I interviewed Matt Mullins a while back while he was on the television series Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight and he was gracious enough to talk to me about his awesome Mortal Kombat: Rebirth short film. Matt plays Johnny Cage in the popular short and I ask him about the making of the short film and the chances that it will become a feature-length movie.

NERDSociety (NS): The Mortal Kombat short film is an internet phenomenon. Is the short film a test reel so it can be pitched to studios ? Would you appear in the movie as Johnny Cage ?

Matt Mullins (MM): It really is awesome to see the response of the short film 6.5 million views total in 1 week. Kevin (The director) really wanted to show his vision of what the film could be. If the studios bites, it would be great, but you never know in this town. Nothing is ever a guarantee until it is in the theatre. Fans are very powerful though. When they speak studios listen. Hopefully their voice will be loud enough to get this film made, and made with the cast and crew that made the short come to life.

NS: You tried to bust a triangle choke (MMA submission) on Barraka, do you train in MMA? Also who was the fight choreographer?

MM: Larnell Stovell put together the fight for the MK. He is an outstanding action designer who really puts everything he has into every fight (see Undisputed 3). I have trained in different MMA classes and workouts, but I am no where near the level of UFC fighters. I really enjoy the sport though, and consider myself a student of all martial arts. I love to continue to train as much as I can.

NS: How long did it take to shoot the short ?

MM: The whole short was shot in 2 days, we did the fight in a total of 4-6 hours.

NS: If they make a feature-length movie out of it, will it be from scratch or is Johnny Cage already dead?

MM: The script is another mystery. I have heard Johnny Cage does not die, but I can’t truly confirm that. After seeing the tone of the film, I’m betting there will be a lot of everyone’s favorite characters biting the dusk.

NS: How did you get involved in the short ?

MM: I had been friends with Kevin for about 5 years, and we never had a chance to work on a project together. One afternoon he called me out of the blue and told me about an idea he had. He sent me the script, and I just about jumped out of my seat. I was excited. It was such a different and unique take on a franchise that really never got a chance to show its full potential.

NS: We interviewed you last time while you were on Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight. I was a huge fan of the show. Is that project officially dead ? Any chance for a new series ?

MM: Like I said before nothing is a guarantee in this town, but for right now there is no additional plans with Kamen Rider. Power Ranger is getting a reboot, being brought back to Saban and I read they where putting 500 million into rebranding all their shows. I think rangers will again become what is was in the 90’s, which will not leave much room for anything else.

NS: Are there any future projects that you are working on that you’d like to share with our fans ?

MM: As of recent months, I have been doing a lot (months) of Motion Capture work on a few games. I should be able to talk about soon. There are also few things in the works to reconnect with Steve Wang on a project at the end of summer.

Thanks to Matt for his time and enjoy the Mortal Kombat short below.

Mortal Kombat: Rebirth

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