Arnold Vosloo Resource Page:
By Beth Laski and Peggy Loftus
"Tales from the Crypt"
Universal Pictures is resurrecting the Mummy for another action-packed frightfest. For a mummy, death is only the beginning. At least, that's what we were told at the end of "The Mummy", the 1999 special effects extravaganza that turned a long-dormant Universal Pictures property into a $400 million box-office smash.
And for a movie studio, of course, a hit that big is only the beginning. Universal quickly asked Mummy writer/director Stephen Sommers if he could resurrect his Egyptian villain one more time.
No dummy when it comes to mummies--and sequels--Sommers didn't hesitate.
"Mummies can always come back to life," he points out.
Hence "The Mummy Returns", Sommers' continuation of the mummy saga. Last fall, Cinescape got a sneak preview of the highly anticipated action/horror follow-up thanks to a visit to London's Shepperton Studios, where most of the film was shot.
For "The Mummy Returns", Sommers and producers Sean Daniel and Jim Jacks have reunited most of the cast and crew that made the first film a hit. At the top of the marquee, Brendan Fraser once again stars as expatriot American adventurer Rick O'Connell, Rachel Weisz (Enemy at the Gates) returns as his love interest Evelyn and the menacing Arnold Vosloo slips back into the black robes of Imhotep, the mummified Egyptian sorcerer. Much of the supporting cast is back, as well, including John Hannah as Evelyn's bumbling brother Jonathan, Patricia Velasquez as Imhotep's reincarnated lover Meela and Oded Fehr as Ardeth Bay, leader of the mysterious warrior band known as the Medjai.
"We brought back seven or eight of the actors and 98 percent of the crew," Sommers says. "But it's a whole new story with all-new special effects. It's a bigger movie, and we all think its a better movie. That's how we managed to get people like The Rock."
The Rock--a.k.a. World Wrestling Federation star Dwayne Johnson--ups the ante in the sequel by throwing another villain into the ring. He plays the Scorpion King, a fierce warrior born of the darkest rituals of ancient Egyptian mysticism. The Scorpion King clashes with Imhotep, leaving the fate of the world hanging in the balance. (The Rock's fate, however, is much clearer: On the strength of his performance in "The Mummy Returns", the wrestling superstar was offered a $5 million paycheck to topline a spin-off prequel.
According to visual effects supervisor John Berton, mixing a major new baddie in with the established cast of characters gives the audience what it's looking for from a sequel--the fun of revisiting what they know combined with the thrill of seeing something new.
"The mummy returns in this film, hence the title, and we're doing that bigger and better. But we have to stay true to our original vision, as well," says the Industrial Light and Magic FX wiz. "This is a sequel, and those are always tricky because you want to keep the things about the first movie that were compelling and interesting, but you also want to grow and change."
That was Sommers' philosophy when he approached the first film, as well. After all, he would be remaking a beloved Boris Karloff classic. He wanted to honor the legacy of the original while giving modern audiences somethng that would inspire shivers, not chuckles.
"It can't be some guy wrapped in bandages," Sommers recalls saying at the time. "It's got to be ILM. We've got to get Industrial Light and Magic to come up with a billiant mummy."
To judge by the boxoffice receipts, they succeeded. Rather than sticking with the classic ghoul-wrapped-in-toilet-paper look, the award-winning effects house used motion capture to create a digital mummy. To ensure that the villainous character would be as consistent--and menacing--as possible, ILM didn't rely on a stand-in while shooting the motion-capture footage. Vosloo went through the motion-capture moves himself--a chore he repeated for "The Mummy Returns".
"The fact that he's a rotten corpse is immaterial and doesn't come into the equation at all," Vosloo continues. "I play it the same throughout the whole thing".
The $80 million 1999 version of "The Mummy" was set in 1923 and focused on Rick and Evelyn falling in love as they battle the 3,000-year-old Imhotep. "The Mummy Returns", which is being made with a higher (and still top-secret) budget, picks up the story 10 years later. Rick and Evelyn are married and live in London with their 8-year-old son Alex (Freddie Boath). Surprisingly, its the action-loving Rick, not the more buttoned-down Evelyn, who has embraced the ideal of domestic tranquility.
"She is no longer the earnest, timid, wide-eyed librarian," Weisz says of her character. "She is more of a feisty mum, and it just seems that there has been a good progression in character in the story. Brendan's character wants to hang up his boots and stay at home and be a dad, while Evelyn wants to go on more archaelogical adventures."
Evelyn soon learns the old lesson about being careful what one wishes for. Under the sands of the Sahara, another ancient nightmare is about to awake.
