English Mummy Film
Trinidad Baltzell
The Mummy is a 2017 American fantasy action-adventure film[5] directed by Alex Kurtzman and written by David Koepp, Christopher McQuarrie, and Dylan Kussman, with a story by Kurtzman, Jon Spaihts, and Jenny Lumet. A reboot of the Mummy franchise,[6] it stars Tom Cruise as U.S. Army Sergeant Nick Morton, a soldier of fortune who accidentally unearths the ancient tomb of entrapped Egyptian princess Ahmanet (Sofia Boutella). Annabelle Wallis, Jake Johnson, Courtney B. Vance, and Russell Crowe also star.
In ancient Egypt, Princess Ahmanet was in line to rule over the pharaoh's kingdom, until the pharaoh sired a son. Knowing that her place to rule had been taken, she made a deal with the deity Set and was given demonic powers. She murdered her family and attempted to set the deity free, but was caught and mummified by Egyptian priests for her crimes. Her sarcophagus was then entombed in a region far away so she could never escape.
In present-day London, construction workers discover the tomb of a crusader knight who was buried with an Egyptian ruby, and Dr. Henry Jekyll takes over the operation. In Iraq, U.S. Army Sergeant Nick Morton and Corporal Chris Vail discover the tomb of Princess Ahmanet, unknowingly bringing Ahmanet back to life. The soldiers and British archaeologist, Jenny Halsey, fly Ahmanet's sarcophagus to Britain.
During the flight, Chris is possessed by Ahmanet through a spider bite, and he attacks the others, only to be killed by Nick. A large flock of crows attacks the plane and is sucked into the engines. The plane crashes, killing the crew except for Jenny, who escapes with a parachute Nick gives her.
Nick returns to life in a morgue. Chris's ghost appears and tells him he has been cursed by Ahmanet, who seeks to use him as a vessel for Set. Ahmanet's mummy escapes from the sarcophagus and begins feeding on people to regenerate her body, turning them into zombies. She recovers the Dagger of Set and attempts to stab Nick before realizing that the ruby is not attached to it. She and her army chase after Nick and Jenny until soldiers appear and subdue her.
Guided by Chris's ghost, Nick and Jenny flee into the London Underground, where Ahmanet's zombies attack them. Ahmanet captures Jenny and drowns her. When Nick is brought to Ahmanet, he sees Jenny's body, and the zombies turn to dust. Nick is injured when he tries to attack Ahmanet and lets her embrace him as a ruse to steal the dagger and shatter the ruby. He strikes the pommel of the dagger against the floor, cracking the ruby, but Ahmanet reminds him that the dagger could grant him the power to reverse death. Instead of destroying the gem, he stabs himself, and his body is possessed by Set. Set goes to Ahmanet as he begins to take over, but as he looks at Jenny's dead body, Nick regains control after remembering both her and Jekyll's words and uses Set's powers to extract Ahmanet's life force, killing her. Struggling against Set, Nick also resurrects Jenny. Knowing that Prodigium is coming for him, he says goodbye to Jenny and vanishes.
As Ahmanet is sealed back in her sarcophagus, Jenny and Jekyll wonder whether Nick, now fused with Set, will use his powers for good. Nick returns to the desert and resurrects Chris. The two go on an adventure, hoping to find a cure to remove the curse.
