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The Mummy producers took out life insurance policies on the cast, thinking they might not make it out of the movie alive
Shooting the trilogy in Egypt was an adventure, cast members recall.
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The Mummy series that updated the classic pillar of the Universal Monsters franchise - 1999's The Mummy, 2001's The Mummy Returns, 2002's The Scorpion King, and 2008's The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor - put more of an action spin on the iconic Boris Karloff creature feature, and sparked a new wave of interest in archaeology were shot on location in Egypt... but cast members recalled at Fan Expo Chicago 2025 that shooting the old-school Sinbad and the Seven Seas-like adventure film was an adventure itself.
The cast encountered scorpions, snakes, and camels that spat on them and could turn their necks around and look back at them while they were on the saddle, freaking them out a little. Brendan Fraser, who played the dashing Rick O'Connell in the series (and would later win an Oscar for Best Actor for 2022's The Whale), said that it was dangerous, remembering a warning he received on set: "If you go over that way, we won't see you again, buddy - and they tell us this when we get there."
The producers considered it so dangerous, in fact, that they took out life insurance policies for the cast. Fraser, Anck-su-namun actress Patricia Velásquez and other stars were insured for $1 million. Character actor Kevin J. O'Connor, who also played Fraser's friend in Gods and Monsters, spoke up and asked how much he was insured for.
"$80,000. And I was happy," Fraser recalled, getting a big laugh from the audience.
The Mummy is streaming on Peacock.
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