 Hello everyone and welcome to the official panel for Mortal Kombat Legends, Scorpions Revenge. I'm your host, Joshua Gray. This panel was originally going to take place at WonderCon but due to global circumstances we're going to be bringing our passion and excitement for this film to you remotely thanks to our friends at Warner Brothers and the power of technology. Mortal Kombat Legends Scorpions Revenge is available on digital right now. The 4K and Blu-ray combo packs will be available on April 28th featuring behind the scenes footage and features on how this film was made. Now to introduce the panel I got to start off with the man, the myth, the legend, the creative director of Netherrealm Studios and co-creator of Mortal Kombat, Ed Boone. Hey everyone, I can't tell you how excited I am to be here and even more excited to get people's eyeballs on this video. It will absolutely live up to expectations of Mortal Kombat fans, you know, 28 years of pent-up anticipation for a true representation of Mortal Kombat in this format is going to pay off in spades. Absolutely thank you, Ed. And the producer of the film, Rick Morales, thanks for joining us, Rick. Thanks for having me. Wow. Ed, thank you so much, that was great. Yeah, I just, this was such a dream come true to be able to do this project and to get all that violence out of my system. And the writer of the film, Jeremy Adams. Jeremy? Hi. Yeah, I'm with Rick. We just sat around and tried to immerse ourselves in the mythology that Ed and everybody created and write something that is just terribly, terribly violent to the point where my wife said, I'm not going to be able to watch this. I said, no, no, no you're not. Now to bring these characters alive, we have some of the voice actors joining us. The voice of Johnny Cage is Joel McHale. Joel, thanks for being here. Thank you. And then we got the voice of Luke King, Jordan Rodriguez. Hey, hi, thanks for having me. All right, and finally we have the voice of Scorpion, Patrick Sites. Patrick? Such a pleasure to be here. Thank you for having me. I'd say get over here, but social distancing. All right, that's the first pun. I'm sure this is going to be many more. So we get to see these characters interacting the film in such spectacular ways, but let's take a look at the characters first meet in the film. Liu Kang of the White Lotus Society. Johnny Cage of the superstar variety, but you probably knew that. And you are? Not interested. Oh, you will be. They always are. So are you guys in this thing too? Yes, I have trained many years for this moment. Oh yeah? Listen, I love acting classes and all, but I really kind of a time suck. You know what I mean? No? Anyway, my agent said this would really put me back on the map, kind of a back-end deal type thing. Should be fun. Approaching the veil. Who's that? Let me guess. He's kind of like our Merlin. That is Lord Raiden, protector of Earthrealm. Boom. Nailed it. Wait. Earthrealm? Did you guys get a script already or something? Look, I'd love a copy. I have no idea what you're talking about, but I am pretty good at improv. So Lord Raiden, right? Good to meet you. So tell me more about this veil. There's space between realms to prevent outworld from merging with Earthrealm. Prevented by what? Always the soldier, evaluating risks. What guards the veil is of less consequence than why it does so. If Shao Kahn wins this tournament, Earth, as you know it, will cease to exist. Not to fear, Lord Raiden. I, Johnny Cage, will make sure that Earthrealm, so dumb, will be safe from harm. You have my word on it. Joel McHale, you nail it as Johnny Cage. I mean, obviously he's a comic relief, but you bring your Joel McHale-esque style to it, and it fits perfectly. And Jennifer Carpenter is Sonya Blade. You guys have such a great contrast, we're going to jump into that later. But first of all, what was the call like that you got from your agent when they said, hey, do you want to voice Johnny Cage? They don't call me anymore. I go to a pay phone, and I call them, and, well, no, when I saw it, I was thrilled because I knew I anticipated this pandemic, and knew that I wouldn't have to leave my house to promote it. And that was a great appeal. So no, I, in college, I would play, I know most of you weren't born in the early 90s, or so I can see some of you may be around, but I played it endlessly in college and high school, and I, to be a part of it was, and especially this version, which is as violent as the game, or even more violent, was very exciting because the gloves were taken off, and no one wears gloves in the movies. So that's exciting. Yeah, so I was thrilled, and continue to be thrilled. You can see, I'm very thrilled. I'm at WonderCon now. I'm the only one that showed up. It's very, it's very eerie here. It's terrifying. At least there's no lines, though, so there's one silver lining to it. There's not. There's just zombies trying to get in. Yeah. Ed, you are the creative consultant on this film, so first of all, how did this production come about? What were the first inklings or conversations to make it happen? I got a phone call about, you know, saying, oh, let's, you know, Warner Animation wants to do a Mortal Kombat video, and the first thing out of their mouths were, this is going to be a hard R rated video, and it's, you know, they kept bringing up things like, you know, the killing joke or the joke or something like that is as an example of, you know, the level of seriousness and, you know, presentation. Clearly this thing surpasses that in terms of presentation, but, you know, those early conversations were great. You know, I go to Burbank pretty often, and I met with Jeremy and Rick and, you know, they showed me the first drawings, you know, the kind of, kind of like outline sketches of Goro and, you know, the art style and a rough animation of the fighting. And you know, right off the bat, you could tell they were serious. They were not out to make a, you know, super friends. They were really serious about making something that is going to live up to, you know, again, 28 years of pent-up anticipation of when are we going to get, you know, a Mortal Kombat, certainly in this format that lives up to expectations. And it was a great meeting. And right off the bat, you know, I knew those guys were going to do this right. The very first moment in the film where you see the WB animation shield and Daffy Duck is doing his thing and what happens right after that, I knew I was in for a wild ride and that really set the tone for the entire film. One of my favorite moments. I can't believe they're allowed to do that. Oh, that's why it was so good. That's why it's so good. So for those of you that want to dive further into the making of this film, check out from Epic Game to Extreme Action on the special feature for both the 4K combo pack and the Blu-ray combo pack. Jeremy, the mythos of Mortal Kombat is strong. Everybody knows about