Brendan Fraser Reveals ‘The Mummy’ Director Told Them ‘Don’t Suck’ Before Every Take
One of the biggest movies of 1999 was Universal’s action/horror/comedy The Mummy. The film was such a success it spawned two sequels and a spinoff franchise with Dwayne “The Rock ” Johnson. Looking back on what made the original The Mummy great, star Brendan Fraser says part of its success was thanks to some blunt advice the director gave the cast before every take.
‘The Mummy’ was a runaway success
Until recently, Brendan Fraser has been quiet in Hollywood. But when The Mummy premiered, he was a hot commodity. The 1999 version wasn’t Hollywood’s first take on the story. The first Mummy film came out in 1932, and there have been other attempts in the years since. But for many fans, The Mummy series starring Fraser is still the best.
The movie is a unique blend of horror, action, adventure, and comedy. It follows three explorers — Rick (Fraser), Evelyn (Rachel Weisz), and Jonathan (John Hannah) — working on excavating Hamunaptra, the ancient Egyptian “City of the Dead.”
During the dig, they uncover a mummy, and Evelyn accidentally brings it back to life. When the murderous creature attacks, the trio is forced to do battle.
Audiences loved the movie, with its unusual addition of comedy to an otherwise hard-charging action thriller. Producers also spared no expense with special effects, making the visuals even more compelling. On top of that, they used plenty of real-life props, such as the rats that scurry over Weisz in one of the later scenes.
‘Don’t suck! Action!’
Filming The Mummy involved numerous dangers, including dehydration, scorpions, and even a near-strangulation. Although the cast and crew shot in Morocco, where they were safer from political unrest than in Egypt, the threat was still high enough that the director, Stephen Sommers, took out kidnapping insurance.
But despite all the threats, Frasier tells GQ that the true risk-taking came when the actors took direction from Sommers.
“‘Will we survive Stephen Sommers,'” the actor says of his and his castmates’ thoughts about the director. “One of his favorite directions he’d give was … ‘Ready … and … don’t suck! Action!’ through a bullhorn.”
Despite the director’s tough love–style instructions, Fraser says he admires Sommers and his devotion to his work.
“Stephen just loves making movies. He loved his job. His enthusiasm is infectious. I loved making that movie.”
The original ‘The Mummy’ is still the best
The Mummy‘s popularity led to two sequels starring Fraser — The Mummy Returns (2001) and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008). All three raked in over $1.2 billion globally, Yahoo! reports. To try to ride that success, Tom Cruise and Universal made yet another The Mummy in 2017. However, critics widely panned the reboot, and it flopped at the box office.
Fraser tells Variety that the newest Mummy failed because it missed a crucial element.
“The ingredient that we had going for our Mummy, which I didn’t see in [Cruise’s] film, was fun,” the actor explains. “That was what was lacking in that incarnation. It was too much of a straight-ahead horror movie. The Mummy should be a thrill ride but not terrifying and scary. I know how difficult it is to pull it off. I tried to do it three times.”
In the end, critics and audiences loved the Mummy movies starring Fraser. The actors took Sommers’ direction to heart, and they didn’t suck.
