How Ludi Lin Prepares His Role for Mortal Kombat II

As we begin the Mortal Kombat tournament in the Mortal Kombat II movie, the stakes have become higher. One single defeat meant that our Earthrealm would be doomed to Shao Kahn’s rule. This is the task that Ludi Lin understood when he returned as Liu Kang in Mortal Kombat II.

We had a chance to talk directly with Ludi Lin during the Mortal Kombat II Global Tour that kicked off in Indonesia. We asked Ludi how he prepares for the second movie and what makes this one different from the first movie in 2021.

“Once we were greenlit for the second movie, I knew that everything was going to be leveled up. Especially looking at the caliber of the cast that we’re bringing into the second movie, it’s a bigger cast, both in number and really in size,” said Ludi.

Discussing with director Simon McQuoid, Ludi went all in to improve his preparations since McQuoid wanted Liu Kang to be more physically dominating and have a bigger presence.

Everything starts with food and gaining weight. Ludi mentioned that he ate about 9 bananas and 5-6 avocados a day. A lot of eating and going to the backroom for a long period of time.

“So over the six-month period of time I put on probably 30 to 35 pounds of muscle, which is incredible. I just discovered how incredibly difficult it is because I still tried to eat very naturally and mainly plant-based,” he explained.

Ludi ate so much fruit; he kind of missed doing that again in Indonesia. “Indonesia has so many great fruits, and I was eating so many fruits,” Ludi added.

“And then in terms of training, it was really just trying to level up to Max (Huang)’s (Kung Lao’s actor) level, because as you guys will see (in the movie), his martial art is actually extraordinary,” he continued explaining his training regime.

Ludi also shared a funny experience about his character, where McQuaid told him to grow his hair naturally to Liu Kang’s level.

“In the first movie, I had a wig on, and one time it fell off; it was so embarrassing, and the director doesn’t want to see that again. So I had real hair going on,” Ludi reminisced.

Mortal Kombat II is now playing throughout various theaters in Indonesia.