Only a little more than a month after the release of his version of Total Recall, Len Wiseman is getting ready to get back into the reboot/remake game. The filmmaker is reportedly now in talks with Universal Pictures to direct The Mummy, the studio's attempt to restart the massively successful adventure franchise that began in 1999. The movie is being produced by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci through their K/O Paper Products banner and Jon Spaihts, who is best known for his work on Ridley Scott's Prometheus and Chris Gorak's The Darkest Hour, is writing the script.
While it looks like no official deal is in place just yet, Deadline recently spoke with the Kurtzman about the director potentially handling the project and lauded his ability to create mythology. "I remember seeing Underworld and finding it a beautiful advancement of the genre," Kurtzman told the site. "It was presented in this fresh, incredibly cool concept, but it never gave up its reverence for the mythology and that is what inspired us to meet with Len." The producers have actually worked with Wiseman before, as the director helmed the pilot episode of the duo's Hawaii Five-O series, which premiered in 2010, and they are also working with him on their upcoming Sleepy Hollow show for Fox.
As for the approach to the material that Kurtzman and Orci are taking, apparently they are still going for audiences of all ages and gender, but they do plan on making the tone a bit darker. "We’re reaching into the deep roots of The Mummy, which at its beating heart is a horror movie and then an action movie, and putting it into a context that is real and emotional," Kurtzman said. "Without saying too much, we’ve drawn a lot of inspiration from Michael Crichton’s books, and how he ground fantastical sales in modern day science."
As for Wiseman, he told the site that what interests him about the project is that at his most basic the Mummy is still a man. "They haven’t turned his brain into a monster brain," the director said. "He still has a personality and is very cunning and calculating. He’s a true character in any form, and in creature form, even if he is that staggering creature, it becomes more important that he’s a thinking, calculating person."
The project is currently looking at a potentially summer 2014 release date, meaning that it will likely go into production next year.
