Historical Places

Ok, be prepared for a geography lesson here. Both "Mummy" movies were filmed in relatively the same areas, and took place in almost the same exact places.  So sit down, grab a map and enjoy. "8" denotes it was taken from "The Ultimate Mummy DVD". Yes, I am that lazy :P. 

Morocco

A country in North West Africa that is right next door to Spain. It has both the Mediterranean and the Atlantic washing on it's sandy beaches. A huge chunk of the films was filmed here. In fact the city of Marrakech (pronounced Mera-kesh) was turned into Cairo of the 1920' and 1930's for both films. The actors will tell you they loved filing there. And they'll also tell you they hated filming in Erfoud. That's where they built Hamunaptra. In fact it was right outside the small village at an old Portuguese Fort that built on a dead volcano. The only thing left standing of that fort was the wall you see in the first movie, where the guys in the Foreign Legion lined up in the beginning.  They also did a lot of shots out in the dessert, mostly in the morning of course. The heat got up to 120 -130 degrees by the time noon hit, so that and lighting was usually better in the morning for filming. 

England

Some of the shots were taken at Shervaton Studios and another

one I can't remember off the top of my head (and can't seem to find anywhere).

They also filmed at the River Themes, a mansion outside of London (it served as the museum 

in the first one and the O'Connell Manor in the second one).  And of course "The Mummy Returns" has a few scenes in England.  There isn't a whole lot of info I've been able to find on the exactly where's and such. I guess we'll have to wait for  the DVD to come out on that one. 

The Nile River

Ok, you cannot have a movie(s) take place at any time in Egypt with out including this lovely river. If someone mentions "The Delta" and is talking about Egypt, they are referring to the Nile River Delta, a marshy spot where the Nile meets the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is also the longest river in the world, (4132 miles) and helped in creating the Egyptian Civilization. Unlike most rivers in Ancient times (like the Tigris and Euphrates) the Nile was gentle and loving. In fact Ancient Egyptians planned their farming schedule around the times when the Nile would flood and leave behind fertile soil. It was also the mode of transportation and made communication easier throughout the Empire. Most every major city and structure was built on or near it's river banks and were easier to get to by boat than foot, horse or camel. 

Cairo

The capitol city of present day Egypt and in the vicinity of the Pyramids of Giza, Pyramid of Khufu and the Sphinx.

In "The Mummy" it housed the Museum of Antiquities where we

first met Evy and Jonathan Carnahan. It is also the spot

where the Americans and company go to hide out only to be discovered by Imhotep 

(with  a little help from Benny). Most of these scenes were filmed in Marrakech. The Jail was a hotel. the back streets where the Egyptologists died and where Jonathan was driving like a mad man was the Market Place closed down for a few hours at night. 

Thebes

*Despite it's small size (approximately six miles square) the city of Thebes was the capitol of the Ancient Egypt Empire during it's finest hour.* And it's where many a Pharaoh called home. They had places all over Egypt, but this is where they went to for the big stuff. Believe it or not a lot of what we see as Thebes in the movies are computer generated. It would be way too expensive for them to recreate the ancient city on a large scale, so they filmed a few pieces as live action and filled the rest in with the computer.  The real Thebes is actually referred to as Luxor today.  Luxor consists of the city of Luxor, the Karnack area (including the temple) and Thebes itself.  

More to come....

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