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Brendan Fraser on The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
By Fred Topel | Image property of Universal Pictures
So much has changed in the Mummy movies. Maria Bello replaces Rachel Weisz as Evie O'Connell. Rob Cohen takes over for director Stephen Sommers. Jet Li is the new mummy. Brendan Fraser is pretty much the only constant (sorry, John Hannah, you're nice too.) Fraser rated the newcomers, giving his new director props.
Brendan Fraser Talks The Mummy 3
"Rob is no stranger to film making," said Fraser. "Having done Fast and the Furious and XXX, he's taken advantage of CGI and good effects to the best of what they have to offer in recent years and succeeded with various degrees of popularity in terms of what contemporary audiences want in the teen to '20 or whatever age group, and up to be fair. In the case of this picture, Rob, knowing that he had so much experience, and that he, as I learned, was an archaeologist or at least was a student of it when he was a young man at Harvard with a particular interest in Chinese history and he is a practicing Buddhist, so putting together everything that is his life's passion I think shows when I watch the picture because it's everything that he cares about all in one."
The new wife was bit of a bigger adjustment. "I saw the script. Out of habit, I'd worked with my friend Rachel on two pictures, you know you read the dialog, you can hear her voice. I had an idea of what her choices are going to be. When I heard that she decided to step aside, I would feel her absence no matter who stepped into the role. Screen testing, reading, meeting other actresses underlined in a way that a role is a role. You just step in and you do it, bring something new to it, and in this case what this picture has done is bring Maria Bello into that character has allowed for a type of re-invention of the librarian cum expeditioner-ess, I think, to have a different run at what the dynamic of that couple is now."
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
There is more than one Rick O'Connells too. Fraser does many of his own stunts, but not all. "We had a great stunt team. Vic Armstrong, I mean come on, he doubled for Sean Connery and got dragged behind the car I think in Indiana Jones. That's him. He knows his stuff. He directed, not a second unit but an action unit, so went off and did the big chunks. The guys I worked with were really enthusiastic and wanted to make sure everyone was safe and stunt guys oftentimes you find out they are either adrenaline junkies or they just want to be in the movies themselves. They want to do whatever it is, they want to do that performance, they want to do that stunt, and you can see they are a bit disappointed if you are going to step in and do it. But if you are going to be paid for it, and you can do it, you might as well go ahead do it. So, Patrick Kerton is my double, great guy, muscular Canadian, if you could put Canada in a bottle that would have been my stunt double. So positive about everything, team sportsman, 'You're gonna go out there and you're gonna be great!' That's the way it was, that's the spirit behind it, but you get a couple of dings and bangs along the way."
Fraser came out of this Mummy unscathed. "I went into it strong and I did not limp across the finish line. It took me three times but I figured it out."
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor opens to theaters on August 1st.
For the production blogs, stills, banners and more movie info, go to The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor Movie Page.
Fred Topel
Sources: Image property of Universal Pictures
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