Ya know, instead of messing around with Street Fighter. Which film would you have chose to act in if given a choice? Would you have chosen Guile? Or JOHNNY CAGE?!
Is it true that the Johnny Cage charater was molded after Van Damme?
When one gets in bed with government, one must expect the diseases it spreads.
-Ron Paul
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Man, you hit the mark. Come to think of it, I've never seen Van Damme play a cocky Johnny Cage type character. Evil, loving, funny, avenging, dramatic, yes he's done all that. But he's never been a showboater really. I still would have loved to see him in it though. Can't wait for expendables 2. He's always played a great villain.
When one gets in bed with government, one must expect the diseases it spreads.
-Ron Paul
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Man I love Mcgyver! Thanks for the info.
I just found this on Ashby's bio, interesting. "Replaced Brandon Lee in the role of Johnny Cage in Mortal Kombat (1995) due to Brandon's sudden death in 1993." So Brandon Lee was the first choice for Johnny Cage, that's pretty crazy!
When one gets in bed with government, one must expect the diseases it spreads.
-Ron Paul
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If he were cast as Johnny Cage, they would have made Cage the main protagonist and relegated Liu Kang to ineffectual comic relief.
shareI don't think so, it just would have highlighted Johnny Cage's being a cocky guy, and it would have been a cool bit of art imitating life.
shareActually, in 95, Van Damme was still a pretty big box office draw, he would've definitely drew people to this movie/franchise, but it would've then become a Van Damme movie and not a true MK film. This is the reason why it's better to not have A-Listers take over franchise adaptations and instead go with someone who's persona isn't as built up in the public eye.
When movie studios have a big star on board, they force the production to be about that star because it's more marketable.
"Bulls**t MR.Han Man!!"--Jim Kelly in Enter the Dragon
Which is why we can thank our lucky stars that Tom Cruise didn't play Iron Man.
sharei find Street Fighter to still be good cheesy fun. its just such a fun movie to see even after all these years. as a Van Damme vehicle it works.
with Mortal Kombat...eh i think id rather have seen Daniel Bernhardt in the role of Johnny Cage. it would have just matched a lot better.
I think Van Damme would have taken Robin Shou's thunder, so to speak. It would have been awesome to see him in the film, especially since I really do think as you said, that Johnny Cage's character was modeled after him. However I think Linden Ashby did a great job. I read on the trivia that Brandon Lee was supposed to originally play Johnny Cage... that would have been great! but the way Ashby played Cage, I can see almost exactly how Brandon Lee would have played him too.... so in this situation Linden Ashby was a great choice. He delivers his lines with great timing and when I watch the movie, I have never thought that he was badly cast.
shareThe issue is that Van Damme would’ve had to play Johnny Cage, and Johnny Cage is a supporting cast member. So Van Damme wouldn’t have had the same drawing power, as he wouldn’t have been the star of the film.
His presence might have also overshadowed Lui Kang, the main character.
I actually think the movie would have been a bigger success (As much as I liked Linden Ashby's performance) if Van Damme had been able to set his ego aside and agree to more of a co-starring role as Johnny Cage as he would still be the top billed actor. The reality is however that the time of Mortal Kombat's production would have been the peak of Van Damme's fame, just coming off his most successful film Time Cop. He would have demanded the role be altered for Johnny Cage to be the clear star of the film exactly the way Guile was made the main character for the Street Fighter movie & we would have gotten a very different film than we did & not for the better.
I agree. And Johnny Cage isnt a Lead either.
The guy who played him played him fine as well.
I agree with this and also he already had street fighter and though I liked it. Guile isnt the main character and MK was done better.
shareI think it might have boosted the box office performance but I doubt he would have elevated the quality of this movie, which was as good as could be at the time. It’s the god-awful MK:Annihilation movie that needed help.
shareYea but with the boosted box office they might’ve added more budget to the sequels, games, and similar games.
Now that I think of it it would’ve worked if he had second billing and they had hired someone like Jackie Chan for first billing to play Liu Kang.
the movie is perfection as is.
shareThis movie actually made significantly more than Van Damme's biggest hit (Timecop) at the US Box Office ($70mil vs $44mil). But Van Damme, like most action stars, generally did pretty well overseas, and although Street Fighter made about half of what Mortal Kombat did in the US, it actually made more overseas.
shareIt might have been a bigger draw but Ashby was great. He was the best thing about the movie. I remember when I was a kid thinking this is exactly how I pictured Johnny to be from the game. Van Damm would have just been Van Damm instead of Johnny.
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