Today, The Hollywood Reporter got word that Kingsman: The Secret Service and Star Trek Beyond star Sofia Boutella will play The Mummy herself in the upcoming reboot at Universal. This will come as a bit of a surprise given the original Mummy was a male. Also in the original script for the reboot the Mummy was based off King Ashurbanipal the long dead king of Assyria. It looks like writer Jon Spahits has gone back to rewrite the Mummy as a female pharaoh instead. Which really isn’t so much a big deal…
Here is the actress in heavy makeup on the set of Star Trek Beyond, there is an expectation that makeup will be heavily involved in the film. Sofia will also take a role in the upcoming action thriller The Coldest City opposite Charlize Theron and James McAvoy, helmed by John Wick co-director David Leitch. It seems like a good play on the part of Universal to nab her before she lands another leading franchiser role.
There hasn’t been much talk on who will star in the lead. Rumors circulated a few weeks ago Mission impossible star Tom Cruise may jump on board but it was quickly denied by Cruise’s reps. This will also be one film in an upcoming slew of Universal monster films that will culminate in an “Avengers-style” team-up movie down the road. Other films include Frankenstein, The Wolfman, Van Helsing and Creature from the Black Lagoon.
A while back when Guillermo del Toro was putting together a bunch of these monster movies for Universal under his contract with them (including a Frankenstein film), it was reported he had Cruise attached to play Van Helsing in a version from Rupert Sanders (Ghost In The Shell, Snow White and The Huntsman). This might not be the exact role in The Mummy, but it’s worth noting none the less.
Apparently, The Black Lagoon‘s Gill-Man was also expected to make a cameo in 2004’s Helsing film (it included Dracula, Wolf Man and Frankenstein), but never made the final film. That film seemingly might be the inspiration for having Helsing as the bridging characters for all these monster movies, becoming their Nick Fury. A role that I’m sure they’d want to offer to Cruise, or someone of that box office draw and would be able to take on someone like the Mummy.
The Hollywood Reporter has stated that The Mummy will be the first of the planned “classic monster” films. With another Dracula movie planned which means 2014’s Dracula Untold is indeed not canon anymore..
Some actors we’d like to see play the new Dracula would be Javier Bardem or Edgar Ramirez, that’s unless Universal has Cruise in mind for the part.
The Mummy reboot hits March 2017