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Sub-Zero Star Reveals His Mortal Kombat Costume Weighed 33 Pounds

Joe Taslim is clearly hoping this weekend's release of the Mortal Kombat reboot will prove successful enough to launch a franchise, given that the Sub-Zero actor has already revealed he's signed a multi-picture contract to return for several sequels, as well as previously signaling his intentions to get a solo spinoff of his own.

Mortal Kombat

Joe Taslim is clearly hoping this weekend’s release of the Mortal Kombat reboot will prove successful enough to launch a franchise, given that the Sub-Zero actor has already revealed he’s signed a multi-picture contract to return for several sequels, as well as previously signaling his intentions to get a solo spinoff of his own.

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The video game adaptation is destined to top the domestic box office by the end of Sunday, and while the critical consensus has been a little mixed across the board, fans of the console series are already calling it the best movie in the history of the genre. Regardless of what you think of Mortal Kombat as a whole, it can’t be denied that Taslim is one of the highlights.

Not only does he look the part as Sub-Zero, but he’s a genuinely creepy presence throughout the first two acts of the narrative, stalking the heroes and regularly popping up out of nowhere to kick some serious ass. It’s an intensely physical role, which suits Taslim’s sensibilities down to a tee, but in a new interview, the 39 year-old admitted that it wasn’t as easy as it looked to pull off his intricate fight choreography while wearing a costume that weighed 33 pounds.

“I couldn’t walk. It was so heavy. I was like, ‘How am I going to fight in this costume?’ Every day in that suit, walking around and doing action stuff, at the end of the day, you take it off and your body is just flooded with sweat. I walked around like a grandpa every day.”

Taslim spent twelve years as part of his native Indonesia’s national judo team, winning a gold medal at the 2007 Southeast Asian Games, so he’s hardly a slouch when it comes to throwing people around, even if he did say shooting Mortal Kombat was even more intense than his breakout role in The Raid, based entirely on all the extra weight he had to carry while still pulling off the lengthy hand-to-hand combat sequences.