Mortal Kombat Director on the Importance of Kano Being in the Film

There are around 80 characters in the entire Mortal Kombat video game franchise, so adapting the property to a feature film comes with the difficult task of narrowing down its massive list of Kombatants. There are some, like Liu Kang and Raiden, that are non-negotiable. They have to be there. Most of the characters, however, could be left out if necessary. Kano is one of those characters. He’s one of the original Mortal Kombat fighters, and a longtime favorite amongst fans, but he isn’t totally vital to the actual story of the games. Fortunately for all of those Kano fans out there, the creative team behind the new movie felt it important to include him.

Kano is played by Josh Lawson in the upcoming film, and it looks as though he will actually have a friendlier relationship with Sonya Blade and the other heroes than he has in the past. During a visit to Mortal Kombat‘s set, ComicBook.com heard from director Simon McQuoid, who explained that Kano’s levity is absolutely vital to their version of Mortal Kombat, making him a necessary commodity.

“There’s a lot of comedy, there’s a lot of laughs. Kano provides an enormous amount of comedy,” McQuoid said. “With him, he helps undercut sometimes, you know the canon of Mortal Kombat has a great deal of underdogs, all that’s discussed with lots of dialogue that talks about that stuff, so it’s nice to have Kano come in and just make sure we’re not taking ourselves too seriously. So, that’s a nice sort of levity. This is true entertainment in a sense, so that you really feel that mixture of emotions. This is it kind of in a nutshell, I’ve probably forgotten lots of things. How much time have I got there?”

At that same set visit, producer Todd Garner explained why Josh Lawson was the perfect person to play Kano, and what it is he brings to the role.

“He’s killing it. He’s just dogs off chains,” Garner said. “We’re like, ‘Go ahead, say whatever you want.’ And he says the craziest stuff in this movie. He’s just out of his mind and he’s the perfect guy for it, because he just doesn’t care. I mean that character is known for that. It was like throwing everything away. It’s just so great to have him, and Jess [McNamee] is doing amazing, you know they haven’t done this kind of stuff before. And so it’s the theory of Rising Tide Raises All Ships. When you see these guys doing it, you’ll probably see if she comes on set, literally Jess with dumbbells, going like this. You know, everybody’s off camera and everybody’s like, ‘Oh shit, okay. I’ve got to go stretch.’

“It’s like playing with Michael Jordan. Everybody’s game’s risen because this is not like, ‘All right, cut.’ And everybody’s outside smoking a cigarette, when the stunties go in and do it. It’s not happening.”

Are you excited to see Kano come to life in Mortal Kombat? Let us know in the comments!

Mortal Kombat is set to arrive on HBO Max and in theaters on April 16th.