this tournament just like they know that Superman came from Krypton. How did you create a script that was something familiar yet fresh and exciting? I mean, that was always going to be the challenge because Ed and his team have created over so many games this really thick mythology and being able to go in and try to condense and also leave space if hopefully it's successful enough that we can explore other films and other parts of the mythology. That was the challenge. But I'm a fan too. When it came out, I remember playing it at Peter Piper Pizza, which I don't even think exists anymore. And it was one of those games that you're just constantly looking over your shoulder because I knew my mom was going to show up when somebody gets decapitated or something and I was going to be in a lot of trouble. So I already had a pretty healthy knowledge of it. And then as you get into the nitty gritty, thank goodness Mortal Kombat has a legion of fans that have done the heavy lifting in a lot of ways. And you could go to one fan site and read up on different aspects. Like they've gotten into it in a granular level, which helps us, especially Rick and I, pull the different threads we needed to make something that is familiar but different. It's a take on that first story, but just from a slightly different angle. And then of course with heaps and heaps of blood. So that's good. And in a world where we see a lot of remakes or re-imaginings or alternate takes or whatever, this one works so well because the characters still feel authentic. It doesn't feel like these are alternate characters or something too weird or different from the original timeline. But we've seen within the video game timelines and time and structures and fractals and all sorts of stuff that happens. But each character, no matter where they're out in the story, as long as they feel like they are Scorpion or they are Liu Kang or they are Johnny Cage, that's the most important thing. And this voice cast and this production team definitely nailed it. So Rick as the producer, you're the glue that puts all this together. Can you describe for us the moment that you knew you wanted to make this vision happen? I remember, gosh, this might have been back in 2016 or so when initial discussions started about this thing and they brought me in to ask if I would be interested in heading it up. And my head just exploded because I was like, I can't believe that this property has not, like, why hasn't this been done before? It was amazing to me and that I would have the opportunity to be involved in it was incredible. So I jumped at the chance because I grew up with it, you know, like so many. I mean, I had it on Super Nintendo back in the day. It wasn't quite as bloody as the arcade version. But I knew it very well and I knew how cool it could be. Because aside from it being the video game that everyone knows and loves, it hits so many different pieces of various mythologies. I mean, you've got monsters and ninjas and magic and there's all these different disparate worlds and things that I just love, you know, as a fan of all this stuff to begin with. So yeah, it was a no brainer to me. Well, your love for it definitely shows in the final product. So thank you for bringing that love and passion for the Mortal Kombat world into this. Again, that's why I'm very excited for the world to get to experience this film because this is what we've been waiting for, at least in the animation space when it comes to Mortal Kombat. Now, one of the most famous characters, the golden child, if you will, of the Mortal Kombat franchise is Liu Kang. And the voice behind Liu Kang is Jordan. Jordan, did you feel any sort of immense pressure to take on this role that has become such an iconic symbol of being the good guy and fighting in these tournaments as Liu Kang? Oh, absolutely. I mean, kind of growing up, playing the game. But also my friends who are massive, massive fans telling me, you know, don't f this up, you know, it definitely gave me a lot of pressure. I didn't want to ruin it. But, you know, I went in there and had some fun and tried my best. Well, you did a great job because it feels like this Liu Kang is both, you know, the hard focus warrior, but also he's trying to do the right thing and doesn't know exactly when that right thing is and the way that he leans on Raiden. It just was very well done. The amount of time, you only have a short amount of time with all these different characters, but you could feel the arc of Liu Kang along with all the other characters. So for you performing, you know, in front of the microphone in a closed space, did you pull any knowledge from your dance background in order to try to convey the action through your voice as you were recording? You know what? I mean, actually, yeah, I'm a very physical person. So for the people that were watching me in the booth, I was moving around a lot and they're just like, you're going to have to calm down there. You're getting too into it, you know? So it was really about sort of imagining my body doing those things, but staying very close to the microphone as possible and portraying it in that way. Yeah, I've grown up a very physical person. So it was a very new thing for me. All right. Well, again, great work. And now you're in the bookcase of people that have portrayed Liu Kang and you definitely deserve to be up there, my friend. Now, Patrick, you have portrayed Scorpion before in Mortal Kombat X, where we saw Hanzo Asashi dive deeper into his character development. In this film, you got to dive even deeper with this character. What was that experience like? Oh, I'm a sucker for characters that have redemption arcs or characters that do bad things for good reasons, just as a fan of things and a consumer of media. So either way, there's a lot of anger, there's a lot of killing, there's a lot of rage, but as an actor, it's so nice when you can sort of hang that hat on something and have it be vengeance and not just like, okay, it's time to hit my quota of corpses. You know what I mean? So it's really nice having that wellspring of rage come from somewhere that makes sense, because like I don't have a wife, I don't have a kid, but I understand the idea of like, hey, if somebody just murdered the hell out of my family, it's time to go out there and start racking up some vengeance. How do you find the depth of rage in your performance causing chills to go down everybody's spine when they watch the first act of this film? I don't know because in life, I'm usually pretty easy going. I'm pretty affable from day to day. Maybe just the inherent of living in LA. I just sort of just file it away, file it away, file it away. And then when these moments come up, I've got something to draw from. I don't know, but it's been a niche that I am thankful for. Ed, you've been with these characters since the beginning. When you were working with Jeremy and Rick, did you have