Arnold Vosloo Resource Page:
On the cover is a picture of Gillian Anderson (X-Files) and one of the 'exclusives' is listed as "The Rock returns in: Mummy 2". To my pleasant surprise, the article mainly chats with AV and he offers up some charming dialogue! Not a Rock in sight either!
Here are a few excerpts:
The South African-born American actor Arnold Vosloo, who played the role of Imhotep in Stephen Sommers' 1999 version of "The Mummy", gleefully returned to play the film's namesake in the sequel, which again sommers directed and wrote.
"Yes I'm back and have been awakened during the 1930's," Vosloo says, "and my character has changed a bit. Throughout the film he's with a girl, this great love of his, which gives me something to play with and play off. All my memories are intact and the first time I see Brendan, i say something like 'Old warriors meet again.' But I'm not bent on revenge. The lady I'm with is really the reincarnation of my great love, and what we have to do is kidnap this kid and sacrifice him in a way to bring her back. And once that happens, in order to sort of have the keys to the kingdom, I have to defeat the Scorpion King. So in a sense I'm evil and good. But there's a nice surprise at the film's end."
Regarding the Morocco shoot, Vosloo laughs and says, "I got sick in Morocco the first time, but this time I was prepared and literally took everything over with me, like crates of tuna. So I didn't get sick."
Vosloo gives much credit to Sommers for making the sequel what it is. "Steve, with all respect to Brendan, is really the star of this film and he's amazing. From the get-go when I read this script, it moved like a roller coaster with a whole new Indiana Jones-Mummy vibe. Thre really does seem to be a fascination with mummies. It's not my thing but the Discovery Channel guys tell me that documentaries on sharks, Egyptology, and mummies are the most popular. Steve has always related to me that the importance of what he wants me to bring to Imhotep is to never worry about the Horror stuff (that's given to ILM), camera movement, and how he cuts it, but to give the guy humanity and play the love story and that would really color the whole thing."
Vosloo adds, "I have this big fight with Brendan but then we both have to defeat The Rock. We show up at the same time and fight but when the Scorpion King shows up, I trick him into believing that he's got to go after Brendan and so Brendan fights with him. It's pretty much a one-sided fight, I mean Scorpion King at this point is 40 feet tall, half scorpion/half man, and Brendan is basically trying to stay out of his way and I sort of watch from another corner. The thing is though, neither Brendan nor I is actually there with The Rock; its all special effects."
"Steve wanted me and the choreographers to come up with a different way of fighting," Vosloo continues, "Not martial arts or kung-fu, but to be Egyptian, whatever that could be. I worked mostly with these weapons, not a sword, but a long staff with a doubled-ax blade on either side at the end. Did a lot of twirling for that which was really a nightmare but it works pretty well. No injuries, just normal wear and tear as they were shooting off flames and steam in the background. Occasionally we'd cross the line and of course Brendan hurt his knee. The only problem for me is I'm wearing this damn loincloth [laughs] so I can't wear any pads or protective equipment during the fights. I didn't have any special training for the film except to stop eating like a pig. Being 19 in a loincloth is different than 39 in a loincloth. The loincloth is very unforgiving. No weightligting but I did have longer walks with my dog. I enjoy walking my dog on the beach, it's a sort of Zen thing for me."
Vosloo elaborates: "What's cool about the film is that there are these two parallel love stories. Rachel and Brendan, who bicker at each other but truly love each other, then me and Anck-su-namun, who profess this eternal love to each other. But when you come right down to it; it's Rachel who come through for Brendan. So, just be careful who you fall in love with."
