Rob "Hack" Cohen tells us why he picked Maria Bello

By Matt Holmes / June 25, 2011

Rob Cohen is running a blog keeping us informed about The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, the more we will talk about it. It benefits both of us I feel. I would love to see more directors use this technique because it helps bring about a community of people interested in the film months and often years before it is released. Here's some quotes about why he chose Maria Bello for the role of Eve, previously played by Rachel Weisz in the first two movies. First he explained that Rachel had made up her mind not to be in any more Mummy movies after the second one in 2001, so he no choice but to find a new actress for the part...

"I shot a day of screen tests with five major actresses and the one that blew us away was Maria Bello. She had such strong chemistry with Brendan (who generously did the screen tests with all five), that it wasn't much of a decision once I cut the film. She had beauty and precision, humor, and an inner fire that has always propelled her in films such as "THE COOLER" and "HISTORY OF VIOLENCE". She had already mastered the English accent and brought a freshness to the role. Also, she brought out several new shadings in Brendan. The newness really worked and fit in to my hopes that my film would be a "re-boot" to the franchise, not more of the same."

You know I don't mind Maria Bello and I think she gets some unfair criticism from many quarters. When she works with a talented director as she was with A History of Violence, she can put in a truly fine performance. However, we all know that Cohen is not a talented director, so maybe it won't work after all. Cohen also tells us that Randy Edelman will be scoring the picture. You will have heard his work in The Last of the Mohicans, Shanghai Noon and two previous Cohen movies with Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story and Dragonheart. It's such a shame this movie is going to suck isn't it? I would love to have seen another Stephen Sommers movie after a six year break from the franchise. Seeing what he would have come up with now after having time to reflect on the poor last movie could have been interesting. Instead I predict this to be one of the worst big profile movies of next year, though I think it will make a decent amount of money. source - filmstalker