L.A. Story Full Movie Part 1

Mortal Kombat' Movie Oral History: The Untold Story. Video game movies may be a risky proposition today, but in 1. Super Mario Bros. Double Dragon (1.

The campy Street Fighter (1. Watch Charlie`S Angels: Full Throttle Online Mic. So it was against all odds when Mortal Kombat hit No. Aug. 1. 8, 1. 99.

The film grossed $1. Mortal Kombat endured expensive reshoots, broken ribs and screaming executives during its journey from arcade to screen. That journey began when producer Larry Kasanoff was visiting some friends at Midway Games in June 1. He'd previously worked with James Cameron, turning Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1. Among its crowning achievements was the T2 arcade game, a slick rail shooter that broke records for Midway. The guys at Midway showed Kasanoff Mortal Kombat, a new game they said would beat his T2 record. It was bloody, hyper- realistic and already a sensation at the arcade.

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But Kasanoff believed it was destined to be more than just a video game. He envisioned it as a phenomenon on the order of T2. He saw a TV series, stage shows, albums and movies all in its future. Midway wasn't so sure."YOU'RE FULL OF CRAP! IT'S JUST AN ARCADE GAME!"In June 1. Larry Kasanoff is catching up with friends at Midway Games' offices, who are high on their new arcade sensation, 'Mortal Kombat.' Their follow- up, 'Mortal Kombat II,' was in the testing phase, and Kasanoff is stunned by his first look at the series, which had yet to hit home video game consoles.

Larry Kasanoff, producer: I played the Mortal Kombat arcade game in their office for half an hour. I turned to [former Midway Games chief] Neil D. Nicastro and I said, "This is Star Wars meets Enter the Dragon. This is not just an arcade game. This is a whole phenomenon." I said, "If you give me the rights to this, I promise you I will produce this, not just in movies, but in every medium in the world." He looked at me and said, "You're full of crap! It's just an arcade game!" That began a three- month process of me trying to convince them that it was more than just an arcade game.

They didn't believe it. Because video game movies had recently failed, like Mario Bros., no one believed it. I finally just wore them down and they optioned the rights to me for an insanely short amount of time, which now I would never do, but it was my first deal at my company. Ed Boon, Mortal Kombat co- creator: When the movie was being discussed, I remember not taking it seriously at first. I thought, "This is probably going to be talked about but not happen." Then all of a sudden we were getting phone calls about casting and they were saying, "What about this guy for this character? What about this guy for that character?" I remember them saying, "What do you think of Danny Glover as Raiden?"Kasanoff: Everyone was telling me this wouldn't work and my career would be over. Including New Line.

They'd already greenlighted the movie, and the studio head walked in with the script, threw it down on the table and said, "I hate the script. I hate this movie." And he yelled at us for an hour and then said, "Go ahead and make it."Lauri Apelian, associate producer: We were getting submissions for top, top directors. Directors with whole lists of important, wonderful films. I really wanted to find someone who would have an innovative, fresh approach.

Directed by Mick Jackson. With Steve Martin, Victoria Tennant, Richard E. Grant, Sarah Jessica Parker. With the help of a talking freeway billboard, a wacky. Full List of Movie Scripts and Screenplays available for download on the 'net - Enjoy!

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I went to the CAA screening room to see Shopping. Paul [W. S.] Anderson was an unknown director with this little film.

I didn't know anything about it. I was totally blown away with the talent he had in it. Jude Law, Sean Bean. They shot it on something like $1.

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K in the streets of London. Afterward, I said, "We've got to get this guy." There was no question. Paul W. S. Anderson, director: I grew up in a northern industrial town called Newcastle Upon Tyne, where there was no film industry. I would come to London for meetings when I was trying to get my career off the ground. Quite often, I'd have a meeting at 1. I didn't know anybody in London, so all I would do is play video games for three or four hours at the arcade. One of my favorites was Mortal Kombat.

So when I heard they were making a movie of Mortal Kombat, most filmmakers were being a bit snooty about it. I was super- enthusiastic. Apelian: Paul would come in every single day with these amazing, creative ideas with how to shoot something or how to create some fantastical scene. Because of our monetary restraints, we weren't able to do exactly what he was coming up with, but it would lead to something else. Anderson: I had no experience with visual effects, so I went to Samuel French's book store and I bought every single book I could find on visual effects, on matte paintings, on CGI.

I had the jargon down. It sounded like I knew more about CG than anyone else in Hollywood, even though I'd never been into a visual effects house.

I kind of bluffed my way in, but I think they could see the enthusiasm. THE KOMBATANTS ASSEMBLEAnderson enters preproduction in early 1.

Kevin Droney still in progress. Hong Kong martial arts veteran Robin Shou is a top choice for Liu Kang — but landing the part proves to be a grueling process. Robin Shou, Liu Kang: It was the toughest casting process. I was working in Hong Kong back then, but I was visiting the U.

S. because I'm from here originally. A friend of mine from an agency says, "They're casting for this movie Mortal Kombat." At first I laughed because Mortal Kombat is the dumbest name. Mortal Kombat? A video game turned into a movie? A good friend of mine kept hounding me, saying, "You should really go for this. Meet for them." I read seven times. Watch Laurel Canyon Mediafire here. My agent friend had never heard of anyone who had to read seven times. I had to read for the producers, the director, the casting director, the line producer and then my final reading was with New Line.

They were really hands- on as far as picking this Asian Liu Kang, because he's an Asian lead and they're investing millions. It was grueling. Anderson: The script was kind of being written while we were in preproduction, which is a challenging thing, but it was a good thing, because it gave me the opportunity to help steer the direction. When it came to actually shooting the movie, I really encouraged the actors to ad lib quite a lot. It was a lot of the humor in the movie.

There's a lot of good humor, especially coming form Linden Ashby [Johnny Cage] and Christopher Lambert [Raiden]. Linden Ashby, Johnny Cage: We came up with, "Those were $5. I walk in and I go, "Let's dance."Boon: [Fellow Mortal Kombat co- creator] John [Tobias] and I had comments about the script because I remember at first, from our perspective, it was way too comical. Raiden was cracking jokes like a prankster, and I remember saying, "He's not a clown, he's a very serious character." We didn't write the script, but we read the script and we sent back comments. Ashby: There was just a lot to improve.

And we sat down and we reworked the script to the point that I think the writer was not really thrilled with us. I remember seeing [screenwriter] Kevin Droney at a Christmas party after the movie had come out.

And he introduced me to his date and goes, "This is the guy I told you about. This is the asshole that ruined my script." (Laughs.) I was like, "Oh, hi." It wasn't a script to write home about, and we worked hard on it. We didn't write Hamlet or anything, but we had a lot of fun with it. Apelian: We needed to make the movie PG- 1. That was a tough one, being a very violent video game.

We got in real close with the ratings board to find out how many curse words you could have, how much blood you can have.