Did you know that your favorite character in The Mummy, Rick O’Connell, could have been played by the one and only Leonardo DiCaprio? DiCaprio apparently would have loved to take the role, but the timing just didn’t work out. He had recently signed to be the main character for The Beach, but was dying to be in The Mummy.
He even pushed the production team of The Beach to see if they could delay filming, but they refused and the rest is history. Leo must have been fuming though, because filming for The Beach ended up being delayed anyway. Unfortunately for DiCaprio, it was all too late. But really, could you imagine anyone other than Brendan Fraser playing Rick?
The Mummy Theme Park
The Mummy fever didn’t just spread through theaters, but also to theme parks. Universal Studios opened a theme park ride designed on The Mummy films. The ride was built in 2004 and was called Revenge of the Mummy. One each was installed in Florida and California.
After their launch, the lines were unbelievably long, with eager thrill-seekers literally bathed in sweat as they inched closer to the entrance. The theme park ride seemed to hypnotize whoever went in there. Just like in the film, fans would chant loudly “Im-ho-tep-Im-ho-tep-Im-ho-tep.”
Improvised Gags
When we watch movies, there are scenes that just stay in our minds, impossible to forget; which, of course, makes us love those films even more. In The Mummy, a number of fan-favorite scenes like this were, as it turns out, invented completely on the fly!
The moment when Rick jumps from the burning boat, telling the dodgy Egyptian warden “I’ll be right back” (while clearly abandoning him to the flames and swords onboard) was invented by the film’s director in a moment of inspiration that woke him from sleep the night before. And Beni’s odious plea for the mummy to “think about my children” (which he fails to mention are non-existent), just spilled out of actor Kevin J. O’Connor’s mouth in the moment!
Poor O’Connor
Fate appears to have had it in for Kevin J. O’Connor during the filming of The Mummy. His ego in particular took a bit of a battering. Aside from being snubbed by all the camels, O’Connor experienced some dramas on-set that hit a little closer to home.
His character, Beni, took a bit of a beating in the Egyptologist’s office. Unfortunately, Beni’s pain wasn’t all just good acting on O’Connor’s part. While shooting that scene, the poor guy was genuinely injured. He suffered bruising and had to be brought to medical attention... to have his nipples iced. Unfortunately, no amount of ice can soothe a bruised ego.
The Trick
In this modern day and age, we all know how green screens work, right? For The Mummy actors, they were a newly evolving technology and no-one was yet used to working with them for the majority of filming. Under these new constraints, it was difficult for the actors to have a feel for where they were, and the action that was going on around them.
Accessing the requisite emotions to achieve an outstanding scene was a challenge. So, the crew devised an awkward scheme to draw the terror and dread they needed from the actors. Photos of Arnold Vosloo in full, CGI-enhanced mummy get-up were displayed for the actors. While their methods were old-school, they did seem to do the trick!