any specific stipulations or oversight of how the characters were going to be portrayed when it came to choosing the voice actors? No, you know, these are characters that have been established again. Some people don't forget that they've been around for 28, 28 years, and they've been portrayed in a number of different ways. So, you know, I don't think we had like the same kind of humor element with Johnny Cage as is in the video, but I love it. You know, like it's this perfect balance of, you know, it starts off so dark, so serious. So, you know, you're only you almost wonder, you know, what kind of a tone is this video going to be in. And it, you know, and then that's when you're introduced to that crazy, you know, stylized violence that they have, which is awesome. But perfectly balanced with that is Johnny Cage and Sonya, and I think Johnny Cage in every character, you know, is perfectly balanced with that. And it's needed. I think like if you didn't have that element, the, it would just be too dark of a movie. And, and it would be, it seemed like it was taking itself a little bit too seriously. So I thought that the balance that they had was spot on. It's, but people got to remember it starts off dark. And just kind of hang in there. It gets lighter. Jeremy, from a script writer's point of view, you know, finding that balance within those characters, a story arc, finding the humor, it is a delicate balance. What was the initial kind of approach that you had from, you know, an overview perspective? And then once Joel McHale was cast and started to voice those roles, did you find, or Rick as a producer, did you find this humor just punch even better because of Joel's performance? The first thing I heard was when Joel started voicing the character, I think Rick called me like two minutes in. It's like, we've got to write more Johnny Cage because everybody was so excited. And Wes Gleason, who was the, you know, the director, the voice director there, you know, it seemed like it was this great standup thing where he would take a line and, you know, go off on it and do something interesting or make up a better version. And that's all you can ask for in animation because it's such a collaborative medium and to set a framework that people can do better than what you've done. So, you know, my general sensibilities and Rick's, I think, is we grew up in an age in which your heroes would make a joke before they killed you. You know, if it was the Swords and Eggers Stallone or whatever. So you would have these like dark, actiony things. And then there would be something like to relieve that tension. And that's always been part of my personality. So that was ingrained in how I, how I wanted to do it. And then having these incredible voice actors come in and elevate it is, it's just, I don't know, it's the best thing you could hope for when you're working on a project is that, you know, somebody does one ups you and then it makes you, hopefully the next time around, it makes you strive harder to try to one up them, you know. Rick, I know you'd love to add more, at least from a producer. And when you get, you know, there's so many moving pieces and parts for you to put together to get the final, the finished product. But when you solidly nail something like that, that has to be a really good feeling to know that you're on the right track. Absolutely. I mean, and I think, you know, to what Ed was saying about there, it needs to be a sense of humor to this. Like, I think that's one thing that Mortal Kombat video games definitely have. They're, you know, they're graphic and their fatalities and all that. But they're funny. It's all about taking it one step further. And, you know, one of the things I think once we realized that that, you know, it had a lot more humor in it than maybe you would expect, it became apparent to me, you were talking about the WB logo up at the beginning with that whole thing. And I remember being at a sound spotting session. And they were like, hey, so what's the WB logo going to be like for this? And I was like, well, we've got sort of this one that we use and it's got Daphne and he's bouncing around. Wait a minute. That can't work for Mortal Kombat. And then, then that idea popped in like throwing scorpion. But the original thought I had was that the spear would come in. It would be a lot more graphic. Well, I'm going to be, I'm going to be looking for Scorpion now at every single opening for any Warner Brothers titles now. And just like, he's waiting behind that shield at any time. Joel, when you were sitting in the booth recording these lines, I hear from behind the scenes, you, you love these deliveries. You love playing this character. You know, obviously you are a powerhouse when it comes to humor and comedy. But how did you also find the truth in this character, in particular to how he contrasts against Sonya? Because that chemistry works very well in this film. And you're not physically in the same booth working with each other, correct? Who is Sonya? Jennifer, Jennifer Carpenter. I, when they offered the job, which was very nice of them, I, when you hear Mortal Kombat animated film, there is a, I mean, obviously there's the whole culture in the world that has been created since the 90s. But you kind of go, oh, well, that's going to be, that could just be a popcorn fun thing to do. And then I read the script and it has a lot more depth than I think people are going to expect. And I mean, of course I focused on my character. And he is obviously a clueless, very arrogant prick and very cocksure about everything. But he goes through a lot of self-examination through the movie, which was totally unexpected and gives it, at least for my guy, it really allows a full character, a fully grown thing, and not just one-liners, not just, not just joke support, but it became character-driven. I felt like that, I always feel like those are the best jokes are when they come from a character and not just because it's a funny thing to say in the moment. And so I thought the writing was, and this is going to sound insulting, surprisingly good for when you first hear like, oh, it's an animated movie of Mortal Kombat. And then I started getting into it and I was like, no, this child just got murdered. So this is different. And so I knew, I was like, oh, this is very special and this is different. And that's when I get very excited. And then on top of that, when I finally saw some of the, when I went to the booth, I said, we have a sample of what it looks like. I was very impressed. And it wasn't just a blood bath. I mean, it's a blood bath, but it's not torture porn. And that made me also very excited. And but at the same time, the styles is, I think, very unique. And you're not going to see an animated movie look like this. Any, you haven't, and you won't any time soon after this. So all those, all those things put together. And I, so I was very excited to be