With the emergence of male superstar Tom Cruise, the official trailer for the remake of The Mummy is drawing significant attention from audiences in Vietnam as well as globally. This sets the stage for a cinematic world filled with monsters like The Wolfman, Frankenstein, Van Helsing, and more.
Alongside the introduction of Tom Cruise, the trailer has also revealed the intriguing design of the mummy princess Ahmanet, portrayed by Sofia Boutella. However, few are aware that the original concept for this mummy had to undergo substantial changes, as it initially resembled Apocalypse from last year’s X-Men film far too closely.
Initially, the concept of Princess Ahmanet was intended to feature a male mummy with a dark skin tone, adorned in regal attire of gray shades that immediately connected viewers to her thousands of years of imprisonment. Additionally, her figure was to include elements that would evoke a haunting feeling among the audience.
This new depiction is entirely different from the mummies in the 1932 and 1999 versions. Director Alex Kurtzman has shared that they had to completely rework the design of this mummy to ensure it did not resemble the character from X-Men: Apocalypse.
“There was a time when I had the idea that the design for a male mummy would be used for The Mummy. This male mummy was intended to be designed with a dark skin tone to help the audience realize that it had existed for a long time. I also thought of a story where this mummy would still be alive, but only in the form of my skin tone. That’s also why this character hates humanity.”
Thus, the initial intention of the production team was to create an image of a male mummy with a dark skin tone. But why are we seeing a female mummy in the trailer? What led the production team of The Mummy to completely change the gender of this character? The reason given is that the design of the male mummy was too closely related to Apocalypse’s character in X-Men.
“I was almost certain about the design for the film, and then I watched the conclusion of Days of Future Past. I noticed the character portrayed by Oscar Isaac, Apocalypse, also had a very tough appearance, almost resembling our design. I felt that this concept was indeed unsettling. It was a moment when I decided to think again about the character’s mummy in the film and turn him into… a female.”
Oscar Isaac previously portrayed the character En Sabah Nur in the film X-Men: Apocalypse last summer, which seems to have prompted the director of The Mummy to reassess their design. This is also the reason why we end up with a female mummy instead of a male one, indicating that the production team was not short on creativity…
