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Topics: Film and TV, US News
Lucy Devine
Topics: Film and TV, US News
Brendan Fraser has revealed that he would be up for revisiting the Mummy franchise, if the opportunity arose.
Fraser, 53, played Rick O'Connell in The Mummy and its two sequels - The Mummy Returns which was released in 2001 and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor which hit cinemas in 2008.
While Fraser hasn't appeared in the franchise since the latter sequel, he'd be open to revisiting it.
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“I don’t know how it would work,” he told Variety. “But I’d be open to it if someone came up with the right concept.”
Fraser starred alongside Rachel Weisz, Arnold Vosloo, and Oded Fehr in the OG Mummy film, which was directed by Stephen Sommers.
It followed adventurer Rick O'Connell as he travelled to Hamunaptra, the City of the Dead, where he accidentally awakens Egyptian priest, Imhotep.
Although The Mummy was given a reboot in 2017 - starring Tom Cruise - Fraser wasn't invited back to join the cast.
“It is hard to make that movie,” he added. “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.”
Despite not being part of the 2017 movie, Fraser was supportive of the reboot, telling Access in 2017: "I know very little about the project itself, but I know it's going to be great for an audience, because they were always there for that thrilling popcorn movie feeling and adventure."
Although the reboot grossed over US $410 million, director Alex Kurtzman recently said it was ‘probably the biggest regret of my life’.
He told Bingeworthy podcast that there are a ‘million things’ he regrets about making the Cruise-led reboot.
"I tend to subscribe to the point of view that you learn nothing from your successes, and you learn everything from your failures," he said.
"And that was probably the biggest failure of my life, both personally and professionally.
"There's about a million things I regret about it, but it also gave me so many gifts that are inexpressibly beautiful.
"I didn't become a director until I made that movie, and it wasn’t because it was well-directed — it was because it wasn't."