Brendan Fraser on The Mummy reboot: 'I know why Tom Cruise's The Mummy flopped'

Virgin Radio

17 Oct 2022, 07:34

The pyramid robbing OG reveals all.

We're very much enjoying the Brendan Fraser revival. If you haven't seen his extraordinary turn in Darren Aronofsky's The Whale, then do rectify that at the first available opportunity.

But to most, Brendan, 53, will always be the swashbuckling treasure hunter Rick O'Connell in The Mummy (1999), which was revisited by Tom Cruise - with mixed results - in 2017.

Brendan has thoughts about why that reboot hit much less often than it should of, speaking to Variety about that version, while also confirming he'd "be open" to returning to the franchise.

"I don't know how it would work. But I'd be open to it if someone came up with the right conceit," he said.

He went on: "It is hard to make that movie. The ingredient that we had going for our Mummy, which I didn't see in that film, was fun. That was what was lacking in that incarnation. 

"It was too much of a straight-ahead horror movie. The Mummy should be a thrill-ride, but not terrifying and scary. I know how difficult it is to pull it off, I tried to do it three times."

In the same interview, director Stephen Sommers recalled why he cast Fraser as O'Connell as Rick O'Connell all those years ago.

He said, "He could throw a punch and take a punch and he had a great sense of humour. You really like the guy. He never comes across as cocky or arrogant. He was game for anything we threw at him."

We love it and we love the Brendonaisance. Does that work? Doesn't matter. We do.