Have you ever wanted to compete in Mortal Kombat? Now could be your chance!
The latest instalment of the Mortal Kombat film series, based on the beloved video game franchise of the same name, is currently in pre-production in Adelaide, Australia. And the filmmakers are on the hunt for a few good martial artists and combat enthusiasts to round out their cast of kombatants.
What is Mortal Kombat?
Mortal Kombat is one of the world’s most popular fighting games. It was originally conceived of as a combat video game featuring Jean-Claude Van Damme in 1991 by developers Ed Boon and John Tobias, but evolved into its current fantasy martial arts theme when the JCVD connection fell through. JCVD kicking butt was replaced with an intricate plot featuring a series of eighteen competing realms who battle for dominance in a series of Mortal Kombat tournaments featuring their finest warriors. The first arcade game, Mortal Kombat, was released in 1992, followed by Mortal Kombat II in 1993, and Mortal Kombat 3 in 1995. The most recent addition to the ongoing series, Mortal Kombat 11, which is available for P34, XBox One, and Nintendo Switch, debuted this spring.
While the video games are the primary focus of the franchise, there have also been comic book, music, cartoon, and film tie-ins produced over the course of Mortal Kombat’s 27 year history.
The Mortal Kombat Movies
The success of the Mortal Kombat arcade games quickly spawned fledgling film franchise as well. Things started out promisingly enough with the first film, a fantasy martial arts epic also called Mortal Kombat. Inspired by elements of the first two games, this movie followed a warrior monk, an actor, a soldier, and their guide god on their quest to save Earth from an evil sorcerer. It spent three weeks at the top of the US box office charts when it was released in 1995 and was quickly followed by a sequel, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. There were plans to follow up with a third film, but they were scrapped when Annihilation underperformed critically and commercially.
The dream of making more Mortal Kombat films never fully died, though. In 2009, the film’s original stars announced that they would be reprising their roles for a new picture, but this promise never materialized. Warner Bros. acquired the rights for the franchise later that year, and started to develop a reboot in 2011. After a number of false starts and delays, that project eventually became the Mortal Kombat film that is currently in pre-production. This new Mortal Kombat movie, produced by James Wan and directed by Simon McQuoid, will hit theatres on March 5, 2021.
Do you have what it takes to be in Mortal Kombat?
Late last month, backstage.com, a site dedicated to casting calls, auditions, and other entertainment industry-related job news, posted a listing looking for “marital arts specialists and anyone with supremely great physical physiques that would fit into the Mortal Kombat world.” The only catch is that the film’s production team are specifically looking for people who are based in Australia, where filming will take place.
If you do happen to be in Australia and are wondering if you can fight like a video game or movie character, or if you’re just curious about what kind of fighters we can expect to see in the new movie, here’s what the full casting call for men and women ages 25+ says:
“We are looking for Australian based martial art specialists, wrestlers, stunties, combat fighters, cage fighters, boxers, body builders, weightlifters, strongmen (and ladies), as well as anyone with supremely great physical physiques that would fit into the Mortal Kombat world, looking for nothing less than the best people in their particular field.”
There’s also a note from the casting director emphasizing that they’re not looking for extras, which suggests that the cast and action for this film could be very exciting for anyone who loves to see a wide array of martial arts and combat sports on screen.
So if you are an Australian martial artist reading this, information on audition process is here. The deadline is July 31.
The rest of us will be waiting to see what the successful applicants have to offer us in 2021.