a part of it. Obviously, you guys did way more work. And by putting your blood, sweat, and tears into writing these scripts, into making the animation. So I felt very privileged just to be able to be Johnny. When I tell people that I'm playing Johnny Cage, they perk up like, I literally have, this is now, I literally have two, I was supposed to open two movies at the Tribeca Film Festival. And then they go, uh-huh. So you're Johnny Cage. And I was like, yep. And so that made me know, just let me know that people, it is in the culture. And so it makes me, I'm thrilled to be a part of it, if that's not clear. So anyway, I had a great time making it. It was really fun. I hope, I hope we make 20 more. I hope the fans will want that as well. Now, the wonderful contrast you have with that type of character is against Sonya Blade. And Jennifer Carpenter brings a really stoic, hardened, kick-ass performance. Let's see why Sonya Blade is such a force to be reckoned with. Fight like a man. There's no place for a little girl. This is no place for a little girl. This is no place for a little girl. This is no place for little girls. So, do you think this is funny? Congratulations, cadet. You've just become my new pet project. Sir, my name is Sonya Blade. And I'm going to be the best host you've ever met. We'll see about that. You wanted to see me, sir? Yes, I did. I'm putting together a task force. High-level spec-op stuff. Are you in? You're going to try. Jennifer Carpenter as Sonya Blade. Man, she kicks ass in that clip. But I want to talk about the animation style because as people see this film, they're going to notice different animation styles, different presentations that people that have been huge fans of anime will recognize. So, Ed, and then I'll have Rick join in right after. How did the teams work together with the animation studio? Was Netherrealm involved? How did you work with the production studio? And then Rick, why choose these animation styles? Ed, I'll let you take it. Well, you know, I think they had a vision of the animation style early on. Like I said, they showed me, just in our first discussion, they showed me a fight that was going on. When you see it, you'll see some of the stuff was kind of inspired by some of the x-ray moves that we had in Mortal Kombat X. But cranked up to like a 12. A nice mix of that x-ray effect that we had but blended into this anime style. It's so stylized. That's one of my favorite parts of it. It's so ridiculous over the top. Your response is, a lot of times, it's like, really? They had to do that in a good way, though. But the styles, that to me is one of the most exciting things about it is, it ramps up to that level of presentation and then goes right back into the fight. That cadence that they got going, it just feels really good. And it's also, oddly, it evokes a laughter. It's just so extreme. It's so over the top that you can't take it seriously. I love it, though. Now, Rick, what was the process like for you going from the script being green-lit to recording storyboard animation? And can you break down for us why choose these different animation styles? Well, for me, it was sort of wanting to separate ourselves from a lot of what else had been done, and especially within Warner Brothers. I just wanted to push our team to try to create something that was unique. And for myself, my vision of it, and I think the first meeting that I had with Ed when we were showing him sketches and stuff like that, I think what really he mentioned Goro, and to me, that was where I felt like that was the first drawing I did where I was like, okay, this is getting somewhere. This is sort of it. And it was more about like, you know, Mortal Kombat is a dangerous and dark world. And I wanted that reflected in the entire look of the film. So the characters are sharper and more angular and hard-edged and a little uglier, frankly, and intentionally so because it's an ugly world, right? The backgrounds were inspired a lot as a lot of the stuff that I do is by comic books that I loved when I was a kid. So artists like Mark Silvestri, and I was looking at some of the newer stuff by Sean Murphy was a big inspiration. And so I just pulled from different areas of stuff that I've always liked and wanted to see on screen and hadn't felt like I had and tried to take it somewhere. Now, Jeremy, there's so much rich lore to expand on in the world of Mortal Kombat since it's been out for 28 years now. Which characters intrigued you the most as you were putting the script together? I think for me, it was obviously Scorpion because I have lived and kind of watched these other characters. And then second to that, you know, I love Johnny Cage just because he's that action hero template that I grew up with. Except he's an A-hole version of that action hero template. And then I really did love Sonya Blay just because I felt like we could explore her a little more. And I wrote it specifically with Jennifer Carpenter in mind because I really liked her and Dexter and the way that she was able to operate as a character in this world of men in a way. And so she kind of had to become stronger even in language and the way she fought. But those were the main three, you know, obviously. And I am also a fan of Raiden, but that's just because I was a Highlander fan and when I saw Christopher Lambert as Raiden in the movie. So it was fun to just be able to kind of add to the sandbox and give a little bit of my own spin on it. But I just want to react to what you were saying about the animation. I had turned in the script and I was getting a lot of accolades for how violent and brutal it was. And so I was walking around like, oh, look at me. I'm very edgy. And then like a month and a half later, you know, Rick says, oh, you got to come in. You got to see this animatic. And you know, on a scale of one to 10, maybe I was like at an eight or nine. And I didn't realize that they were going to turn it up to a 20. And so when they started showing me and I'm going, oh no, like screaming because the storyboard guys and Ethan, the director and Rick, I just want to give them so much praise because I don't go visit them in their offices anymore. They freak me out because it's like, yeah, I wrote this violent thing and then they're like, let's make it more violent. And I'm like, okay, that's intense. So it was pretty amazing though, just to see it. And for those of you that pick up the 4k or Blu-ray combo pack, check out the special feature, the weapons wardrobe and world of Mortal Kombat legends to see how they design and put all that stuff together. Now for you, Patrick, having portrayed Scorpion in the past, were you able to look at some of the character designs to see how he was going to be portrayed in this story in this film? And did that change up your approach at all? I feel like it really didn't change the approach much just because Scorpion, Scorpion do what Scorpion going