20 facts you may not know about 'The Mummy'

The Mummy is a Universal movie, and the Mummy is one of the classic Universal monsters. Though Universal did not invent the concept of the mummy, “The Mummy” is their character. This 1999 movie is considered a remake of 1932’s The Mummy, even if it doesn’t feel much like a remake.

Attempts to reboot The Mummy at Universal began in the 1980s. At the time, they were looking to start a low-budget horror franchise. On that front, they hired George A. Romero, the man behind Night of the Living Dead in 1987. The project couldn’t find its footing, though, Romero left, and the script was abandoned.

When Romero left, Universal’s producers turned to the certifiably-freaky Clive Barker, the man behind Hellraiser. At this point, the project became darker and more violent. Producer James Jacks said Barker’s vision was, “dark, sexual, and filled with mysticism,” which is basically every Barker movie. Barker says his version was nixed for being “too weird.”

The project was in flux for so long that screenwriter Mick Garris, who wrote on the Barker version, and even Romero returned for another crack at it in the 1990s. Neither stuck around long term, though, as they both dropped off the project a second time.

Stephen Sommers was not an obvious choice for The Mummy. He had written and directed movies like The Adventures of Huck Finn and 1994’s The Jungle Book. However, he loved the 1932 movie as a kid and really wanted on the project. Given that, it’s a little surprising that he drew interest by basically saying he didn’t want to do a remake. Instead of a horror film, he wanted to make a romantic adventure movie. That got the green light.

Universal wanted a star for The Mummy, although not so much for the mummy but for the lead Rick O’Connell. They turned to Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Ben Affleck, actors of that ilk. However, none of them signed on, either due to lack of interest or scheduling conflicts.

The Mummy is the movie that really turned Fraser into a star. While they were casting this film, though, Fraser was getting some attention for George of the Jungle. In fact, Jacks and Sommers cast Fraser in part because of how well George of the Jungle did in the box office. They felt like they were getting a burgeoning star on a budget.

The female lead, Evelyn Carnahan, has a name that is fittingly tied to Egypt and mummies. She’s named in honor of Evelyn Carnarvon. Evelyn and her father, Lord Carnarvon, were both there for the opening of King Tut’s tomb. Rachel Weisz got the role after having to audition multiple times.

John Hannah plays Jonathan Carnahan, Evelyn’s brother and the comedic relief character in the movie. You know who wouldn’t have gone with Hannah for that part? Hannah himself. He did not see himself as a comedic actor at all, and Sommers said that Hannah had “no idea” why he had been cast.

Arnold Vosloo came into his audition for the part of Imhotep, a.k.a. the mummy, with a clear vision in mind. He decided to play it straight, and considered it a tragic love story from Imhotep’s perspective. It must have worked, as Vosloo was offered the role after his first audition.

Egypt and mummies go hand-in-hand, and so does Egypt and The Mummy. However, due to the political situation, none of The Mummy was shot in the country. Marrakech, Morocco, stood in for Cairo, and then they went to shoot in the Sahara Desert in Morocco as well. Interestingly, England served in place of Egypt as well. The dockyards of Chatham in the United Kingdom were used for the Port of Giza.

It’s hard to avoid dehydration in the desert. Apparently, it’s impossible to avoid sandstorms. Sandstorms interrupted shooting basically every day of the production. More concerning is the fact multiple members of the crew were hospitalized for being bitten or stung by bugs and animals in the Sahara.

Rick gets hanged in the film, and while he survives, things got perilously close to being deadly in real life as well. Fraser was an actor who liked to do his own stunts, and at one point while filming the hanging, his feet lost connection to anything and he was actually being hanged. The actor passed out, stopped breathing, and had to be resuscitated.

Sommers had to take some unusual steps while making the movie. Filming out in the desert also opened up the possibility of somebody getting lost and finding themselves crossing a border into a less-friendly country. In fact, Sommers took out insurance policies on all the main actors in case they were kidnapped by terrorists. Of course, he didn’t tell them until filming wrapped.

Oded Fehr played Ardeth Bay, a Medjai warrior. The Medjai were the bodyguards of the pharaoh. The Medjai in the films were given tattoos that the actual warriors would have gotten. However, Sommers didn’t keep things entirely accurate. He changed tattoo placement and also cut down on the number under the premise that when you hire a handsome actor like Fehr, you don’t cover up his face.

The 1932 version of The Mummy introduced Imhotep as the undead antagonist, and they may have simply liked the name. There was a real Imhotep, and he did have a lot of influence in Ancient Egypt. However, he wasn’t a high priest, and when Seti I — the pharaoh who is ruling at the beginning of the film — was in power, Imhotep had already been dead for 1,300 years.

Apparently, test audiences were against the name The Mummy, which is a tough place to be starting. However, Universal held fast and decided they would stick with the name, hoping they could overcome the connections to an old horror movie in people’s mind. There was another reason for concern. They moved the release up two weeks so that it wouldn’t be released the same weekend as Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. There was still fear Star Wars would eat into interest in The Mummy.

For a movie that was originally being planned as a $10 million horror flick, The Mummy became a big release. It was made for $80 million, with $15 million spent on special effects alone. Fortunately for them, it all paid off. The Mummy opened No. 1 at the box office, and even with its run partially coinciding with The Phantom Menace, it made $416.4 million worldwide.

There were two direct sequels to The Mummy made, plus an animated show. The first sequel The Mummy Returns is also responsible for introducing the character of The Scorpion King. That role was the acting debut of a guy then billed as Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Johnson’s character got his own spinoff film, and the rest is history.

Universal decided to go back to the Mummy well in 2017. This time, Cruise was available to play the lead. The plan was for Cruise and The Mummy to be part of a connected series of films called the Dark Universe. This adaptation proved to be a disappointment, though, and the idea of the shared film universe was scrapped.