Although it may look glamorous, making a movie is hard work. This is true for any movie that ever ends up seeing a wide release, but in the case of Mortal Kombat, this statement might be even more accurate. In a film that is filled to the brim with fight scenes that are performed by highly-trained actors, it’s even more difficult to get things just right. Now, one of the stars of the upcoming Mortal Kombat movie has shared what he believes was the most difficult process of making the video game adaptation come to life.
During a set visit that ComicBook.com attending during the filming of Mortal Kombat, Lewis Tan, who plays the new character Cole Young in the movie, was asked about what he thought was the hardest part of production. Tan, as you might imagine, said that the physicality of the movie wore him out at times. “Well physically, it’s been a lot,” Tan said” “I mean night shoots are hard. I shot a lot of night shoots. Those make you delirious, and a lot of people don’t know cause they’re not here during production, how hard it is to do your own action work and how much it takes out of you physically.” Tan said that the physical work that was put into Mortal Kombat didn’t just make his body feel tired, though, but it also drained him mentally. “You feel like you had a workout because you’re just so drained mentally and emotionally. Now adding a physical state where you’re fighting for 14 hours straight. People don’t know how hard it is to do that,” he explained.
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Talking about how he dealt with these long shooting around late into the night, Tan said he has to be very cognizant of how he was using his energy. “You have to be extremely careful and aware and I compartmentalize my energy really well. So, that’s helped me,” he said.
Tan went on to also say that some of the locations where they filmed Mortal Kombat also provided some unique challenges as well. “This has been one of the most challenging experiences for sure. When we started filming in Coober Pedy? That was a challenge. That place is insane. That place is absolutely insane. And it’s really hot and windy and like there are flies everywhere,” Tan described. “And they’re mean flies. They’re like desert flies. They’re not scared of you. They’ll land on your face and they’ll crawl up in your eye. So it’s difficult acting with them, wanting to fatality all of them.”
We won’t have to wait much longer to see if the blood, sweat, and tears that were put into Mortal Kombat will be worth it in the eyes of viewers. The movie is set to release later this week both in theaters and on HBO Max on April 23.