to do. And that consistency is one of the things that I love about him so much. I mean, these extra layers that we've found over the years with the backstory and the motivations, but ultimately when it's time to have some stuff up, Scorpion, that's a comfortable sweater to put on, so to speak. I will say though, I don't draw. I'm not crafty. I'm not a visual artist at all. So when I see people, whether it's the final product or even just the animatics, when we went in to do the fighting inserts, it was we were chasing actual image because that way we could actually give something bespoke to the moment. And I'm just in shock that people's brains are wired such that they can draw with such fluidity and fluency, I guess, physical fluency. It just blows my mind. It gives us, when we're filling in the vocals for it, it gives us just this sort of embarrassment of riches to work with, so. Definitely a lot of riches to work with with the profound history of these characters, but finding the truth in this story and in the scene, it's a difficult task. It takes a collaborative effort, but when the voice actors and the animation combine, boom, this is why we have this great finished product. And for you, Jordan, as Liu Kang, talking beforehand of the animation style, Liu Kang looks like a warrior. He's got those hard chiseled cheekbones. His knuckles look like they've been flattened down, but he has a heart of gold. So how do you try to balance that fierceness of a character yet, you know, he's the kind of guy that's going to do the right thing? How do you find the truth in those moments? I'm not sure, really. At the time, you just really want to be as honest and truthful in the moment as possible. And when I read Liu Kang, he's very honest. He knows what his life's going to be. He's been raised to be the chosen one, and he believes it with his whole heart. And in saying that, he has a very big heart. And he knows what the task is at hand, and that's his main focus, and that's his goal. Yeah, but you were able to bring depth to it as well, because sometimes it's like, ah, he's the boy, Scott. He's always going to do the right thing. But I loved his interactions with Raiden that we'll touch on a little bit later in our panel. But Joel, I want to kick it over to you. As soon as I saw your character in that white suit, I knew I was going to love it. So were you able to see any images ahead of time before you were able to record? They just kept sending me images of Ryan Seacrest and said, imagine Ryan, but he has a larger body, which is not hard to do, because he's got the body of a child. I was so happy that it didn't look like a kid's thing at all, which thrilled me, which means only that I guarantee kids are going to love it if their parents allow them. But no, when I saw the images of all the guys, it's one of those things I think you're just saying is like when you see that it's a skill that I can't even approach or think of. I don't know. I can't get someone. I see it. It's like, this is not how good it is. And so I'm being just able to be a part of the machine was just part of it was so cool. And going back to Jennifer, I know that I didn't answer the question. But yeah, she's she's so talented. It upsets me. And I remember seeing her in the exorcism of Emily Rose and she's one of the most physical actors I've ever seen. So when hearing her voice because they play some of it back to me and I was like, oh, that's the perfect. That's exactly how this guy would be treated and exactly how someone of her ability and confidence would treat a douchebag like this. So I was just, you know, I was if I were to get that this script as like, oh, they're going to do this as a TV series that you can be it. It's one of those ones I would get. I would jump up and down to try to be in as a product. I'll get some pilot scripts that I'm like, well, it's okay. How much are they going to pay? All right. That was not one of these things. This is just really good. Well, one of the best characters. My favorite character in Mortal Kombat is Katana. And she looks excellent in this film. Let's take a look at when Liu Kang meets Katana. You are Raiden's chosen one. No wonder your realm has lost so many tournaments. I do not wish to hurt you. Spare me your pity. Do not get up. I take no pleasure in hurting such a worthy foe. But know this, I will do whatever it takes to defend Earthrealm and win this tournament. I love it. We get to see some of the movesets originally from Mortal Kombat and particular Mortal Kombat X, Mortal Kombat 11. So, Ed, how important was it to translate these specific Mortal Kombat character movesets into the animated film? Well, I think part of what makes up a character, at least for our game, is it's the character's look, the costume, the personality. But also because it's a fighting game and each character has signature abilities that are supernatural that I think is expected. And that's another thing that this film delivers. You know, again, even more than you can imagine, you know, Scorpion's spear, you know, Sonia's attack. You know, also the opponents, I'm not sure how many I'm allowed to talk about, you know, a Baraka reptile. You know, they're just, they're represented in such accuracy. And part of that accuracy is their abilities. And, you know, people want to see the character do their signature moves, you know. And that's, you know, part of the win of this film is delivering on that as well. Now, Rick, from the script to the storyboard to the screen, were you very instrumental in trying to pick those movesets or where to place them or to choreograph these fights? Because it's not just generic fights. These fights feel like you guys were sitting in a room and watching real humans fight and just recording all the choreography. At least that's the stylistic choices you made and it looks that good. So what was that process like in order to make sure you have, you know, Katana's fan NATO or Scorpion's spear, etc. Well, you know, we didn't do that, but we did, you know, watch a lot of reference, a lot of video game reference and, you know, Ed's right. I mean, I approached this as a fan making something that I would want to watch. And to me, it doesn't make any sense to do something like this and not show them using their moves. And I didn't want to play it like, you know, like some other films might, where they hold back on showing what these characters can do and save it for a special moment. Or it was like, no, I mean, I want to see Scorpion using that, you know, using his chain with the entire time. I want to see Liu Kang using his kicks and doing all his special moves. Like that just had to be in there. So it was something that I made very clear to the director, Ethan Spaulding, who did a great job with this. And so we knew, and it was sort of like, we would look at these action sequences that the board artists would do. It was always a, you know, well, where can we