They have a script and producers and now Universal has a director to helm the reboot of the one of their most popular franchises, ‘The Mummy’.
When it was first announced earlier in the year that Universal was going back to their property vault to bring back ‘The Mummy‘, many were excited. The original film released in 1932 spawned 4 sequels and a parody (‘Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy’). The franchise then lay dormant until 1999 when it was revived with Brendan Fraser in the lead for 3 ‘Mummy’ films. The movies also created a spin-off franchise with ‘The Scorpion King’ whose latest two films went straight-to-the DVD route.
Now it looks like the studio is once again hoping to strike gold and have placed their latest ‘Mummy’ project in the hands of Len Wiseman.
Wiseman is coming off the film ‘Total Recall’ and although he has a few projects in development, none seems to be as concrete as this one. He will be working off a script written by Jon Spaihts (‘Prometheus‘, ‘The Darkest Hour’) and will be working with his two friends Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci who are producing the project through their company K/O Paper Products banner. Kurtzman, Orci and Wiseman are also working together on the pilot for ‘Sleepy Hollow‘, a reworking of the novel written by Washington Irving, for the Fox network.
Kutzman thinks Wiseman is the right director for the job saying, “A lot of the work with Len has been about creating mythology, and I remember seeing ‘Underworld’ and finding it a beautiful advancement of the genre. It was presented in this fresh, incredibly cool concept, but it never gave up its reverence for the mythology and that is what inspired us to meet with Len.”
Wiseman had no doubts to come on board after meeting with Orci and Kurtzman:
“When I first heard Universal was relaunching this, that is the image that popped into my head, the period tale, the old monster, but when Bob and Alex pitched it, there was a great new take and approach, and a very different mummy as well. It’s a darker twist on the material, a scarier version.”
Speaking about approach, apparently this version of the reboot will have the gauze covered villian written in a more modern day context. Kurtzman emphasized that while the last films of the franchise contained a lot of action, they are looking to the “deep roots of ‘The Mummy’ which at its beating heart is a horror movie and then an action movie.”
So expect something a bit more sinister. According to Wiseman, “… (the Mummy is) still in essence a man. They haven’t turned his brain into a monster brain. He still has a personality and is very cunning and calculating. He’s a true character in any form, and in creature form, even if he is that staggering creature, it becomes more important that he’s a thinking, calculating person.”
Universal is shooting for a summer 2014 release for ‘The Mummy’.
So what do you think about a modern Mummy remake directed by Len Wiseman?
Source: Deadline
