"Ask me in a little while and see if I have enough fluid left in my knees," joked Fraser at the film's Los Angeles press junket. "I'm open to it; it was good fun. There's a nod and a wink in these movies all the time, and I think that's probably why people like them because we were never taking ourselves too seriously while we were making it. This is an un-horror film, this is a comedy, but there is a scare – 'Boo!' scare part of it, funhouse kind of thing and the quality that Universal put into these movies from a production value is, well, I think great. And visually you get your thrill at seeing how they created a rendering of a once very human individual as a creature that's going to travel through time, and how he interacts with these characters."
Fraser says that for him the appeal of returning to the character of Rick O’Connell had to do with how much fun he had in the past getting into this particular character. "I wanted to do this, honestly, it's true. It's just really great stuff, fun stuff. Making movies, they call it an action pic but it's actually, I am enjoying myself out there. And I wanted to see where these characters would go, knowing that they would be set in another archaeologically rich nation, in China," explained Fraser.
After The Mummy films and a handful of other action projects Fraser's used to being in the thick of things, but he credits the guys behind the scenes for making him look good. "[We had] a great stunt team. Vic Armstrong, I mean come on, he doubled for Sean Connery and was dragged behind a car in Indiana Jones, that's him. He knows his stuff. He directed, not a second unit but an action unit, so he did some big chunks. And the guys I worked with were really enthusiastic and wanted to make sure everyone was safe. Stunt guys, oftentimes you find out they are either adrenaline junkies or just want to be in the movies, whatever it is, they want to do that performance, they want to do that stunt, and you can see they are a bit disappointed if you are going to step in and do it. But if you are going to be paid for it, you might as well do it. So, Patrick Kerton is my double, great guy, muscular Canadian - if you could put Canada in a bottle that would be him. So positive about everything, team sportsman, 'You're gonna go out there and you're gonna be great!' That's the way it was, that's the spirit behind it, but you get a couple of bruises and bangs along the way."
In the first two films of the franchise – The Mummy and The Mummy Returns – Fraser's love interest was played by Academy Award-winner Rachel Weisz (The Constant Gardener). Weisz opted not to return for the third movie, which left the role wide open for another actress to take over. Director Rob Cohen filled the gap with Maria Bello, an actress who's not necessarily known for taking on action movies. But Mummy veteran Fraser believes Bello was the right choice to play his archaeologist wife, Evelyn.
Fraser explained how he adjusted to a new co-star: "I saw the script and I worked with my friend Rachel on two pictures. You know, you read the dialogue, you can hear her voice… I had an idea of what her choice was going to be. When I heard that she decided to step aside, I would feel her absence no matter who stepped into the role. Come screentesting, reading, meeting other actresses...and you just step in and you do it, bring something new to it, and in this case what this picture has done is bring Maria Bello into that character has allowed for a type of re-invention of the librarian-expeditioner-ess to take – I think - to have a different run at what the dynamic of that couple is now. And other actors…when you put two actors together they all have different chemistry. And with Maria, Rob was very enthusiastic about taking advantage of everything that she wanted to be a part of in doing a movie like this. And when she and I met, she said, 'I wanted to be in Indiana Jones, ride around on horses, shoot guns, crack whips, yeah!' So great! Her much-needed enthusiasm was definitely infectious."
Also hopping aboard the Mummy franchise for the first time was director Cohen, who took over for Mummy and Mummy Returns writer/director Stephen Sommers (Sommers remained involved as a producer). Cohen's no stranger to action films, but it was his academic background that really impressed Fraser. "Rob is no stranger to filmmaking – Fast and the Furious and xXx - and he's taken advantage of CGI and good effects to the best of what they have to offer in recent years. And succeeded with popularity, in terms of what contemporary audiences want in teen to 20 or whatever age group. But in the case of this picture, Rob, I learned, had so much experience. He was an archaeologist or at least was a student of it and went to Harvard with a particular interest in Chinese history. He is a practicing Buddhist. So put everything together and his life's passion, I think, shows when I watch the pictures because everything that he cares about is all in one."
Page 2: Brendan Fraser on Playing a Dad and His Upcoming Movies
