Looks like Russell Crowe is definitely going to be HYDE-ing in plain sight after all. Get it? Hyde? Because he’s now confirmed to play Dr Jekyll of “Jekyll and Hyde” fame in Universal’s upcoming The Mummy reboot?…. Hello?… Anybody still there? Oh who cares if you’re listening or not! I’m going to talk about this movie anyway!
After news broke last week that Crowe may be joining the production, Collider took the opportunity during an interview for The Nice Guys to ask him about the report of his involvement, and the Australian born actor straight up confirmed it.
“Yeah, I’m gonna do it. I’m gonna play Dr. Henry Jekyll, Fellow of the Royal Society. It’s very interesting, what they’re gonna do with that stuff. I’ve had a couple of chats about it with the director (Alex Kurtzman).”
As reported originally, Tom Cruise will still be the star of the movie, playing a Navy SEAL who will be facing off against Sofia Boutella’s titular Mummy, while Crowe’s role will be an extended cameo of sorts, with the hopes of it setting up a solo movie later on. And despite the fact that both Cruise and Crowe have been in the business for decades, this will mark the first time they actually worked together.
“I’ve known Tom Cruise since 1992, or something like that. When he was married to an Australian, I was really good friends with him. But when he got divorced, I was part of the settlement package, and I went to Nicole [Kidman].”
The 2017 release is set to be the first in Universal’s new shared monster movie universe, breaking away from the previous Mummy movies led by Brendon Fraser. Those movies – especially the still highly enjoyable first movie – were essentially fun, swashbuckling action-adventures, but we should prepare ourselves for something a bit more intense in this new modern-day take as Crowe says that is “designed to seriously scare the sh-t out of you.”
A lot of this intensity is coming from director Alex Kurtzman who made his name writing/producing some of the biggest Hollywood blockbusters and TV series of the last two decades with creative partner Roberto Orci. Besides for this being only his second feature film directing gig, Kurtzman is now also acting as the main creative lead on the entire new Universal monster movie universe, putting all that multifaceted experience to use.
He really understands the world and he’s been around a long time, on a lot of big projects. He knows how to get something from an idea on the page onto a soundstage and into a camera. Sure, I would imagine he’s scared shitless right about now, and having a hard time sleeping because he’s got ten million things on his mind right now. But when we started talking about this idea, there were a few things I put up in the air and he picked up on them. Those kinds of creative collaborative conversations, if they’re explosive like that from the first time you start talking, and somebody says something that goes off in your mind and that bumps up something that you say and that other person bounces off of that, you’re actually in a really good place. How they’ve pulled all of this stuff forward into a contemporary world and how they’re building it out from there, and how all of the different character interweave into each other’s stories, it’s fantastic.
Along with Crowe’s statements, Universal have now also released the official synopsis for the film.
Tom Cruise headlines a spectacular, all-new cinematic version of the legend that has fascinated cultures all over the world since the dawn of civilization: The Mummy.
Thought safely entombed in a crypt deep beneath the unforgiving desert, an ancient queen (Sofia Boutella of Kingsman: The Secret Service and Star Trek Beyond) whose destiny was unjustly taken from her, is awakened in our current day, bringing with her malevolence grown over millennia and terrors that defy human comprehension.
From the sweeping sands of the Middle East through hidden labyrinths under modern-day London, The Mummy brings a surprising intensity and balance of wonder and thrills in an imaginative new take that ushers in a new world of gods and monsters.
The Mummy was scripted by Jon Spaihts (Prometheus) and also stars Annabelle Wallis, Jake Johnson and Courtney B. Vance. It is scheduled for release on June 9, 2017.
Last Updated: May 10, 2016
