By Ryan Parsons | Image property of respective holders, Variety.
The Mummy
Universal Pictures is looking ahead for their Mummy franchise and I'm not just talking The Mummy 3. The studio has picked up 26-year-old Australian actor Luke Ford to enter the third installment as Brendan's son with hopes that he will take over in future sequels.
Luke Ford for The Mummy 3
Luke Ford will take over the responsibility of playing Richard O'Connell's (Brendan Fraser) son. Though 26 sounds a bit too old, the age should work perfectly in order to transition Ford into the lead character in future installments.
"We may spin off into a complete father-son direction with Brendan (Fraser, who played the adventurer who battled the monster in the first two installments), but by getting an actor who is in his 20s and not a teenager, we can also put the future on his shoulders," Cohen told Daily Variety. "He tested against four much more established actors, and he was magic when he read with Brendan."
Universal Pictures casting move has been a common practice of recent with growing sequels. With salaries growing with each film's next installment, the studios reach out for new blood to get the casting cost down again.
Ford will play Alex O' Connell, the 20ish son of adventurer Rick O'Connell, who journeys into the forbidden tombs of China and into the Himalayas, where they run into a new shape-shifting mummy, a former Chinese emperor who was cursed by a female wizard. Jet Li plays the mummy, Michelle Yeoh the wizard.
Universal is still looking for somebody to replace Rachel Weitz.
The third The Mummy installment was written by Smallville creators Miles Millar and Alfred Gough. Shooting will begin in Montreal on July 27th and then move to China. Universal is hoping for a July 2008 theatrical release.
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