Ahead of the summer release of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, Maria Bello was hopeful that a fourth entry in the series would be made.[21][22] Series newcomer Luke Ford was signed on for three films.[23] The film, entitled The Mummy: Rise of the Aztecs, was to be set in South America and would have seen Antonio Banderas portray the villain.[24][25] Rob Cohen was interested in directing a future installment while Brendan Fraser and John Hannah were supposedly on board.[26][27][28] Plans for the fourth film came to halt in April 2012 when Universal Pictures opted to reboot the series.[29]
Jon Spaihts, known for his work on the Alien prequel Prometheus, was writing the film, while Sean Daniel would act as producer.[30][31] Spaihts hoped to take the franchise back to its horror roots and "simultaneously open it up to an epic scale we haven't seen before".[32] Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci became involved with the project shortly thereafter; signing a two-year deal with the studio to produce The Mummy as well as a "reimagining" of Van Helsing.[33] Len Wiseman was selected to direct the film in September 2012 due to his work on Underworld.[34] Wiseman aimed for a contemporary setting and to make something "entirely different" than the Fraser-led films, while Kurtzman indicated that while The Mummy would still fall into the "four-quadrant audience zone", the film would have a darker tone.[35][36] The works of Michael Crichton were also cited as an influence on the reboot.[37] Universal anticipated a 2014 release.[38] The studio was keen on having production underway in 2013. State of Play screenwriter Billy Ray was contracted to pen a competing draft as a contingency plan should Spaihts' draft fail to satisfy. Universal also prepared to combine the "best of" both scripts if neither were up to par.[39][40] Wiseman would fall off the project in July 2013 in order to focus on Sleepy Hollow.[41] Despite the setback, the project was still a high priority for Universal and was still moving "full-speed ahead".[42]
The studio quickly began searching for a replacement the following month, with Andy Muschietti emerging as the front-runner in September.[43] Spaihts remained attached while an April 2016 release date was slotted in November.[44][45] Spaihts would later be joined by Kurtzman and Orci for subsequent drafts.[46] Muschietti's involvement would not last much longer however, with the Mama filmmaker exiting the project in May 2014.[47] Muschietti intended to follow the previously established darker tone, but a newer family friendly action adventure-approach was favored by the producers, leading to his departure.[48]
In April 2014, Orci would depart from his producing duties in order to focus on directing the third Star Trek film, while Kurtzman would continue developing The Mummy.[49][50] Universal then paired Kurtzman with Chris Morgan, credited for "rebooting" the Fast & Furious franchise, to oversee a new shared universe featuring the Universal Monsters.[51][52] Days later, Kurtzman was in final talks to helm the film.[46] A new release date of June 24, 2016 was given at month's end.[53] Jenny Lumet of Rachel Getting Married was brought in for further rewrites. Lumet choose to turn the titular character from a man to a woman without notifying the studio beforehand. The writer strove to humanize the antagonist and not have them be "evil for the sake of evil" or "not pining away for some lost love".[54] Another delay resulted in the film being pushed to March 24, 2017.[55]
Principal photography on the film began on April 3, 2016, in Oxford, United Kingdom.[69][70] Pinewood Studios and Shepperton Studios were also used for production, with underwater scenes shot at Pinewood.[71] Filming on the movie concluded on July 17, 2016, in London.[72] Production then moved to Namibia for two weeks, with principal photography wrapping up on August 13, 2016.[73]
For the filming of the plane crash the production made use of The Vomit Comet and parabolic flight to simulate the illusion of weightlessness.[74] The crew did a total of 64 takes with many of the crew becoming sick to their stomachs.[75][76] Initially Kurtzman planned to shoot the scene entirely using wires and a rotating set; however, Cruise's insistence changed his mind.[77][78]
During production, Cruise wielded "nearly complete creative oversight" on the film. Cruise was said to have felt like the "real director" of The Mummy by handling the action sequences and "micro-managing" the overall project when Kurtzman struggled to handle the scope of the film. Christopher McQuarrie and Dylan Kussman were enlisted, along with one or two other writers, to help transform the screenplay into a full-fledged Tom Cruise-vehicle; subsiding Boutella's role whilst bringing Cruise to the forefront. The new writers also implemented a plot point which involved the protagonist becoming possessed. Universal was reportedly unimpressed, but continued to let Cruise rework the film.[79] McQuarrie, Kussman, and David Koepp, who was writing the Bride of Frankenstein reboot at the time, were awarded screenplay credit, while story credit was attributed to Spaihts, Kurtzman, and Lumet.[80] On set, crew members were allegedly split between whether they believed Cruise's direction was over-excessive or if he was improving a film "troubled from its inception". Universal denied that the actor's influence negatively impacted the film, saying "Tom approaches every project with a level of commitment and dedication that is unmatched by most working in our business today. He has been a true partner and creative collaborator, and his goal with any project he works on is to provide audiences with a truly cinematic moviegoing experience."[79]
Kurtzman said about the film in a 2019 interview that, "The Mummy wasn't what I wanted it to be. I'm no longer involved in that and have no idea what's going on with it. I look back on it now [and] what felt painful at the time ended up being an incredible blessing for me."[81]
Composer Brian Tyler started work on the music for the movie early, writing about a half hour of music before filming even began. Working on the film for a year and half, Tyler recorded with an 84-piece orchestra and 32-voice choir at London's Abbey Road. He ultimately wrote and recorded over two hours of music, which, given the length of the film (110 minutes), resulted in a soundtrack album longer than the film itself.[85]
On December 20, 2016, IMAX released a trailer with the wrong audio track attached; this unintentionally prompted the creation of memes and video montages featuring the mistakenly included audio track, which was missing most of the sound effects and instead featured Tom Cruise's grunts and screams.[88] IMAX reacted by taking down the trailer and issuing DMCA takedown notices in an attempt to stop it from spreading.[89][88]
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