess with time at all and try and keep that aspect of it reasonably simple because there was enough going on as it was.”
When asked how a two-hour film could possibly encapsulate Mortal Kombat‘s complex mythology that’s been built up for years, the director stated:
“People love the trailer which is fantastic because it doesn’t radically change from that point on. That doesn’t mean it’s a guarantee so I’m not getting ahead of myself, that’s the first thing. The things I thought about, that we all thought about, in going into this was trying to look at really, ultimately what makes a good film. I think a lot of video game movies fail (this is just a theory, I could be wrong, this is just my gut feeling) because they don’t respect the material enough. I think they think “well, we can take this now and do what we like with it”, well, you kind of can’t. There are fundamentals you cannot change because if you start changing those fundamentals then you are messing with the recipe and it won’t taste like it should. That’s why I talk about respecting the material, respecting the fanbase, and also elevating what’s there, so the exercise is not just taking it and making a movie about it. The exercise is taking the source material and respecting it, curating what goes in it then amplifying it to a new level that no one has seen before. Stylistically I wanted to amplify that. Then you go to the story structure and that has to be measured on what’s right for the film. I don’t profess to have the secret sauce at all.”
When asked about whether producers worried there would be too much gore, McQuoid responds:
“Yeah, it was on our minds quite a bit; we had a lot of discussions. It was something that took up a fair amount of brainpower amongst us because we didn’t want to underdo it and we didn’t want to overdo it. Certain things in the game, if you tried to make a real version of that, the film would be unreleasable, that’s just a fact of it. We knew we wanted to get up to the line and not cross it and that was really, the discussions were about that. Bennett Walsh, who is the line producer, is a huge, huge important person in the making of this film. Bennett is not someone who spends a lot of time talking about himself but he is really, really important to this movie. Bennett worked on Kill Bill and he knows about blood and ratings and stuff like that so he was really important and really helped me and the team calibrate where we needed to be. So yeah, we talked about it a lot, and stylistically it needed to be right too, so yeah, lots of discussions about blood.”
When asked about how he decided which of Mortal Kombat‘s dozens of characters to feature in the film, McQuoid had this to say:
“Well we decided it really needed to be the classic set and Kung Lao, he needed to be brought into this because we can pull that off now. That fucking hat, we had to get that hat right and that took a lot of time. But I kind of liked the idea that Kung Lao would now have this presence in the film, it would add this new sort of element and Max [Huang] is fantastic as him. It was sort of the classic set plus who else are we going to have. There are others in the film, things I can’t tell you, you’ll find out, where each of these characters kind of existed for various different reasons, beyond our sort of main heroes. There’s a new character and we sort of felt it was ok to bring a new character in because as you said, Mortal Kombat [the game] brings in new characters all the time. The precedent was already there and it also helps the functionality of the film. It just became that each character needed a reason to exist, and then once we sort of worked that out then it just seemed to flow from that point on.”
When asked whether he believed COVID-era trends seeing films released directly on streaming services would affect the likelihood of big-budget films like Mortal Kombat being made in the future, McQuoid was confident they won’t.
“I think [movies like Mortal Kombat] will [continue to be made]. I think we’re all finding our way a bit, with what this ends up looking like, the sands are shifting around. But I also think fundamentally audiences like the cinema experience because it’s a big story told on a big canvas. You can watch a shitty film on a big screen and it doesn’t make it any better. I’m saying you can go in stylistically and make something big and substantial. How the business side of it shakes out on the other side, I’m sort of crystal balling it a little bit, but I think the intent by people who make movies is not going to radically change, so that will manifest, even if a larger percentage end up on streaming.”
Finally, when asked what he hoped his film would contribute to Mortal Kombat‘s extensive legacy, the director explained:
“My goal was, and all of our goals, everyone involved in the film, was to make a film that paid respect and elevate Mortal Kombat to a new place. And that’s where I feel like the new film will reside in this rich, mixture of different iterations of it. Even the original films, this does not even attempt to cover what that had going for it back in the day. It’s a new, elevated cinematic experience of a beloved title. I just want it to mean something, because I know it means something to fans; I know it means something to people who play and live this game. So I wanted it to mean a lot.”
Look for Mortal Kombat in theaters and on HBO Max beginning April 16th
Are you excited to check out Mortal Kombat? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram! You can also carry on the convo with me personally on Twitter @josh_millican.
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