The Mummy, released in 1999, was almost entirely different from the blockbuster classic that eventually arrived in theaters. Over the near century-long tenure of The Mummy franchise, the movies have gone through many shifts in tone, character, and story, ranging from straight horror to comedic action-adventure. As such, it's perhaps unsurprising that the most popular entry of the series almost had an entirely different design and narrative from the darkly comic film that was eventually released in 1999.
A loose remake of the 1932 film of the same name, The Mummy follows adventurer Rick O'Connell (Brendan Fraser) as he travels with Evelyn Carnahan (Rachel Weisz) and her older brother, Jonathan (John Hannah), in a search for the mythical City of the Dead. Upon arriving, they inadvertently awaken the high priest of Pharaoh Seti I, Imhotep from his millennia-long slumber. With an all-star cast, Brendan Fraser nearly dying as Rick O'Connell, and an infectious blend of action, comedy, and genuine scares, it's no wonder the start of the series was a box office home run. However, things could have been very different had the original vision for The Mummy come to pass.
The return of the franchise was first conceived in 1980 with the intent of using The Mummy to launch a low-budget horror franchise. Universal initially hired George A. Romero, who is also known as the "Father of the Zombie Film", to have a heavy involvement in the project. George A. Romero was attached to write and direct the revival of the 1932 Universal monster classic and was limited to a budget of $10 million, about an eighth of what the final film cost. Romero's vision was different in that he wanted a voiceless monster for the mummy and the romance to have a bitter ending. With dwindling momentum on the project, Romero would drift away from The Mummy, abandoning the script, while producers would find the legendary Clive Barker to pick up where Romero left off. But, even though Barker himself has undoubted horror pedigree, his involvement would also have resulted in a very different movie that may have been to The Mummy's detriment.
How Clive Barker Leaving Helped Save The Mummy
Clive Barker is a horror icon, responsible for a large collection of novels, plays, and films that have made significant waves in the horror scene. From Hellraiser to Candyman, and the horror anthology, Books Of Blood, Clive Barker is well versed in the grim and the violent, which is unsurprisingly exactly what his treatment of The Mummy looked like. Both Barker and Romero seemed to be lining up their Mummy for enduring life in Universal's attempted "Dark Universe" electing to make a terrifying monster that captured the souls of his enemies and the nightmares of the audience.
With either horror icon attached, there are several ways in which The Mummy would have been entirely different from the one that was released in 1999. Even though the original script for the 1999 film shared similar elements to the more horror-inflected treatment, it's likely that a Barker or Romero Mummy would have been devoid of the comic relief that made the final movie so appealing. Moments such as Evelyn's library introduction scene may well have been absent, detracting from the movie as a whole. But all these years later, with two sequels, a spin-off series, and a reboot, it's clear that the revised The Mummy plan was hugely successful, suggesting that years of searching for the right fit, and the right script, was in fact, the right choice.