The casting of Karl Urban as Mortal Kombat fan favorite Johnny Cage certainly raised a few eyebrows among the fighting game’s community when it was announced. Urban didn’t feel like an obvious choice as the washed up martial arts movie star turned Earth’s last hope for survival. But as we’ve seen more of Urban’s take on the character via photos and trailers, sentiment has turned around, to the point where now, just a few days before Mortal Kombat 2 hits theaters, there’s a genuine sense of anticipation about the Lord of the Rings star’s take.
Still, taking on Johnny Cage means you’re taking on the might of the Mortal Kombat community, and with that comes an enormous amount of pressure. It turns out, Urban felt that pressure right from the off: from his own two sons.
Speaking during a press conference attended by IGN, Urban revealed the straightforward response he got from his family when he told them the news.
“I definitely felt the pressure,” he said. “I remember when I got cast, I said to my two sons — who I actually played the game with, which was my first introduction to the world of Mortal Kombat — and I said, ‘Hey guys, I’m going to be Johnny Cage.’ And they were like, ‘Oof… Big fan base. Don’t f**k it up.’
“So right from the get go from my own family, I was like, ‘Oh.’ I felt the pressure. But when you’re in that situation, all you can do is just channel all of your energy away from any of those fears and anxieties and just focus it on the work, focus it on your preparation. And for me, it was a deep dive into the world of martial arts.”
To that end, Urban visited a karate tournament in his homeland of New Zealand to watch young kids and families enjoy the event, and, as a result, “saw the culture.” Then, he spent time “learning how to move.”
“Like learning agility and doing speed drills,” he explained. “I mean, we were doing stuff that pro athletes were doing, those kind of exercises.”
And finally, Urban looked at the world of Mortal Kombat itself, from the games to everything that’s canon about Johnny Cage, to apply to the character as he appears in the script.
“Jeremy [Slater, scriptwriter] did a wonderful job because he didn’t write a character that was fueled in so much ego,” Urban continued. “This is a very dispirited character, which was a very smart choice because it gave not only me, but the audience somewhere to go with the character. It gave a journey.”
Urban talked about the “huge challenge” of the fight scenes in Mortal Kombat 2. “Coming into Mortal Kombat 2 was hands down the most challenging, physical undertaking that I’ve ever embarked on when it comes to a production,” he said. “The skillset required was definitely an exponential learning curve that I have never encountered. I’d be lying to say that I didn’t feel a little bit terrified. I mean, you’re stepping into a movie with martial artists who are accomplished, like Ludi [Lin, Liu Kang], and Max [Huang, Kung Lao], and Lewis [Tan, Cole Young], and Joe [Taslim, Bi-Han], and they are all so fantastic at what they do.
“But we didn’t waste a minute. I literally remember landing in Brisbane and getting driven straight to a stunt rehearsal session. Like, I still had the bags. And I was like, ‘Okay, here you go.’ So the reentry was real. But I think all of us recognized the importance to get it right.”
He continued: “… the exponential skillset that’s required, like when you do stunt fighting on other projects, you can kind of be a bit burly and you sort of bullishly bulldoze your way through it. You can’t do that in martial arts. Everything is so specific in a ballet kind of way, a beautiful violent choreography.”
Also in the same press conference, Mehcad Brooks, the actor who plays Jax in the Mortal Kombat movies, revealed his struggle with the fight scenes for the first movie — struggles he overcame for the imminent sequel.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
