Director Alex Kurtzman has opened up about his experience helming 2017’s The Mummy, starring Tom Cruise, calling it ‘the biggest failure’ of his life but revealing that he now looks back on the experience ‘with gratitude’.
Kurtzman reflected on all the ‘gifts’ the film gave him too (Picture: Rex)
The movie reportedly cost studio Universal Pictures $345million (£271m) and fell short by tens of millions of dollars to gross what was needed to break even.
The Mummy was set to be the start of an Avengers-style reboot of the studio’s classic horror material, teasing follow-up films with Russell Crowe as Dr Henry Jekyll (who had already appeared in The Mummy), Johnny Depp as the Invisible Man and Oscar nominee Javier Bardem as Frankenstein’s monster.
However, The Mummy’s poor performance and unfavourable reviews put paid to that iteration of the film series.
Director Kurtzman, who had been tapped to oversee the Dark Universe franchise, has admitted there are ‘a million things’ he regrets about the film, which also starred Annabelle Wallis, Jake Johnson, Courtney B Vance and Sofia Boutella, but also appreciated I as ‘a real gift’ in his journey as a filmmaker.
The 48-year-old explained: ‘I tend to subscribe to the point of view that you learn nothing from your successes, and you learn everything from your failures. And that was probably the biggest failure of my life, both personally and professionally.’
Kurtzman said he learned how to direct on The Mummy, despite its failure (Picture: Chiabella James/Universal/Kobal/Rex/Shutterstock)
He continued: ‘I didn’t become a director until I made that movie, and it wasn’t because it was well directed – it was because it wasn’t. I would not have understood many of the things that I now understand about what it means to be a director had I not gone through that experience.’
With reports at the time of the film’s release claiming that Cruise ‘had excessive control’ over the production, as per Variety, Kurtzman told the Playlist’s Bingeworthy podcast: ‘As brutal as it was, in many ways, and as many cooks in the kitchen as there were, I am very grateful for the opportunity to make those mistakes because it rebuilt me into a tougher person and it also rebuilt me into a clearer filmmaker.’
Applying it to later projects, which includes upcoming TV series The Man Who Fell to Earth, the writer, director and producer revealed that he is ‘very clear now when I have a feeling that doesn’t feel right – I am not quiet about it anymore’.
Cruise with co-star Annabelle Wallis
Sofia Boutella starred as the titular mummy and sole female protagonist in Universal’s planned Dark Universe franchise
Kurtzman also added that he can ‘look back on it now with gratitude’.
‘It took me a while to get there, but my life is better for it.’
The success of a lower-key Blumhouse remake of 1933’s The Invisible Man in 2020, focused on the wife of said invisible man, played by Elisabeth Moss, was gratefully received by Universal.
Although the expected films promised by that awkward celebrity cast photo tweeted in 2017 have gone quiet, the studio still appears to be using its famous back catalogue.
It’s currently in production with Renfield, based on Dracula’s henchman, and starring Nicolas Cage, Nicholas Hoult, Awkwafina and Ben Schwartz.
Source: metro
