Mortal Kombat's latest adaptation, coming out on April 23, includes one of its most infamous villains: Sub-Zero. Played by Joe Taslim (Warrior, The Raid: Redemption), this version of the popular character will have a lot of his backstory explored which may leave fans wanting even more.
Taslim spoke to Screen Rant about taking on the iconic role and what he hoped to bring to the table with his performance.
Sub-Zero is one of the most recognizable characters in the Mortal Kombat universe. What kind of pressure do you feel when taking on such an iconic role?
Joe Taslim: I felt so much joy at first. Then I just realized that, oh my God, this is Sub-Zero. And then it came with a lot of - maybe not pressure, but responsibility. Because you cannot just take the role, look cool, and expect that you're going to get something playing this role. But you've got to give justice to Sub-Zero.
I tried so hard. I researched and asked a lot of questions of the director and the writer because [I want to know] why. "Why, why, why is he doing that; why is he doing this?" Because I want people to understand the logic of why he's doing all those things, the bad stuff, and if he's in pain or he's actually pure darkness. So, those questions, and then we're on the same page that we want to deliver Sub-Zero from the darkness. It's eating him alive. He's in pain, that he's doing the life that he didn't choose, because he got abducted when he was a kid by the Lin Kuei, and his friends got killed.
A lot of bad things happened to this kid, and that made him who he is as a villain and a vicious assassin. But at the same time, you know that he's in pain. So all that information, I want the fans to feel it as well. I hope they do.
Absolutely. This Mortal Kombat really does humanize the characters, perhaps in a way that previous iterations haven't. What did you hope to bring to Sub-Zero in your performance?
Joe Taslim: My hope is, that I can give justice to Sub-Zero. And I hope people want to see his transformation to become Noob Saibot. I want people to go, "Oh, that's why!" Now I understand why he's Noob Saibot, because I want to have this journey of him that people follow. And I want people, when they watch the movie, to think and say, "I want to see what happened. I want to see the prequel; I want to see what happened to Sub-Zero; I want to see when he got abducted by the Lin Kuei; I want to see his training in the Lin Kuei."
This is in the middle of the journey of Sub-Zero, with my expectation to the fans to give them motivation so they want to see more, like a sequel or prequel. So we can have a full journey of Sub-Zero. That's probably the goal; that's probably my wish.
You've worked on some physical sets in the past, but how does Mortal Kombat compared to other shoots like The Raid?
Joe Taslim: I gotta say, Mortal Kombat is physically harder. Because I have 10 or maybe 12 kilos attached to my body, and then I just need to move fast in of doing it. I think Mortal Kombat is harder because I have almost like a kid on my back, and I have to run around and move around. But I think the energy is the same.
In energy, from one movie to another. I always try to give a story in my fights. I don't like to just throw punches and kicks, but even the pain itself needs to be a story. People need to feel what he feels; people need to feel like he's going to die, or like he's thinking he's gonna die. Those layers are important for me. It's not just fight, struggle, win or dead. In between that, people need to believe that he's confident or he's breaking and he's falling apart. Or, "I think he just saw the end of the line." That story needs to be there in The Raid and in Mortal Kombat. I hope people digest that as well.