plus this? Where can we, you know, can we throw in a katana move here? Can she do something with her fans? Can, you know, where can we throw in nods to the video games wherever possible? And some of the most fun moments in the video games is not when you're winning, but when you're losing and all the crazy grunts and sounds the characters have to make. So Jordan, for you, Liu Kang is probably one of the most vocal characters in Mortal Kombat as he fights, in particular his bicycle kick and his yips, if you want to call him that. How did you capture those? Because they sound real. They sound like, one, it's Liu Kang authentic, but two, and I believe this is the original homage of Liu Kang to Bruce Lee. It feels like it's an honorific homage to Bruce Lee. Yeah, I mean, I'm a huge Bruce Lee fan. And a couple of years back, I was sort of training to play him in a film. And I was working with a trainer and they wanted me to sort of think of an animal. And the first thing that came to my mind was sort of a wolf character. And they're just like, perfect. Now hit that punching bag with the sound of a wolf. And this sort of squeal came out. They're just like, okay, try again. And I hit it again. And this Bruce Lee sound just came out, I don't know. So when I got the audition for Liu Kang, they say it's a Bruce Lee type. When I went in to do all the sound effects, it kind of came naturally. I kind of just channeled him and I channeled the wolf. Sounds so corny, but it's true. And you know, with the bicycle kick, I've never practiced that or tried it ever. And when they asked me to do that, I was just like, let's just give it a go. Just press record and let's just see what happens. Roll the clip. And it just came out. And I was very surprised that it came out the way it did. So I was happy with it. I got to say, I remember that day specifically, we were doing ADR and we hadn't recorded a whole lot of Liu Kang's fight efforts at that point. And I remember going to Jordan and being like, okay, so we're doing the bicycle kick. And we pulled up some video game reference. And we're like, this is what it's supposed to sound like. You think you can do it? And just went in there and he did it. And he broke out from the 90s of the early voice. And I was like, yeah, I think you can do that. That was actually my voice back in the first two games. So I was Liu Kang and Scorpion. And yeah, that's weird. Oh my gosh. And you still, you'll still record, get over here for your games, correct? You'll still do that line. They gave me a Guinness Book of World Records for longest video game character voice ever. And like, and I beat like the guy who did Mario by like a year. That's why you're never going to retire. Neither one of you are going to keep going and going to hold on to that record. Well, when these characters come to life, it's also the weapons that they use. Patrick, you're scorpion uses a variety of different weapons and you convey in your voice like the the dexterity and the finesse of using these weapons with your grunting, et cetera, et cetera. How do you put yourself in that state of like, okay, I'm ripping this person's head off with this chain scythe. How do I make that sound authentic? It, I feel like a lot of it, especially for this movie and some of the scenes they're in. I feel like a lot of it is just not holding back sort of dovetailing what you guys were saying before about not holding back on the attacks, just not holding back on the performance. And that gets a little tough and technical because you know that although every moment deserves and needs a hundred percent, they're going to be places where it gets a little bigger, places where it gets a little smaller. You know, you're your one death into what's going to be like a five minute run, a seven minute run, whatever it is. So you sort of have to be true to it and honest about it, but also sort of have part of your brain being very technical and going, okay, where can I, where can I just have it sort of diminuendo a bit? Where can I crescendo? Where can I have those beats? Because a lot like the humor and the violence where if it's just violence, violence, violence, no humor, it all becomes one note. If you just balls to the wall every attack, that ends up being one note as well. I mean, you just, I mean, part of it is helpful and Wes Gleason, the voice director, was very judicious about it. He's like, we're going to get what we need obviously, but we're not going to tear you up unnecessarily. Working with people like that, where you can trust them to have your best interests and the best interests of the peace in mind, you're like, all right, we're going there. I'm getting, this is happening, that's happening. I'm doing this, I'm doing that. I'm taking it as bad as I'm giving it out. Like, you just, you just commit and you don't schedule anything else for that day. You look at your calendar, you go, okay, today's the day we're doing the fight stuff. Maybe I don't record anything tomorrow. You know, you just, you plan ahead for it. And then Joel, for you and your performance of Johnny Cage, you know, he's definitely got a lot of quips in between his fights. How do you keep the comedic timing completely in the moment without taking people out of the fight? It seems so well done as a finished product, but you have to be the one that really nails those lines. Is there any type of prep or focus that you have in the booth to make that happen, or is it just you being you? No, I just count on the editors and producers to fix it afterwards, because I will, I'll do the line as it is, and they were always very good jokes. And so that was, thank God. But then I improvise a lot and they had to stop me because I can't, I'm like a border collie who gets that look in their eye and I'm just like, more lines, more jokes. And so it was really up to them to choose which ones weren't taking away from the fights and which was nice of them. So they made me look good. I'm sure there's, in the extras, there's a lot of like really bad fart jokes and stuff so that they wouldn't put in thankfully. So as if there's ever been a bad fart joke, they're all good. And so, yeah, so I wasn't responsible for that, but the parts where my character is really thinking about, like, I love Sonya. Like she, he's really like, that's, that was the stuff where I'm like, oh, this is, I don't think this calls for a joke here. I'm becoming like, I'm really searching my heart for how I've lived my life. And so in those, it's way more serious, but during the fights, I mean that I was a small cog in a very, in a group of geniuses who were putting these together. So I'm just hoping, yeah, I'm, you know, I was just happy that they kept any of my stuff. So it was great. Now, Jeremy, for you as a writer, you know, you're writing down these fight sequences, you have an idea of what's taking place, what type of effects are happening, but Rick, you're the one that has