Back in September, it was announced that director Len Wiseman (
Live Free Or Die Hard,
Underworld) has signed on to helm a reboot of Universal's
The Mummy series. This new take on the franchise, which began in the mid 1930's, was said to be a scarier, darker version of the mythology. Screenwriter Jon Spaihts (
Prometheus) was hired to pen the script, with Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman (
Transformers) producing. Now, speaking with
Movie Web while promoting the Blu-Ray release of his
Total Recall reboot (which hits shelves December 18th), Wiseman offers an update on
The Mummy, and reiterates that this has absolutely nothing to do with the last three films which starred Brendan Fraser.
"There was skepticism. The difference between the two, if The Mummy is to be the next movie for me, is that The Mummy is a completely different film," he says when asked whether or not his views on remakes has changed since
Total Recall.
"It is a modern day take. It doesn't have anything to do with the Brendan Fraser films, and it is not a remake of any kind. The Mummy is one of Universal's long standing, iconic characters, well before the Brendan Fraser movies... This is such a different thing. What was attractive to me...There is still a script to be written, and all of that....But the pitch was to go with a much different tone. It was a Mummy like I'd never heard of before. It's nothing like what you would expect, at all, oddly. I was picturing Egypt, and the sand swept settings. The mummy wrappings. When I heard what they were wanting to actually do with it, it was shocking."
As for the film's tone, Wiseman says that it won't be as action-oriented as the Fraser films.
"It's horror. It's epic. It's more of a modern day version of what would happen if we came across a mummy in our world today. It is pretty fascinating." Interestingly, Movie Web's headline calls the remake "An epic horror movie set in present day America", although Wiseman doesn't specifically say that the film will take place in the USA.
Universal are planning on releasing
The Mummmy sometime in 2014.
About The Author:
Christian, former CBM editor, movie watcher, music listener, comic nerd.
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