Home Entertainment Alex Kurtzman reveals X-MEN influence behind design of THE MUMMY

Alex Kurtzman reveals X-MEN influence behind design of THE MUMMY

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We’ve been seeing quite a lot of news on the new The Mummy reboot following the rather excellent trailer that dropped on Monday. One of the big talking points to come out of everything so far is around Sofia Boutella’s look as the Mummy. Not only is she the first female to take on the titular undead monster, but she also looks particularly haunting and captivating at the same time. Just look at those eyes.

In an interview with CinemaBlend, director Alex Kurtzman has revealed that its all thanks to the X-Men franchise that they landed up with this take on the Mummy for their movie:

There was a moment when I had sort of rendered a design that I liked for a male version of The Mummy. And in that version of The Mummy, the Mummy had been born with a skin pigmentation that at the time would have made him really sort of an outcast. And I thought it was an interesting backstory, because it began to tell the story of someone who had been bullied, which I found topical. I was reaching for a way to make the Mummy a character who is relatable, understandable, and that spoke to issues that we’re dealing with now.

Which I guess represents some take on the themes prevalent in the X-Men movies, but that was not the full reason, as he goes on to explain:

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I was going down that road, and then I saw the end of Days of Future Past. And they had the character that Oscar Isaac wound up playing as a boy, and it was, I kid you not, the exact same design. And I was like, ‘Oh, man! That is not good!’ And actually it was the catalyst, it was the moment of, ‘Okay, not only is this not going to be different enough, Bryan Singer just did it, I definitely don’t want to go down that road.’ I had had that voice in my head for some time to make it a woman, and that was the moment where, the minute I saw that post-credits scene, I went, ‘We have to start over. I don’t want to mess around even remotely with anything that feels familiar or feels like it’s been done. I have to go in totally new territory.

So in the end it was more a case of just wanting to get their Mummy character to stand out from other popular characters in movies. Whatever the reason though, I’m personally quite happy that they’ve gone down this road. From the footage we’ve seen so far, Boutella is certainly making this character her own. We have a truly memorable Mummy on our hands that has infinitely more charisma than what we’ve seen before.

The Mummy is due out in theaters on June 9, 2017. Could we indeed have a new killer franchise on its way? Pardon the pun.

Last Updated: December 12, 2016

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