Back from the dead

  Photos from Universal Pictures "The Mummy Returns" finds
(from left) John Hannah as Jonathan, Rachel Weisz
as Evelyn, Brendan Fraser as Rick O’Connell and Freddie Boath as
Alex.

By Chris Young
Daily Bruin Staff

Steven Sommers’ “The Mummy Returns” extends
the elements of his 1999 “The Mummy” by telling a new
story with more advanced special effects.

“Many sequels make the mistake of changing tone
dramatically ““ like suddenly the sequel is dark and
edgy,” Sommers said at a Los Angeles press junket. “I
wanted to make “˜The Mummy Returns’ less broad, a little
more scary.”

Filmed mostly in England and Morocco, the movie holds two worlds
in stark contrast: chilly London and the scorching desert.

“When I was first thinking about the sequel, I was
thinking, “˜OK, it’s gonna be the mummy in London
““ I don’t want to go back to the desert,'”
Sommers said.

“But then I thought, “˜Why do people like the first
one?’ Part of it is because it’s in the desert ““
it’s desert romance ““ so I gotta go back there,”
he continued. “I can only make London seem romantic and
adventurous for about 25 minutes. Then it’s just cold, wet
and rainy.”

The movie begins with the 5000-year-old saga of the Scorpion
King (WWF wrestler The Rock), a fierce warrior with a mighty
army.

  The Rock continues his acting skills
outside the ring in "The Mummy Returns." Cursed by the god Anubis
and doomed to the underworld, if he is resurrected and killed
again, the victor will take command of his undead canine-bodied
army and become invincible.

The Scorpion King and almost everything else in the movie is
enhanced by computer generated effects by Industrial Light and
Magic.

ILM supervisor John Berton explained that for something like the
resurrected Scorpion King, the computer generated details were so
fine that they counted the number of eyelashes on The Rock’s
face to make him look real. He said that details like that are
perceptible, and people can tell the difference.

ILM often didn’t have the technology on hand for
Sommers’ special effects; Berton said they ended up
developing the software just in time to incorporate it in the
movie.

To create the movie’s numerous fighting scenes between
humans and creatures from hell, ILM uses a procedure called motion
capture. To start, the actors are filmed going through the motions
either alone or with stuntmen in special suits who do the
creatures’ moves.

The film is put into a computer. They motion-capture the scene,
then “paint out” the stuntmen and do the computer
generated effects.

Berton said that putting together computer generated effects is
a tedious process, with four months of work at ILM resulting in
about 45 seconds of screen time.

The actors had to adapt their performances when filming the
scenes enhanced by ILM’s special effects.

“You have to be precise in your reactions and
emotions,” said Oded Fehr, who plays Ardeth Bay, one of a
group of men sworn to protect the world from Imhotep, the mummy.
“You’re fighting a nine-foot-tall dog-like creature,
but you’re actually fighting a stuntman in a blue
tight-fitted suit. You really have to bring intensity and emotion
where there is none.”

For the scene in which evil forces resurrect the mummy (Arnold
Vosloo), ILM created a fascinating partially reconstructed human
with exposed bones, muscles and organs.

“The first time I saw the finished movie, I was kind of
overwhelmed about the special effects, although you are working
with ILM,” Vosloo said. “They’re the best at what
they do, but it’s still amazing to see half your face rotted
away onscreen.”

Although a great deal is made over the special effects, Sommers
said they are not supposed to dominate the moviegoer’s
attention.

“The reason this movie works is that there’s a good
mix of special effects and retention of some kind of
humanity,” Vosloo said.

The hero of the first film, Rick O’Connell (Brendan
Fraser), is now married to Evelyn (Rachel Weisz) and has a son,
Alex (Freddie Boath).

When the Mummy kidnaps Alex, Rick and Evelyn must rescue him and
stop Imhotep from ruling the world.

As shown in “The Mummy Returns,” special effects are
growing more advanced, and Sommers acknowledged the possibility of
using computer-generated characters that look like real actors.

“If you’re a bad actor, you should be very afraid
you’re not going to get work anymore,” Sommers said.
“But if you’re a good actor or a great actor,
you’ve got nothing to worry about. Three years from now, ILM
will be able to make someone who looks just like Tom Cruise or
Meryl Streep, but will they be able to perform or have the charm or
the magic they have? Not a chance,” Sommers said.

FILM: “The Mummy Returns” is now
playing in theaters nationwide.