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Jessica McNamee Googled fandom to prep for Mortal Kombat role

Jessica McNamee prepared for her role as Sonya Blade in Mortal Kombat by Googling the character and diving into the game's online fandom.

Directed by Simon McQuoid, Mortal Kombat, which is based on the arcade and video game franchise of the same name, follows MMA fighter Cole Young, played by Lewis Tan, as he hunts down Earth's greatest fighters to take on the enemies of the Outworld.

Chatting to Collider, McNamee admitted she was more of a Mario Kart player growing up, so she had to research Blade from scratch when cast as the powerful hero.

“I actually just Googled Sonya Blade. I did all this reading, I went into the fandom," McNamee shared.

"And then I found it really helpful for me to watch YouTubes of people playing the game," she went on, recalling: "I got a real eye for what was going on and I learned more about the world.”

Praising the work of McQuoid, who marks his directorial featire debut with the martial arts fantasy, the 34-year-old remarked that the filmmaker was under a lot of pressure from the game's devotees.

"You know, there’s a lot of pressure from the fans, from the studio I’m sure, a lot of cooks in that kitchen,” she mused, adding: "I never saw (McQuoid) ever lose his temper... He just was always so cool, calm and collected.”

Mortal Kombat stars Josh Lawson, Tadanobu Asano, Mehcad Brooks, Ludi Lin, Chin Han, Joe Taslim, and Hiroyuki Sanada alongside McNamee and Tan.