Mortal Kombat II stars are “down” for an accent swap in potential sequel
Warning: Spoilers ahead!
Mortal Kombat II continues the beloved video game saga on the big screen with more fire blasting, new champion introductions and a massive showcase of martial arts on the big screen.
Earthrealm’s up against Shao Kahn, ruler of Outworld, and they need to pull out all the stops in order to stop complete collapse. But when Shao’s possession of the Amulet of Shinnok secures his immortality, the champions are left with a test of strength, in addition to their fighting skills and evidence that nothing is ever really dead.
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Entering the fight on behalf of Earthrealm is Johnny Cage, played by New Zealand’s Karl Urban (The Boys, Lord of the Rings), one of the game’s most beloved characters. If you’re not familiar with his capabilities, Cage’s story hinges on his legacy as a Hollywood star — armed with good looks, pure martial arts talent and a pair of sunglasses to complete his look.
When he’s unwillingly thrust into the world of Mortal Kombat following a ‘washed up’ acting career, Johnny has to battle champions beyond his imagination and his belief in himself.
Urban’s character exists as a complete contrast to his chill and laidback swagger in reality. He also sounds very different. For MKII, he steps into the mind of Cage with an American accent to match.
On the other hand Josh Lawson’s performance of Kano requires his Aussie sense of humour, an arsenal of slang phrases and his natural speaking voice. But he confessed that he prefers to do the opposite.
“I like doing things that feel like a departure from me, like I’m doing a character,” Josh shared with LADbible Australia. “When I can do an accent, it just feels less like me and more like somebody else. Because I think I’m boring, so the more, like, me I am, the more boring I think it is. I feel like it’s less boring when I’m further away from me.”
Karl agreed, “I always enjoy when you approach a character, there’s many different doors that you can open that help you discover that character. And dialect is often a really fun one. It can quite quickly ground you in an aspect of the character. So I always enjoy the opportunity to explore that.”
When the suggestion of Johnny Cage and Kano swapping accents in Mortal Kombat’s next installment came up, the pair shared that they were “down with that”, on the condition that they had to be “bad impressions” of each other.
Urban and Lawson, seated beside each other at Dirty Harry’s Bar in Gold Coast’s Movie World, exchanged giggles as they ‘practised’ their potential (and hopefully, inevitable) accent swap.
In response to Josh’s attempt to imitate Cage’s American accent, Karl suggested that it needed “some work”.
The pair’s undeniable chemistry and improvisation skill extends beyond the realms of the film and lives so strongly within their interactions. So, it’s unsurprising that they expressed their willingness to continue exploring their dynamic, and the wider “interesting group of characters” in future films together.
“If we get to go again I just want everybody to come back and for all of us to, you know, explore all the possibilities of those sort of interactions,” Karl said.
“Look there’s so much to explore,” Josh continued. “There’s no end. We have so much fun together.”
“It’s a love fest.”
Mortal Kombat II is in cinemas from May 8.
Angeline Barion