Former Perth creative Simon McQuoid to direct new Mortal Kombat movie
Former Perth creative Simon McQuoid (second right) has been signed to direct the new Mortal Kombat movie for Hollywood studio New Line Cinema and Warner Bros.
The multi-million dollar production will be filmed in Adelaide later this year.
Announcing the deal to make the movie in South Australia, Premier Steven Marshall (far right) said “Mortal Kombat will be the largest film production in South Australia’s history and highlights the importance of engaging with the world’s major production houses.”
McQuoid is very well known to and has remained friends with many people in the local industry, having commenced his career in Perth as an art director at AdLink and later FCB Shorter.
He moved to the United States and worked at agencies in Minneapolis, Boston and New York, before moving very successfully into directing commercials in 2003.
The video game genre is very familiar to him. One of his early successes was as the director of the Microsoft Xbox 360 ‘Halo 3’ internet campaign that was named a Film Grand Prix winner at Cannes in 2008. His work was also part of the Integrated Grand Prix Halo 3 ‘Believe’ entry.
He has also worked on high-profile campaigns for PlayStation, Range Rover, Volkswagen, Beats by Dre, and other top brands.
His appointment to helm Mortal Kombat is the realisation of a long-held ambition to direct a major movie.
3 Comments
Amazing news for one of the nicest chaps in the industry! Good on you…
It was both a privilege and an honour to first recruit and then work with Simon at FCB Shorter. For a bloke who readily acknowledged he couldn’t draw, he was an inspirational art director – and, as Tony Scampoli says, a decent guy all round.
I’m sure he’ll be able to sprinkle a little fairy dust upon it!