Inside Mortal Kombat with Simon McQuoid and Kyle Gardiner

Sunday 11 February

10am AEST

Based on the iconic video games series, did you know the Mortal Kombat films are an Australian production? With the second instalment filming right now on the Gold Coast, hear from director and producer, Simon McQuoid and Second Unit Director and Stunt Co-ordinator, Kyle Gardiner as they delve into all things Mortal Kombat and how they brought the iconic characters to the big screen.

Featuring

Simon McQuoid

A native of Perth, Australia, Simon began his career working in ad agencies across both Australia and the USA, building his way up into the role of directing commercials.

Simon’s work for Apple, HBO, Xbox, Playstation, Call of Duty and Halo 3 collectively won him a multitude of awards, including the Film Grand Prix at Cannes.

In April 2021, Simon’s first feature, the Warner Bros, New Line Cinema production MORTAL KOMBAT, was released to a $24 million dollar opening weekend and was the most viewed title on HBOMax for the majority of 2021.

Currently, Simon is shooting the sequel to Mortal Kombat and has several projects in development, including the supernatural thriller, OMEGA with Columbia Pictures.

Kyle Gardiner

Quickly establishing himself as a 2nd unit director amongst the action film genre, Kyle Gardiner remains one of Australia’s most sought after and best known Stunt Coordinators, stuntmen and stunt rigging coordinators. He started training in, performing and rigging stunts in 2001 at the age of 23. Since then he has worked on more than 50 international film and television productions as a 2nd Unit Director, Stunt Coordinator, Assistant Stunt Coordinator, Stunt Rigging Coordinator, Stunt performer and Stunt Rigger both in Australia and around the world. He has been eight times nominated for the acclaimed World Taurus Stunt Awards and also two Screen Actors Guild Awards. Kyle was the winner of both in 2017 for Best Stunt Coordinator and Best Stunt Ensemble for his work on Hacksaw Ridge.

He has worked extensively in all types of productions from short films, music videos and commercials to huge action films such as Thor Love and Thunder, Thor: Ragnarok, Aquaman, Shazam, Hacksaw Ridge, The Wolverine, The Hunger Games, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Sherlock Holmes 2, Casino Royale, The Knowing, Expendables 2, After Earth, Superman Returns, Fool’s Gold, The Chronicles of Narnia – Voyage of the Dawn Treader, James Cameron’s ‘Sanctum’, Alien Covenant, and Ghostrider, to name just a few. His versatility and ability has seen him included in and head up many full time stunt teams on numerous productions all over the globe.