https://www.superherohype.com/movies/456987-joe-taslim-cast-as-sub-zero-in-mortal-kombat-reboot-movie

I really like this casting. The Night Comes for Us was an awesome film.

Words cannot describe how excited I am for this movie's version of Sub Zero. I had gradually lost interest in Sub Zero but this changes everything!

Anyone know the details on the extras casting call?

Not the actor I hoped for, but at least they're not whitewashing the character anymore.

Hopefully Ian Anthony Dale returns as Scorpion.

"of all ethnicities and genders"

Nice virtue signaling. Of course the cast is going to be "of all ethnicities and genders" since the games have characters of all ethnicities and both genders. That part didn't need saying but hey, whatever makes you feel like a good person. These words make me nervous about the direction this movie is taking since "of all ethnicities and genders" usually means no white actors. Are we ready for a Hispanic or black Kano?

I doubt it. Every incarnation of Kano since 1995 has been a tribute to Trevor Goddard, and it's now part of Kano's being as a character. I don't think they'll stop now.

Sorry, but which movie can you name that has no white actors?

That just sounds like racism from someone who is upset that an asian character in a game won't be played by a British American in the film :P

"of all ethnicities and genders" would be there because Hollywood has a history of casting white guys to play Asian / African / Alien origin characters in movies. A French Sub-Zero anyone?

The Wiz, Ju Rei, Belly, Chasing Papi, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Friday, The Best Man, Kung Fu Hustle, The Monkey King, The Curse of La Llorona.

Don't get me wrong. I agree that the dude's statement is dumb. I'm just saying.

I'm not familiar with Taslim's work so I can't say much. As far as other characters go (and I may get some hate here) I'd like Brian Tee to reprise his role as Liu Kang.

It means what it says. Sometimes casting needs to limit applicant traits for reasons of plot or role. The only specialist interests for this open call are "physical performers" of geographic location. Not a lot of reason to read any more into it. The 95 movie could've had a similar call to fill out Art Lean, dreadlock fighter, guys excited about Goro, miscellaneous tournament fighters. It takes many hands.

If you get a chance, watch The Night Comes for Us. It'll ease any doubts you may have about Joe Taslim.

And I agree about Brian Tee as Liu Kang again. Legacy Season 2 was not enough to showcase what he can do with the character, but what little screen time he did have, really showed a brutal take on him.

When a character is a certain ethnicity or race and you don't cast them quite right it in a way does not stay "true" to character origins. The new Fantastic 4, everyone hated the Johnny Blaze casting.

Rarely does it work. Michael Clarke Duncan as Kingpin in Deadpool was a cool casting not true to the character origin, but it worked. In my opinion, to make fans really happy you need to stay true to the original design.

My friend, the late Donnie Hair, was a stuntman for the original Mortal Kombat movie. They used a variety of ethnicities as the shirtless, hooded guards (he was one) but they were mostly white. It's harder to tell because the lighting made them all look tan. The diversity came more at the end with the souls of a 1000 dead warrior scenes - now almost all of those guys were non-White. Of course, Liu Kang and Shang Tsung were the only major casted non-white role as even Scorpion, Sub-Zero and Reptile were all played by white guys. But Christopher Lambert is French, Taliso Soto is Hispanic, and Trevor Goddard was Australian and Francois Petit (Sub-Zero, sic) was also French. I believe Dominic Vandenburg (sic) who played the guard Sub-Zero killed was also from another country. A few of Goro's opponents during the montage scene before his fight with Art were also varied ethnicities. To this day I'm curious why they even made the character of Art Lean - I'm guessing he was supposed to be the token black guy since Jax didn't come to the game as a playable fighter until MK2 but it never made any sense because they had Kitana. The commentary explains he was kind of there as part of the climax - to show the fighters how serious Mortal Kombat and Goro was. The book and script added more emotional depth since they gave him a proper send-off in those formats.

One thing they all had in common... except for most of the main cast, all the other talents were real-life martial artists.