Actor and martial artist Darren Shahlavi left a gaping hole in the world of martial arts and cinema when he passed away on January 14, 2015 due to a rare case of Atherosclerosis. Before this, he was a vibrant, athletic, voracious talent who commanded the screen for years and years opposite the likes of Wu Jing, Gary Daniels, Eddie Murphy, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Donnie Yen, and eventually even coveting the role of criminal underground syndicate, Kano in Kevin Tancharoen’s webseries, Mortal Kombat: Legacy.
The latter was especially a long-awaited one considering a third Mortal Kombat feature film installment remained stagnant for nearly fifteen years with late actor Trevor Goddard portraying the character in 1995. Alas, the good news is that apart from all prior news of litigation and despite many of the rumors being peddled by bloggers trying to get a leg-up on the fandom with “exclusives” that are easily debunked by a tweet, a feature film may still be happening.
That being said, we simply don’t know if Kano will make the final cut for the movie James Wan is taking his sweet time on following the ruckus caused by that character roster ThatHashtagShow “exclusively” reported earlier this month. However, being the pivotal character that he is among key characters in the Mortal Kombat universe with characters like Sonya and Jax in the mix, the production would need to cast someone who could carry the mantle and do it justice.
I’ve been writing for five-and-a-half years and I’ve largely obstained from fan-casting because I simply refuse to give leeway to the numbskulls who like to overhype any headline they come across on Facebook and Twitter just so they can hit the share button on a whim and there goes another point for mankind. As such, I will tell you IN ALL CLARITY that the writing you are reading from me now has approximately no bearing whatsoever on the production of the feature film quietly going forward at Atomic Monster.
With that out of the way, I want to get down to the rich apple filling of this intriguing pie of fandom regarding who would play the role. Actors like Jason Statham (The Transporter) and Sullivan Stapleton (300: Rise Of An Empire) are the first to come to mind, and even someone like actor and martial artist Ray Park who made his way back in front of audiences recently with Jesse Johnson’s Accident Man.
There may even be some newcomers worthy of the role – folks like Marc Natoli who is currently filming Ben Whimpey’s new action short, The Proposal, or Michael Bisping who set off 2017 to a pretty neat start in xXx 3: The Return Of Xander Cage before teasing bigger prospects with an end cameo for this year’s Den Of Thieves. I’m pretty sure there are quite a few names to sift through that I haven’t thought of and I’m curious to see which screen talents currently appeal to your curiousity.
Kano was especially one of the most important characters in the games and on screen, providing the basis for heroine Sonya Blade to seek revenge and ultimately find her role in saving mankind. There’s no telling if Warner Bros. and Atomic Monster will use that as part of their process, but I would absolutely love to see a more prominent iteration of the Lieutenant’s one-eyed archnemesis command the big screen with some amazing choreography to boot.
Who would you like to see play Kano?
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