The Mummy Returns
Short description
Set in 1935, roughly a decade after the events of The Mummy, The Mummy Returns finds Rick and Evelyn O'Connell living in London with their young son, Alex. Their quiet life ends when the mummified priest Imhotep is brought back by a cult that wants his power for its own purposes, and a second, older evil stirs as well: the Scorpion King, who broke a bargain with the god Anubis millennia ago. Alex becomes the target of both sides, and his parents must protect him while keeping the forces of the ancient world from destroying everything.
Stephen Sommers wrote and directed the film, the fifth feature he directed and a direct follow-up to his 1999 hit The Mummy. Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz return as Rick and Evelyn, with John Hannah as Jonathan, Oded Fehr as Ardeth Bay, Arnold Vosloo as Imhotep and Patricia Velásquez as Meela. Sean Daniel and James Jacks produced the film.
Made for about 98 million USD, The Mummy Returns took roughly 443 million USD worldwide, a strong return on its budget. Audience response has been moderate: on IMDb it holds 6.4 out of 10 from around 366,000 votes, and on TMDB also 6.4 from about 7,900 votes. A film critics' rating of 5.5 out of 10, based on 141 reviews, is slightly below those audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- The two men guarding the Anubis bracelet in Ivy's vision are brothers in real life.
- Pay attention to Izzy's teeth. They change three times throughout the film. In several scenes, he is missing a couple of teeth, and then you can see him with a single gold tooth, sometimes on the right side and sometimes on the left.
- For the first time in history, London's Tower Bridge was closed to traffic for film shooting. Local authorities only allowed traffic to be stopped for 20 minutes, but even during that short period, traffic jams on nearby streets became so huge that they caused numerous complaints and threats of arrest from the police. As a result, the time allotted to the film crew to close the bridge was reduced to 10 minutes.
- At the 16th minute, Rick and Evelyn run from the water and find themselves in a dead-end corridor. You can notice that instead of Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz, their stunt doubles are preparing to be hit by the water near the wall.
- Ardel Bay is the only character in the film who refers to Imhotep as a “creature”.
- During the filming of the movie, Brendan Fraser herniated a spinal disc, as well as suffered a cracked rib and knee injuries. Dwayne Johnson suffered from heatstroke and food poisoning.
- The handprints in the terribly messy toilet on the train belong to director Stephen Sommers.
- Before the double-decker bus reaches the bridge, it circles the same corner twice.
- The confrontation at the O’Connell mansion was originally intended to take place in a casino owned by Jonathan, but this idea was abandoned due to budgetary considerations.
- Despite the climactic battle between Rick and the Scorpion King at the end of the film, Brendan Fraser and Dwayne Johnson never actually met face-to-face before the premiere.
- The character Izzy was named after director Stephen Sommers' dog.
- A sequel was officially greenlit the day after the premiere of the original film on May 7, 1999.
- Young Freddie Boat was a devoted fan of the first film in the franchise, having memorized practically every scene and every line. Whenever anyone on set needed clarification on a detail from the first film, they would ask him and invariably receive a comprehensive answer.
- The building used as the British Museum was actually one of the structures belonging to University College London. At the time of filming, the British Museum was undergoing reconstruction and was surrounded by scaffolding.
- According to the original script, when Rick asked Izzy what happened to his airplane, Izzy replied that he lost it in a poker game.
- In the scene where Rick and Jonathan are trapped in the bathroom at the O'Connells' estate, if you look at the glass window before they jump out of it, the glass appears smooth. However, if you look at it right before the jump, you can see that all the glass is already cracked.
- Contrary to established tradition, the film's title does not appear at the beginning. It can only be seen at the end, after the names of the main actors and before the start of the main credits.
- Brendan Fraser wanted the O'Connell family to live in a typical city apartment in London, but ultimately, their residence became a spacious mansion. This was done to provide more space for an extended struggle.
- In the scene where the heroes pass by a room filled with gold, one of the statues is an enlarged Oscar statuette, partially hidden from view by other objects.
- When Rick and Evie run out of the museum, they are pursued by four mummies, however, in the subsequent fight, the heroes only defeat three. The fourth, according to the script, was supposed to attack Alex after the bus stopped, but the director preferred to cut this scene, believing that the audience was already saturated with action involving mummies and wanted to see the continuation of the heroes' story sooner.
- To constantly maintain his impeccably smooth, hairless appearance, Arnold Vosloo was forced to shave the hair on his entire body twice a day.
- Dwayne Johnson (The Scorpion King) delivers all of his few lines in the Ancient Egyptian language.
- Filming period: May 1 – September 29, 2000
- The design of Anouk Su Namun's dress sleeves completely matches the coloring of her body in a past life.
- The house used as the O'Connell mansion had previously been used as part of a library in the original film. It was also used for filming 'The Omen' (1976).
- Director Steven Sommers appears in a cameo as a man sitting in an outdoor bathtub a few steps from Izzy when the heroes approach him for help.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