to really make that stuff real and work with the director and the whole sound engineering team. So how long did it take for you to get those sounds just right, Rick, on your side? And Jeremy, once you started to see some of the finished product, how excited were you to be like, that's exactly what I wanted. Rick, I'll start with you. Well, I, I'm lucky to be able to work with a lot of talented people that do really good work. So, you know, as far as sound design goes, I worked with Sound Rebels, DJ and Rob there, they, I've worked with them on a number of projects in the past. And I just knew that they were, first of all, in just personal conversations, I know what they're into. So I knew that they would be totally into, you know, a movie like this, especially in Mortal Kombat. They knew the material, they were fans, they're, you know, of the same age range that I am, and they grew up, you know, with the same influences. So I knew that, that they would do their research and, you know, they knew it had, Mortal Kombat has a very specific sound to it. And they were, I feel able to achieve something that's very recognizable and authentic. And so that actually made it very easy for me to kind of go in and, you know, in listening to what they were creating, say push this or pull that back or whatever. But the general stuff, it was all there and they knew exactly what it needed to be. And Jeremy, I'm sure you were very excited to see these pieces come together and realize, yep, from, from page to screen, this sounds, feels like Mortal Kombat. Yeah, it's, it's always more than what I imagine. And there is a huge chunk of my brain that just sits around thinking about fight scenes. You know, my, my line is always like, Jesus saved my soul, but martial arts saved my life because I had been doing it for so long. And, and so when I write fight scenes, Rick will attest to this, I tend to probably write more than I should. But my goal is only to lay a groundwork and a springboard for these wizards called artists to take it and make it into something else. And it's been, it's, it's always, the weird thing about animation is like, as a writer, you'll write it and then a year and a half later, you'll see it or two years later. And for me, the first time I actually saw the whole thing was Rick and I were doing an audio commentary and I had never done an audio commentary. And this is how the audio commentary went. I was like, oh my gosh, you know, so it was me screaming a lot about stuff that I hadn't seen fully. And when I did see it, it evoked this like, oh, well that's, that's way better than what I wrote. Thank goodness. So, you know, that's, I felt really good. That's why it takes a team. Well, this is a brutal story. This film is brutal, but so is life. You know, it's true to the Mortal Kombat roots. It tackles themes of living in the past versus fighting for the future, fate. There is definitely an audience that wants more of this mature rated content. So as we start to wrap up here, I'm going to ask this to Ed and I'll follow up with Jeremy and Rick. Ed, why focus on Scorpion? I think the main reason they wanted to focus on Scorpion was because his story, you know, Mortal Kombat story has been told, you know, through games, through another animation, you know, a couple of movies. And it's always been kind of from the perspective of Liu Kang, really. And, you know, from the very beginning, they said, you know, we want to focus on from a different angle, which I thought was perfect. You know, there are so many stories that just converge into Mortal Kombat. You could tell a story from Johnny Cage's perspective, from Sonya's perspective, from, you know, Kano's perspective. You can tell it from any angle. So there are many stories to be told that all kind of contain within this Mortal Kombat universe. And, you know, you see other kind of franchises doing that, you know, Star Wars has a whole bunch of different stories that all exist in the same kind of universe. And so Scorpion, you know, is one of the characters whose backstory was just kind of told, either verbally implied or shown in kind of montage type of things, but never from his perspective. It opens with Scorpion's perspective, and that's the main plot. You see other characters, but the main story plot line is Scorpion's. And again, this just serves it up to, this could easily be one of a series of, of, you know, stories all told in this universe. Jeremy, were you considering other characters when you're writing the script, or was Scorpion your number one choice and you wanted to push it through? You know, Sam Register had come to me and asked me to be a part of this, which I'm really grateful for. And when I started looking at everything, Scorpion's was, I think Rick and I, especially, that was the main one, that we wanted to take a different angle. And it was really like the idea that something so tragic has happened to this person that he kind of fought his way out of hell to get revenge is pretty, you know, that to me is really compelling as a father of children, you know. So that was, that was the one. It was him. I mean, it's just all living my life in the 80s with every ninja, you know, in my DNA at this point, that's the character I think I was drawn to the most. And Rick, for you, I mean, once you saw the script and saw the different pieces that you had to put together to make this happen, it seems like Scorpion would be such a good choice because there is so much that happens to him within this story arc, the redemption, the rage, the deeper lore between the Shirai Ryu and the Lin Kuei. So how excited were you to know that this was going to mean the main thrust of this story? Well, I mean, I think that was the idea. And, you know, honestly, that's that's one of the things that I identified with is, you know, and why I felt it was important to show his family gets slaughtered basically at the beginning because you needed to understand why, what could cause a man to snap like this and, you know, just really delve into this world of this really violent world that he gets into. And like, yeah, I mean, having your kid killed in front of your eyes is probably, is the most horrible thing that could ever happen to anybody, ever, right? And so, you know, we start from this. He just, he's a great character. He's got, he comes from a very tragic place and he's got this really great sort of redemptive art. More time we spend with these characters and more depth we get to experience and the combatant cameos. There's definitely some cameos in the film that fans of Mortal Kombat want to stay tuned for. But I also would like to mention Dave B Mitchell. His performance as Raiden is great. I really love how powerful and cunning Raiden is portrayed in this film. Let's see what he has to say to Scorpion. I wouldn't. Let me guess. Quan Chi promised you life if you would do his bidding. Not you. Someone else. Someone you lost. Someone