Remaking Universal Monsters classics like “The Mummy” isn’t exactly the right thing to do. Just ask anyone who was part of the failed Tom Cruise reboot that flopped as one of the new movie releases back in 2017. These concerns were also present when the studio embarked on the 1999 blockbuster with Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz, and recently Fraser recalled a moment when his co-star shared these doubts.
Breaking down his most iconic roles for the GQ video, Rick O’Connell himself laid out a story in which the prospects of “The Mummy” as a film were seriously discussed. According to Brendan Fraser’s memoirs, that’s why the now well-known adventure was such an unknown quantity:
When the movie was supposed to come out, we had no idea what it was going to be. Is this a comedy? Is it an action movie? Is it adventure, romance, all of it, none of it? I can still hear Rachel saying, “Oh no, they’re going to confiscate our stock cards.” What does that even mean? Did we do it wrong? Haven’t we been chewing the landscape too much? I know what I did.
It’s hard to believe now, but when Universal tried to reshoot The Mummy, it was a pretty difficult path. Everyone from George Romero and Clive Barker to Daniel Day Lewis had to play roles in various incarnations in development, the history of which dates back to the 80s.
Thus, coming to a concept that combines several genres and does not quite correspond to the absolutely terrifying content of Boris Karloff’s classics really leaves room for fear. This was especially true when director Steven Sommers showed this film the same summer as “The Matrix,” “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Seduced Me” and “Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace,” helping to keep audiences in theater seats.
Whatever doubts may have arisen before the film “The Mummy” in 1999, they soon dissipated, as this film and its sequel “The Mummy Returns” in 2001 began to bring in a lot of money. If there were any doubts after Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz first appeared on the screens as Rick and Evelyn, they were soon discarded. Although “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor” eventually interrupted this winning streak, and the planned fourth part with Antonio Banderas was canceled.
Time and a healthy return, known as the “Renaissance”, made the possibility of returning to the “Mummy” with a proper legacy not so scary for the public. Not to mention that Brendan Fraser has shared positive thoughts about a potential return to Rick O’Connell almost 20 years after he hung up the holster. One would think that now that the fans are talking, Rachel Weisz would be just as confident that she would devote herself to such a film.
Unfortunately, we don’t know if anyone at Universal is trying to make the dreams of Brendan Fraser and various Mummy fans come true. Currently, the actor is promoting the film “The Whale”, in which he is hotly called the winner in the nomination “Best Actor of 2023”. Although, if you want to see another of Fraser’s later works, you can watch the latest season of “Fatal Patrol” and the movie “No Sudden Movements,” both of which are suitable for those who have an HBO Max subscription.
