Mortal Kombat 2021 Kung Lao Actor First Auditioned For Liu Kang

Max Huang, who will portray Kung Lao in the upcoming Mortal Kombat reboot, first auditioned to play Liu Kang. The new Mortal Kombat is the first live-action film based on the video game franchise in over two decades, and it will also be the first rated R version, along with featuring bloody game-accurate fatalities as seen in the trailer. The film will feature a lot of iconic characters like Sub-Zero, Scorpion, Lord Raiden, Liu Kang, and also Kung Lao, a character that is making his first live-action appearance after not appearing in the nineties Mortal Kombat films.

The (bladed) hat-throwing Kung Lao, who first appeared in the Mortal Kombat II video game, will be played by Max Huang. The actor/Wushu martial artist has predominantly worked as a stunt coordinator/performer, as he is a part of the Jackie Chan Stunt Team and even worked on Chan’s The Foreigner. The Kung Lao character has often been closely associated with Mortal Kombat’s usual protagonist Liu Kang, as the two monks are even trained together by the White Lotus Society in some storylines. But Huang’s Kung Lao will also connect to Ludi Lin’s Liu Kang by blood because the two will be cousins. The relationship between the characters makes it even more interesting to know that Huang first auditioned for the part of Liu Kang.

In a report by Comic Book, Huang revealed during a set visit how he joined the Mortal Kombat film as Kung Lao. According to the actor, after arriving in America and signing up “with a management,” he soon got an audition for Simon McQuoid’s Mortal Kombat reboot. However, instead of auditioning for his now role of Kung Lao, the actor said he auditioned “originally for Liu Kang,” but after he didn’t get the part, Huang said he received a phone call from the team telling him they’d “like to offer you the part of Kung Lao,” which Huang accepted.

“I want to be an actor who can do all the action by himself. So I went to the States, went to America and got very lucky, I signed up with a management and couple months later I got the audition, originally for Liu Kang, Ludi’s part, so that didn’t happen and life went on and I didn’t think much about it. And then a couple of weeks later they called back and they said, well, we would like to offer you the part of Kung Lao. And I was like, okay. So yeah, that was how I joined the project.”

Although Huang did not get the part of Liu Kang, he must have impressed the Mortal Kombat team, and as mentioned in the Comic Book report, Huang still seemingly gave his all after getting his role as he researched the character and even made his own Kung Lao hat. Also, considering the film’s attempt to honor the franchise with a more authentic presentation of the characters and Huang’s martial arts background combined with his ability to “do all the action by himself,” he seemed a great choice to slide into the role of Kung Lao alongside Lin’s Liu Kang in this martial arts film. The film will also reportedly have a big focus on the relationship between the two cousins, so despite not being cast as Liu Kang, Hunag still seems to have a big part in the film as Kung Lao.

Considering the film has already changed their relationship to cousins, it will be interesting to see what the dynamic is like on-screen between Kang and Lao and if it will show any dysfunction between the two. One previous video game storyline shows Lao as being envious of Kang. It remains to be seen if Huang will satisfy fans of the franchise with his portrayal, and on the flip side, if Lin delivers as the iconic Liu Kang. However, fans will not have to wait too long as Mortal Kombat finally releases soon.

Source: Comic Book

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