Way back in July, we learned resident Sound Designer Brian Chard would be parting ways with NetherRealm Studios.

For more than a decade, Chard has helped shape the worlds of Mortal Kombat through sound and spoken word. Since MK: Deception, he's been responsible for directing some of fandoms most combed moments. From Konquest Mode dialogues, to profound Mortal Kombat X Story Mode and Fight Intros -- Chard has helped give once silent arcade kombatants a voice.

Some months ago, Mortal Kombat Online contacted Mr. Chard to discuss Mortal Kombat X, his career at Midway and NetherRealm, and his recent departure from the developer. We're now pleased to present the complete conversation, which illuminates the development process, and Chard's candid thoughts on a variety of topics.

It was the toke heard around the world, and for some, it immediately ingrained Matt Mullins as one of the best new finds for the Mortal Kombat movie universe.

His take was different, but that was true of the entire presentation in the short film called Mortal Kombat: Rebirth. It captured the imaginations of a vast many and led Mullins and his director to Mortal Kombat: Legacy -- a ten-part live-action series comissioned by WB for digital release.

When a second series of Legacy began filming at the end of 2012, we were surprised to learn Mullins would not be a part of it [original story]. Amidst the chaos of a new year and a filming schedule, we talked briefly with Mullins about his shock departure, Cage recasting, and his plans for the future. [Don't forget to watch Matt Mullins as Cage in Legacy Episode 3]

With a career-defining role as British boxer "Twister" in the 2010 Hong Kong hit, Ip Man 2, Darren Shahlavi confirmed his status as the ultimate martial arts baddie you'll love to hate! A familiar face of film and television, the breakout fighting role made him a natural choice when Kevin Tancharoen was given license to bring MK back to live-action with the anthology webseries, Mortal Kombat: Legacy.

Appearing in three of the nine episodes; Darren Shahlavi will be remembered by Mortal Kombat fans as Kano -- the Black Dragon crook famous for killing Sonya Blade's partner and igniting one of the series' longest running blood feuds. Starring opposite Jeri Ryan (Sonya) and Michael Jai White (Jax); Shahlavi plays key to bringing the classic plot to life, injecting MK's original rogue with a fresh brand of delicious contemptibility.

The role proved to be Shahlavi's second brush with MK, one of the interesting facts he shared in this special interview with Mortal Kombat Online. With a Blu-Ray release coming November, MKO probed the actor for further insight into the role, the work, his history, the future, and which character he'd love to beat the snot out of.


[MKO]: How did you get involved with MK Legacy?
[Darren Shahlavi]: I got a message from Larnell Stoval, the fight choreographer, a few months earlier, saying he may want to get me in on something. Later, I heard they were doing Mortal Kombat as a web series, I asked my agent to look out for it, I also contacted Larnell, who knew about me. Kevin [Tancharoen; series Director] had seen Ip Man 2, where I play a rather brash British boxer, and they both thought I'd fit as Kano.

What is your background in martial arts and acting?
I started Judo when I was seven years old, and once I saw Bruce Lee, I was hooked on martial arts and films. I trained in everything and studied all the movies, too. I was most impressed with the Hong Kong films and when I was a teenager I took part in film fighting seminars, including one that [Ip Man star] Donnie Yen was doing in London, England. That gave me the confidence I could work in Asia as a bad guy, and by the time I was twenty, I was out there, working in film.

What was your impression of Mortal Kombat before Legacy?
I was very familiar with MK, mainly the movie and the soundtrack. I loved it. I trained to the music all the time. I didn't play the game much at all.

The first movie I ever did was a Hong Kong movie that starred Robin Shou a few years before he was Liu Kang. We met each other again in Hong Kong in a bar and he told me all about the filming of Mortal Kombat and showed me pics from the shoot in Thailand. I also visited him on the set of Annihilation in London. He said he could get me a small part in it, but at the time I'd just got a lead role in a martial arts movie called Bloodmoon, where I fought Hakim Alston, the guy who Robin fights with bo staff in MK1.