Movies
Article Blames Tom Cruise for ‘The Mummy’ Woes
And so begins the finger pointing.
While Universal Pictures’ The Mummy reboot is an international success, it’s coming unwrapped here in the States. The reason for its failure could be one of many factors including taking on Wonder Woman to the brutal critical assault on the film. But some insiders are directing the blame at star Tom Cruise.
Variety wrote a lengthy attack piece that alleges that Cruise “had excessive control” over the film’s production as if that’s some sort of surprise. I know this may be the unpopular opinion, but Cruise’s involvement was the only reason I had faith in the film. Universal lost me instantly when they released the trash heap Dracula Untold (2014), which was initially to be the first film in the newly-titled Dark Universe. The biggest turnoff, however, was Universal’s decision to hire Alex Kurtzman to direct the film, who may have written and produced a handful of summer blockbusters, but was untested as a director.
The article alleges that Kurtzman was already in the running to helm The Mummy, but Universal didn’t lock him in until Cruise gave his blessing. Herein lies the problem, this union allowed Cruise to take full control of the project without much resistance from Kurtzman. It’s never a good thing when a star is running amok without anyone to give a firm “NO”. With that said, I think Cruise’s track record stands for itself, and it’s well known amongst those in the industry that Cruise always has massive creative control over his projects. Why wouldn’t he? Being that he’s the draw and the star power, why wouldn’t he demand control over his own destiny? Fair or not, that is why he’s taking the blunt of the blame on The Mummy when actually fingers should be pointed at the Universal executives who approved the hiring of Kurtzman.
(L to R) TOM CRUISE as Nick Morton and director/producer ALEX KURTZMAN on the set of “The Mummy”.
But I digress, the article linked above notes how the film was changed after Cruise’s attachment.
“There were other ways that The Mummy was transformed from a scary summer popcorn movie into a standard-issue Tom Cruise vehicle. The actor personally commissioned two other writers along with McQuarrie to crank out a new script. Two of the film’s three credited screenwriters, McQuarrie and Dylan Kussman, an actor-writer who played small roles in The Mummy and Jack Reacher, were close allies of Cruise’s. The script envisioned Nick Morton as an earnest Tom Cruise archetype, who is laughably described as a “young man” at one point.
His writers beefed up his part. In the original script, Morton and the Mummy (played by Sofia Boutella) had nearly equal screen time. The writers also added a twist that saw Cruise’s character become possessed, to give him more of a dramatic arc. Even though Universal executives weren’t thrilled about the story — which feels disjointed and includes the strange plot twist of Russell Crowe as Dr. Jekyl — they went along with Cruise’s vision.”
Even through the slander, there are those who back Cruise, including Frank Walsh, the supervising art director.
“This is very much a film of two halves: before Tom and after Tom,” said Walsh. “I have heard the stories about how he drives everything and pushes and pushes, but it was amazing to work with him. The guy is a great filmmaker and knows his craft. He will walk onto a set and tell the director what to do, say ‘that’s not the right lens,’ ask about the sets, and as long as you don’t fluff what you’re saying to him … he’s easy to work for.”
This aligns with what I’ve heard over the years in that Cruise is not only the utmost professional but everyone loves him. He’s the kind of guy who treats the cast and crew well, taking care of those around him as if they’re family; in fact, Cruise supports local businesses during each production, bringing in his favorite places from around town to cater the cast and crew with food and drinks (on his dime), and whatever else he’s a fan of.
Digressing, again, yes, Cruise had control and thus his vision put on screen, and I’m okay with that. What I’m not okay with is that he was given an inexperienced director to boss around. A film’s success or failure begins at the top, and as powerful as Tom Cruise is, he’s not the one who signed the contracts…
Now we wait to see if the Dark Universe continues or if Universal unplugs The Bride of Frankenstein before it’s officially shocked to life.
It’s been eight years since Ari Aster came onto the scene and helped usher in a new wave of horror with Hereditary, one of the rare horror movies from the past ten years that still seems to come up in conversation every single week. And it’s back in the conversation this week, with Ari Aster revealing at an event that he’s already written a prequel to Hereditary!
Ari Aster was on hand at the American Cinematheque for Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair last week, a Los Angeles festival that screened all of Aster’s movies to date. The website Gold Derby reports that Aster revealed the Hereditary prequel script during a Q&A at the event, and you can watch the full Q&A conversation below for confirmation on the website’s report.
“I wrote a prequel to this,” Aster told the crowd, referring to Hereditary. “It never feels like the right time to do it. It’s a prequel, not a sequel so I don’t know where this goes.”
Would a potential Hereditary prequel dig deeper into the mythology of demon king Paimon? Unfortunately, Aster provides no further details on his prequel approach at this time.
Aster said of Hereditary during the same Q&A, “I was just trying to make a really good horror movie.” I think most horror fans would agree that he more than accomplished that goal, and the past eight years have proven that Hereditary is an enduring classic of its generation.
We celebrated the fifth anniversary of Hereditary here on BD back in 2023.
Ron Breton wrote, “Hereditary offers a similar emotional resonance to this new generation of horror – my generation of horror– as movie-goers in the seventies when they first saw Exorcist. Much like Aster’s film, we see the incomprehensible evil wear the face of a young girl; the victim of a raw deal she had no say in, as it tears a family to its core. Sure, both films offer so many terrifying visuals that can make the hair stand up on anyone’s neck – but it also depicts intense relationships and emotions that are tangible. Real. Familiar.”
“In that familiarity lies the uncanny, ready to rear its ugly head and force us to confront thoughts and horrors laying dormant and clawing at our psyche,” Breton continued his 5th anniversary celebration of Hereditary. “And it doesn’t matter if it’s been five or fifty years. These horrors are always there, as we become pawns in its horrible, hopeless machine.”
Toni Collette, Gabriel Byrne, Alex Wolff, Ann Dowd, and Milly Shapiro star in Hereditary. In the film, “A grieving family is haunted by tragic and disturbing occurrences.”
That’s putting it mildly, eh?!
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