TedStixon

17th Nov 2023

The Mummy (1999)

Trivia: Director Stephen Sommers has said that part of the reason he wanted to work on this film was because the original 1932 version of the movie was the only classic Universal monster movie to scare him as a child. He thought Dracula was a little too sexy and cool to be totally scary, while Frankenstein was more tragic and sad than frightening... whereas he found the original mummy just plain old creepy.

TedStixon

17th Nov 2023

The Mummy (1999)

Trivia: One of the background extras in the film was unknowingly given the exact same cloak worn by Alec Guinness in the original "Star Wars." It had inadvertently been mixed in with various generic monk robes at a costume company that works on film and television productions, and was later rented out to this film. It was identified a few years later as the "Star Wars" robe and sold in an auction for over $100,000, making "The Mummy" its last confirmed on-screen appearance.

TedStixon

31st Oct 2020

The Mummy (1999)

Trivia: Reportedly the cast had to have "kidnappers insurance" in case they were abducted and held for ransom during production. Most of the cast didn't realise this was part of their contracts until after filming was complete.

TedStixon

31st Oct 2020

The Mummy (1999)

31st Oct 2020

The Mummy (1999)

Trivia: Director Stephen Sommers intended to use the old 1930's "Universal Studios" logo as a throwback to the original film, but the idea was vetoed by Universal. Sommers also reportedly didn't much like the current studio logo at the time and was annoyed at having to use it.

TedStixon

8th Jan 2020

The Mummy (1999)

Trivia: Somewhat ironically, the mummy's actor Arnold Vosloo really didn't like the look of the CGI mummy when he is first awakened. He felt the design was a little hokey and over-the-top. (Although he did like the look of the later "stages" the mummy takes on as he begins to regenerate).

TedStixon

4th Jan 2020

The Mummy (1999)

Trivia: Much about the character Ardeth Bay was changed during filming. For example: Originally, he was meant to be tattooed head-to-toe. But director Stephen Sommers opted to only give him a few tattoos, feeling actor Oded Fehr was too handsome to cover in ink. He was also meant to die in the final battle, but Sommers fell in love with the character and decided to let him live.

TedStixon

4th Jan 2020

The Mummy (1999)

Trivia: Reportedly, for some reason all of the camels inexplicably hated Kevin J. O'Connor, and wouldn't cooperate with his commands. The rather humorous scene of his character Beni trying to drag a camel who won't budge was a result of this.

TedStixon

4th Jan 2020

The Mummy (1999)

Trivia: There is a persistent rumor that Leonardi DiCaprio was originally cast as Rick, but was forced to drop out due to other contractual obligations. This rumor has never been completely confirmed or denied.

TedStixon

4th Jan 2020

The Mummy (1999)

Trivia: Arnold Vosloo actually had to be wrapped head-to-toe in bandages for his mummification scene. He found it incredibly distressing, and even joked in the commentary that the scene made him realise that "bondage isn't [his] thing."

TedStixon

4th Jan 2020

The Mummy (1999)

Trivia: The opening voice over was meant to be darker in tone and be provided by the titular mummy, Imhotep, as he recounts his curse. However, it was decided that it was simply too weird to hear his voice narrating in English when he obviously wouldn't speak it. The voice-over was then given to Ardeth Bay.

TedStixon

4th Jan 2020

The Mummy (1999)

Trivia: While shooting on location, the crew had to hire additional animal wranglers specifically to catch poisonous snakes and insects that would wander onto set.

TedStixon

2nd Jul 2018

The Mummy (1999)

Trivia: Prior to director Stephen Sommers becoming attached to the film, Universal had tried for a number of years to make a new "Mummy" movie. At one point, renowned horror author and filmmaker Clive Barker was even attached, and was going to write and direct a low-budget, hard-R "Mummy" movie, but he eventually walked away. Subsequently, filmmakers including Joe Dante and George A. Romero became attached at different points. Finally, Sommers pitched his vision - a cross between Indiana Jones and Jason and the Argnonauts, with a new flashier Mummy created with modern-day effects - which the producers loved.

TedStixon

2nd Jul 2018

The Mummy (1999)

Trivia: When fireballs and hail begin to rain down from the sky, the "hail" we see onscreen in a few shots is just dry dog-food that had been spray-painted white and was bring dropped from above camera by a few stage-hands.

TedStixon

2nd Jul 2018

The Mummy (1999)

Trivia: Almost all of the muzzle-flashes in the film were digitally added, for two specific reasons. The first being that sometimes muzzle-flashes simply don't show up on film. And second, due to the environment in which the film was made, sand would constantly jam-up the guns the production was using, often in the middle of a shot.

TedStixon

2nd Jul 2018

The Mummy (1999)

Trivia: In one scene, Beni is holding his hat, revealing a rather bad haircut underneath. The actor, Kevin J. O'Connor had just gotten a haircut, but the barber accidentally botched it, leaving him with an unfortunate short, ratty hairstyle. O'Connor thought it looked hilarious and asked to shoot one scene where he had his hat off as a gag. Director Sommers obliged, but as a joke tried to claim in the commentary track that O'Connor really liked the bad haircut and wanted to show it off because he thought it looked cool.

TedStixon

2nd Jul 2018

The Mummy (1999)

Trivia: When the prison warden is being killed by the scarab, during filming, the actor for some reason chose not to wear any underwear, and because he was moving so much, his private-bits kept "falling out" of his pants during takes. The editor had to cut around the unintentional nudity as much as he could. Unfortunately, if you chose to go through the scene frame-by-frame, you can indeed catch about two-frames of footage featuring some of the nudity that got overlooked somehow. Evidently, the MPAA didn't catch it, so the film got to keep its PG-13 rating.

TedStixon

2nd Jul 2018

The Mummy (1999)

Trivia: The soldier-mummies were not in the original script. Instead, Jonathan would accidentally bring to life a giant statue. It was cut for the enormous cost the computer effects for the statue would have incurred, and replaced with the soldier-mummies, since they could be accomplished mainly with old-school suit effects mixed with only minimal CG for specific shots.

TedStixon

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