you care about. Do you think Quan Chi is a man to be trusted? What choice do I have? We all have choices. Live in the past or live for the future. The key won't solve your problems. It will, however, create new ones. And my revenge? Revenge is too heavy a burden to carry. You are a free man. It's time you start acting like it. I love that Raiden. Okay, question and answer time. I have a couple questions from some fellow Mortal Kombat fans of mine. The first one's for Ed Boone. Ed, what does it mean for you to see this story and these characters you co-created be represented in such a brutal and satisfying fashion? I think it means a lot from the standpoint of, I know, I'm fully aware of the, again, this waiting that a lot of people, a lot of fans of Mortal Kombat have done for a version, a representation of Mortal Kombat, that's a hard R-rated movie. You know, even the first movie, which did really well, was, you know, PG-13. So, you know, there's a limit to what you can do. And so this is basically, you know, shackles are off. They've been on for almost three decades. And this is the result of it. So I think, you know, like I said, again, I think you're gonna, the range of it is so, it's impressive how it starts so dark. You're kind of like, what am I getting into? And then it gets funny. You know, these characters are introduced. There's a great balance of action, humor, crazy, crazy violence. And just kind of your, these characters that you've been so familiar with over the years represented. It's a great, it's great to see it turn out so well. Rick, as the producer, how did you balance staying true to Mortal Kombat's brutal style while creating this film? Well, you know, I've been working in animation. This is 20 years now. And I've worked on a lot of action shows. And, you know, and for children's television, you have to a lot of times pull your punches. You have to, you're never really given the opportunity to just go for it, you know, go for the throw. And with this, we were able to just, I mean, I pushed it as far as I could possibly think to push it. As violent as we could possibly be, is where I wanted to go. Because first of all, that's in the spirit of Mortal Kombat. But also, and I told the designers and stuff, because we had to draw some pretty, some pretty awful things. I told them, look, relish this, because you'll probably never get to do it again. You'll probably never get to work on something that's so R rated. And, you know, for myself being a fan of 80s action films and horror films and stuff like that, like this sort of encapsulates all of that. It's, you know, it's really the movie I've always wanted to make. Jeremy, what obstacles did you have to overcome to get this script greenlit? And can you also touch on any of the struggles or pitfalls working with an already established IP compared to creating something new or some of the benefits of working in an already created IP? Um, I think the only, you know, pitfalls were me, you know, as in terms of Rick and I had done a bunch of Lego movies, you know, like Lego Aquaman and these little, these really kid-friendly stuff. So to me, that, this was a chance for me to, you know, although I write in that space, this was the first time I really got to do it professionally because I've been doing such younger stuff. So I think there was a, there was a, there was a considerable leap of faith to let me do this. And as far as, you know, working with an IP that exists, to me, that's only a benefit because there was a lot of things to draw from. I don't have to make it up out of whole cloth. There's all these incredible storytellers that came before me in the video games and the movies and other projects with Ed's company and what Ed's done with these, that I can just take pieces of it and put my own little spin on it. And my whole goal as a writer, especially when it comes to other people's property, is just to add something to the sandbox, add something to the toys that hopefully will kind of embiggen the universe a little bit. And that's, that's all I want to do. And Rick gave me that opportunity as well. Rick is such an incredible sounding board. I would call him or text him with some insane idea and he's usually up, up for it. So I'm grateful for everybody to let me join in. My next question is for Jordan and Patrick. Jordan, I'll let you chime in first. Who would be better at lighting a barbecue? Scorpion with his Hellfire or Liu Kang with his Fists of Dragonflame? Probably Scorpion because once we... That's what Liu Kang would say. He's so nice. He's got the knives. He can chop it up later, you know? So maybe it could be a teamwork. I'll light the fire. He can chop it. Well, if we need some tenderizing, we got those nunchucks so we can use that as well. Patrick, would you agree would Scorpion be the better barbecue lighter? See, I think Liu Kang would do a better job because I think Scorpion would light the barbecue and the yard and the outdoor sofa and the entire neighborhood and the house. So I think if you want to just the barbecue lit, Liu Kang is your guy. If you want like the entire tri-state area lit, then maybe Scorpion. And finally, Mr. Joel McHale, if you traveled back in time to when you were playing Mortal Kombat and you told yourself you were going to be playing Johnny Cage, would you believe it? Well, first thing I would think was, who's going to light the barbecue in the movie? Because he's a big fan. I have this whole backstory on, he's a big fan of ribs. No, I would have never thought it. And I think it shows that there are so many, like you think about this world of Mortal Kombat, it's been going on for almost 30 years. Think about stuff 30 years ago that stopped. You know, like we're not talking about three men and a baby anymore. And we're not talking about that. Certain bands make it and certain bands don't. And somehow it stayed, I mean, wonderfully fresh and relevant and people want more. And so if you had told me, I mean, it's fine, I was kind of happy because I made some of the money back that I spent on that game endlessly. And so I, yeah, the young, the 18 year old me would be thrilled. The only thing I'd be scared, was scared about was when like a eight year old kid would come up to the game and I knew I was going to get my ass kicked. So, so yeah, I mean, I would never have imagined it. And I would have never imagined that I would be promoting it during a global pandemic over a computer. None of that makes any sense at all. So, yeah. So, yeah, I'm, again, I'm very excited for this barbecue. Right on. We'll definitely have to have one once the quarantine is over. Whoever wants to light it, fine with me. Well, thank you to everybody for joining us on the panel. Make sure to grab your copy of Mortal Kombat Legend, Scorpion's Revenge, right now on digital or in the 4K or Blu-ray combo pack with special features on April 28th. Thanks again for tuning in. Enjoy the film.