Thousands of years before, the Scorpion King made a pact with the god Anubis and then betrayed the powerful deity. As a result, he was cursed for all time. Now the Scorpion King is about to return from the dead with a ghostly army with which he plans to conquer the world. Meanwhile, a group of power-seekers are hell-bent on reviving Imhotep, since they're convinced that he's the only being tough enough to take on the Scorpion King. Thanks to the evil Lock Nah (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), Imhotep is reborn in the depths of London's British Museum. Ardeth Bay and the Medjai aren't going to stand by and let that happen. Bay tries to recruit the O'Connells for another round with Imhotep--an invitation they're not anxious to accept until things get personal.
"Alex is the key to this new adventure, in a way," says Weisz. "When Rick O'Connell and Evie return from another archaeological dig in Egypt, they brought back an artifact--the Bracelet of Anubis. When Alex puts it on, the bracelet clamps down around his wrist and he can't remove it. The bad guys in the film need the bracelet to resurrect the mummy so that he can conquer the Scorpion King and become ruler of the world. So they kidnap Alex and, like any parent, we give chase."
Since young Alex is so central to the storyline, it was important for Sommers to find a child actor who could be convincing as Rick and Evelyn's offspring. According to Fraser, the director found just the right kid--screen newcomer Freddie Boath.
"When we first me Freddie, Rachel said that he reminded her of me," Fraser recalls. "She felt that he had this imagination coupled with curiosity. I, on the other hand, thought he was a lot like Rachel. He is very strong and forthright, a bright kid who is going to make a good impression with the work he has done in the film."
Fraser wasn't just impressed by Boath's abilities as an actor. He was also wowed by the boy's mastery of mummy lore.
"He knows everything about "The Mummy". He must have seen the film about 100 times," Fraser says with a chuckle. "He is a complete little expert on the film and often reminded us about some little detail we had forgotten."
On the set, Boath had a competitor when it came to boyish energy. Sommers isn't the kind of director who sits up on a crane shouting out commands through a bullhorn. He liked to be where the action is, racing up and down the set acting out the moves for his actors.
"I'm sure he used to get sent out of the classroom for acting like that, and now he makes a living at it," a deadpan Fraser jokes. "The movie is right here in front of his eyes, and he's watching it all the time. The best way that he can articulate it to us is to be the cameraman, the director, the actor, the stunt guy. And he provides his own sound effects. He has such enthusiasm for his job, and it's infectious, frankly. If he weren't such a nice guy--which he is--people wouldn't work as hard as they do for him. He doesn't goad you toward doing your best work. He's drawing you into it."
Sommers certainly didn't have to goad Fraser and company to hop aboard the project. When he showed the "Mummy" team his sequel screenplay, they signed on for "The Mummy Returns" without reservations.
"No one made a deal until after they read the script. They're very hard, very physical movies. You just can't do it for the money," he says. "It's too hard and too time consuming and too much of your life."
Fraser was particularly pleased to see that Sommers' script retained the emphasis on romantic banter that enlivened the first film.
"Rachel and I were in agreeement when we read the script that we should keep the doubles act" he says. "We made sure that we were constantly batting the ball back an forth, having a strong sense of fun and playfulness and not having an adversarial relationship."
Of course, in a film as loaded with pyrotechnics, special effects and derring-do as "The Mummy Returns", the actors' performances aren't always the highest priority on the set.
"This film is filled with so many exciting sequences that I might be forgiven for saying we don't have time to act," Fraser admits. The relationships are already established, so the audience feels comfortable with that and we can just go along with everyone on the journey."
Making "The Mummy Returns" involved a journey of another sort, as well.
The cast and crew traveled to far-away Jordan and Morocco. In Jordan, action and FX sequesnces were lensed in the gorges at Petra and a railway staion just ouside Amman. The crew also returned to Erfoud, a small desert town in Morocco which served as a base for the first film two years before. Ouarzazate, a former French Foreign Legion garrison, was a location, as well. And several scenes were shot at a specially constructed desert airfield.
Later, the production returned to Shepperton and surrounding London areas, where about 25 percent of the movie takes place.
"It doesn't start there, or finish there, but we play around with London," Sommers says. "Soldier mummies chase buses through the streets of London, and we blow things up and have a battle on Tower Bridge."
With such wild sequences on tap for the sequel, it seems a sure bet that "The Mummy Returns" will be just as action-packed as "The Mummy". In fact, some horror fans groused that the 1999 movie was closer in spirit to the Indiana Jones series than the original Karloff chiller. As it turns out, the "Mummy" team doesn't dispute that observation at all.
"It almost pays as much homage to the serials that were inspirational--the things like Indiana Jones--as it does the horror classics," Berton acknowledges. "It's adventurous storytelling and gives you some shock and some scary moments and some comedic moments. Its really a wonderful mix, and I think that's what you're going to see in the sequel, too. It's not a real dark movie. It's got a lot of adventure and lots of danger."
"It has a similar tone to the first film. It's still action/adventure, romance, horror, all the genres mixed together," Sommers adds. "But it will be a little different. I think it has more action and more special effects, but it's also a romantic film. It's much more romantic than last time. This is like a whole new level."
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