22 unknown facts about the film “The Mummy,” in which Ancient Egypt was turned upside down (12 photos + 2 videos)
Do you know that the phenomenal success of The Mummy at the box office was a huge surprise for the authors? The film collected five times more money than they spent on it! 
1. I immediately want to ask a rhetorical question: what does the title of the film refer to? After all, Imhotep was not mummified in the strict sense. In the novelization of the film, published almost simultaneously with the premiere of The Mummy, the details of the Hom-Dai curse are revealed. Imhotep was doomed to eternal suffering, imprisoned in a sarcophagus with scarabs, with which a vicious symbiosis occurred: they gnawed at him, and he at them. Thus, both sides received a “charge of vivacity” for eternal torment in the sarcophagus. 
2. “The Mummy” is a remake of the 1932 film of the same name, directed by Karl Freund. More precisely, not her own, but her sequel “The Mummy’s Hand” (1940). Interestingly, the earlier remake, directed by Terence Fisher in 1959, also has little to do with the 1932 film, but plays on the storyline of The Mummy's Tomb (1942). In general, everything is very confusing in the world of mummies :)
3. The idea of “The Mummy 1999” was born in the depths of Universal Pictures back in the late 80s. The film was planned to be a low-budget horror film with the prospect of milking a franchise out of it. According to the recollections of one of the screenwriters, the film studio wanted to amuse the viewer with blood and meat in the present tense (in the sense of the late 90s) in the style of the Terminator: the mummy is resurrected in a certain research laboratory and she begins to look for Sarah Connor, destroying her left and right. However, the project fell into “production hell”: the script was rewritten many times, directors were changed like gloves, Universal itself was bursting at the seams and had no time for it. Stephen Sommers pulled the film out of there: being a big fan of The Mummy 1932 and its sequels, he was able not only to collect and organize everything, but also to break through an impressive budget. 
4. Who reads the voiceover at the beginning of the film? Medjay Ardeth Bay. At first it was supposed to put words into the mouth of Imhotep, but director Stephen Sommers thought better of it in time: speaking English for an Egyptian priest from the 13th century BC. (who, moreover, speaks only ancient Egyptian in the film) will only add laughter to the ranks of movie blooper hunters. And Imhotep doesn’t have much to say. 
4.1. Israeli actor Oded Fehr made his big screen debut in the role of Ardeth Bey.
5. Ardeth Bay – anagram of Death By Ra (“death from Ra”).
5.1. The Medjai are a historical "breed" of paramilitary forces in Ancient Egypt, but their references are lost during the 20th Dynasty and they were in no way the bodyguards of the pharaoh. 
6. There is no Cairo or Egypt in general in the footage. The “Egyptian” nature was filmed in Morocco.
7. $15 million of the film's 80 million budget (see paragraph 22) went to computer special effects specialists (mainly George Lucas's Industrial Light & Magic).
8. This scene almost ended in disaster: Brendan Fraser lost consciousness and had to be pumped out in intensive care. But they could have been left without “Kit”... 
9. The wheezes of mummies are the product of sound engineering magic over the growls of a tiger and a bear.
10. The Egyptians used only 4 canopic jars during mummification. In this case, the heart remained in the body of the mummy, since it contained the soul. The Book of the Dead was not a book at all in the current sense: most often it was papyrus scrolls or frescoes. And, of course, the “book” was not used to resurrect the dead: on the contrary, it was supposed to help the deceased find their way in another world. 
11. The name Evelyn Carnahan is very reminiscent of the name of Lady Evelyn Carnarvon, who in November 1922 was one of the first to enter the tomb and burial chamber of Tutankhamun. By the way, about curses: Evelyn Carnarvon died at the age of 79.
12. The tattoo on Ardeth’s forehead is an ancient Egyptian hieroglyph meaning “world of the dead,” and on his cheeks is “truth.” 
13. The library vandalism scene :) was filmed in one take.
14. In thisThe episode was done without special effects: just John Hannah (Jonathan) lifted himself up on an empty apple crate :) Notice how the actor moves his hands along the wall.
15. Both times Anck-su-namun (Patricia Velazquez) dies from a stab wound in the stomach and both times this scene is shown using shadows.
16. Rick says goodbye to Beni (Kevin O'Connor) three times.
17. American comrades make fun of Imhotep’s mummy: “if you dry it well, you can sell it instead of brushwood.” Pyramid robbers actually used mummies for fires and torches.
18. The film contains many hints about the future fate of the characters and upcoming events. For example, prison warden Hassan (Omid Djalili) says he hates bugs; Burns (Tuc Watkins), wiping his glasses on the boat, says that without them he won't be able to see his cards. And Evelyn simply destroys everything: first the library, and then Hamunaptra.
19. One of the candidates for the role of Rick O'Connell was Tom Cruise. History is silent about the reason why the parties did not agree. However, in 2017, the actor still played in the new remake of The Mummy. It's a disgusting sight, I tell you. Don't waste your life on him.
20. Arnold Vosloo (Imhotep) from South Africa, received American citizenship in 1988.
21. The Port of Giza was filmed at Chatham Dockyard in Kent.
22. Budget - $80 million, box office - $416 million. According to Sommers, the morning after the premiere he received a call from Universal and was offered to shoot a sequel.
22.1. Fraser’s fee was $4 million. For the sequel “The Mummy Returns” (2001), he already received $12.5 million.
On January 20, 2023, Brendan Fraser made a surprise appearance as Rick on stage at a London cinema before a fan screening of The Mummy. Advertised "Kita" :)
