“All of the above?
None of the above?
We didn’t know.
THE BEGINNING
STEPHEN SOMMERS (WRITER-DIRECTOR):I’ve always wanted to do a version ofThe Mummy.
When I was 8 years old, I saw the old Boris Karloff one [1932’sThe Mummy].
They took me right into Universal.
I said, “I’m going to need that for visual effects alone.”
Brendan’s a big, strapping guy, and he has a great sense of humor.
BRENDAN FRASER (RICK O’CONNELL):I liked the script very much.
SOMMERS:Brendan’s character was easy to cast; he’s a dashing adventurer from beginning to end.
Evelyn [Carnahan], she’s this meek librarian.
But by the end, she’s this dashing adventuress.
The studio started throwing up all these American actresses.
Nobody knew who Rachel [Weisz] was.
Rachel auditioned four or five times.
The studio could see it was a good pairing.
Stacey got it in her head that John was this great comic actor.
When I met John, he was like, “I’ve never been funny in my life!”
He had no idea why we cast him.
I went down to Universal and met Steve.
He does it all for her and f the world.”
I always wonder: If it were happening today, would I get the part?
I mean, here I amwhite, South African.
They’d probably cast a real Egyptian.
This was at a time when there were very few Middle Eastern roles at all that weren’t terrorists.
I can possibly get this to a two-dimensional stereotype."
Does it have to be so funny?"
Then someone said, “What are you doing between April and September?
Because we’ve seen 65 people for this role.
I think he wants you.”
SOMMERS:The Mummycost about $62 million.
It’s, like, a G-string.
I liked my beers; I had a bit of a paunchstill do.
Steve told me afterwards that the wardrobe master said, “We’ve got a problem.
We’ve got a fat Mummy!”
It all worked out.
And not in a good way.
I told everybody, “We have a six-week shoot in Morocco.”
They looked at the pages[cinematographer] Adrian Biddle, the camera crew, and the grips.
FRASER:Jim Jacks said, “I took out million-dollar kidnapping insurance policies on you.”
We were like, “So, basically, you put a bounty on our head?”
He’s like, “That’s one way of looking at it.”
“Eh, $50,000.
That should do it.”
O’CONNOR:You’d see one little black cloud and you’d think, “What is this?”
This little black cloud would turn into a sandstorm that was blinding and threw the camera equipment around.
SOMMERS:It was hard.
Snakes and scorpions all over the place.
FRASER:They sent a memo out describing a pop in of snake.
I think it had yellow dots on it.
They said, “If you see this kind of snake, do not go near it.
Because if it bites you, at best, they’ll amputate your limb.”
O’CONNOR:I chose to wear open-toed sandals for my character.
After my first night, I realized how wrong I was.
I would look down and see something moving in the sand.
I was like, “F!”
I just ran for it.
VOSLOO:Everybody got sick.
We were all like, “Let’s have gin and tonic with ice cubes.
It’ll be fine!”
HANNAH:I struggled a bit doingThe Mummyat first.
I was like, “I don’t understand what I’m doing here!”
Brendan’s the hero, and Kevin J. was doing the comedy stuff.
I’m like, “Steve, what’s my function?”
SOMMERS:[Brendan] is totally to blame.
The first take, I’m doing my best choking acting.
Steve says, “Can we go for another one and take up the tension on the rope?”
I said, “All right, one more take.”
Because a noose around your neck’s going to choke you in the arteries, no matter what.
I regained consciousness, and one of the EMTs was saying my name.
There was gravel in my ear and sh really hurt.
I was like, “I’m done for the day.”
I guess it cut off his carotid artery, or whatever, and knocked him out.
SOMMERS:He did it to himself.
VOSLOO:There was a sceneI think Rachel was tied up at my feet or something.
The whole crew are down at the bottom of the sand dune.
Steve says, “You’re going to conjure up the sand wall.”
Steve’s on a bullhorn, and he’s like, “Come over the sand dune!
Now look at Rachel!
Now gesture at the thing and shout!”
I looked down at Rachel and I said, “We’re never going to work again.”
SOMMERS:You could feel the chemistry between Rachel and Brendan.
SOMMERS:We got out of the desert in six weeks.
THE SHOOT, PART II: LONDON
SOMMERS:We shot all over London and out around Southern England.
Some of the Nile stuff at night was the Thames.
I was like, “Are you nuts?
You know what was shot here?A Man for All Seasons!Hobson’s Choice!”
You’re like, “Oh my God, be quiet!”
We really had to figure stuff out.
VOSLOO:They put me in one of those motion-capture catsuit things with white ping-pong balls.
I was like, “I don’t know what the f that even means.”
I’m like, “Oh my God, what have I done?”
SOMMERS:Then people saw our 30-second Super Bowl spot.
It went from nobody wanting to seeThe Mummyto, the next day, the studio was on fire.
We thought, “Man, this film could do $20 million.”
That would have been a pretty big opening.
The next day [afterThe Mummywas released], I hear the phone ringing downstairs.
It’s 6:40 in the morning.
Universal had a number of flops, andThe Mummyliterally saved the studio.
VOSLOO:Steve did a great job.
He did an even better job with the second one [2001’sThe Mummy Returns, a.k.a.
Dwayne Johnson’s debut film], I think.
He had food poisoning and heatstroke.
It was probably 110 degrees, and he would be covered in blankets, just shivering.
I’m like, “Dwayne, we’ve only got one day!”
I go, “Action!”
Dwayne threw off the blankets and charged forward.
We went all day.
That guy gutted it out.
SOMMERS:Whenever people find out that I directedThe Mummy, it puts a big smile on their faces.
FRASER:It’s as familiar to some people as the furniture in their house.
He pointed to Daniel-Day Lewis and said, “Was he the guy inThe Mummy?”
[Laughs] I said, “No, that was me.”
VOSLOO:It comes back to Steve Sommers' script.
The movie comes out and people go, “Oh, Arnold, you made a great movie!”
I’m like, “Thanks.”
But what you really want to say is “You should look at who wrote the movie.
You should call that fer and thank them!”
A version of this story appears in the August issue ofEntertainment Weekly.
