Finally, Sommers received his window of opportunity and pitched his idea to Universal with an 18-page treatment. He had wanted to make a Mummy film since 1993, but other writers or directors were always attached.
Sommers had seen the original film when he was eight, and wanted to recreate the things he liked about it on a bigger scale. Stephen Sommers called Jacks and Daniel in 1997 with his vision of The Mummy 'as a kind of Indiana Jones or Jason and the Argonauts with the mummy as the creature giving the hero a hard time'. Mick Garris was attached to direct but eventually left the project, and Wes Craven was offered the film but turned it down. Romero was unable to extricate himself from another contract he had in negotiation with MGM, and so his involvement with the film was severed and the development of an entirely new script was commissioned. Romero's script was considered too dark and violent by Jacks and the studio, who wanted a more accessible picture. After escaping into the city sewer system, Karis embarks on a vengeful rampage against the various criminal fences and high society antiquarians who had acquired stolen relics from his tomb. Summoning mystical powers through incantation, Imhotep later resurrects the mummy of Karis, a loyal slave whose body had been resting alongside his master's in the same tomb but is now held in the local museum. Assuming at first that he is a representative from the Bureau of Antiquities, Helen finds herself drawn into a tentative relationship with Imhotep while also experiencing clairvoyant flashbacks to a previous life in Nineteenth Dynasty Egypt as a priestess of Isis. The script progresses to a fish-out-of-water story when Imhotep, having regained his youthful appearance, recognizes the need to adapt to a contemporary society that is three thousand years removed from the one he came from. Unfolding in a nameless American city in modern times, events are set into motion when Imhotep inadvertently awakens as a result of his preserved cadaver having been exposed to rays from an MRI scan in a high-tech forensic archaeology lab. Romero completed a draft in October 1994, co-written with Ormsby and Sayles, that revolved around female archaeologist Helen Grover and her discovery of the tomb of Imhotep, an Egyptian general who lived in the time of Ramesses II. Romero was brought in with a vision of a zombie-style horror film similar to Night of the Living Dead, but which also relied heavily upon elements of tragic romance and ambivalence of identity. Together, everyone painted an enjoyable film, delivering exactly what it promised fun, action, and adventure.Filmmaker George A. O'Connor added to the film in important ways, too. In fact, most of the remaining characters were well chosen. He must have had to imagine quite a bit of what he was interacting with to pull it off, and he does so with great style and substance for this type of role. How Arnold Vosloo dealt with those in his role as the mummy Imhotep should be acknowledged. The special effects were the real star of the film, and they were visually rewarding and complimented the story in the right way in the right places. He seems to be developing into a versatile actor who will be around for a long time. At first, I didn't particularly care for Brendan Fraser as the primary character (he's too well kept and cutesy for a rugged guy-type for me), be he grows on you. The internet was lit-up searching for more photos of this guy.
The newcomer, Oded Fehr as Ardeth Bey, set quite a few female hearts aflutter in our party, at least. But Velazquez isn't the only thing to turn heads in the film, Rachel Weisz is appropriately attractive, though not as startling her character is as solid and believable as she is lovely. Some have mistakenly guessed her top was a mesh costume of some sort not true, it is entirely - and only - paint. Especially tantalizing is the strictly painted-on attire of Patricia Velazquez as Anck-Su-Namum what a stunning visual but it completely upstages her performance. I would love to see an entire film built around that. The most visually rich part of the film was the opening scenes set in ancient Egypt.
Here, the makers took the original stock horror film and turned it into an Indianajonesesque adventure in the tradition of Raiders of the Lost Ark.
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