In keeping with the (somewhat tiresome and disingenuous) gender-bending casting for sequels and reboots, the brilliant filmmakers behindThe Mummy are reportedly considering a woman for the titular role in the upcoming resurrection of the 1999 remake of the 1932 original. Or not. They might just stick with a dude. But hey — we appreciate your open-mindedness and hope you enjoy the free publicity it’s getting for your movie!
According to the Hollywood Reporter, director Alex Kurtzman and writer Jon Spaihts have two potential story avenues to pursue, one for a male mummy and one for a female, depending on how the audition process goes. We think they should bring in these five ladies:
Zoe Saldana
Since her breakout role as Neyriti in Avatar, Saldana has played a whole range of non-human and semi-human characters, but so far she hasn’t appeared as an undead corpse. Maybe it’s time.
Kristen Stewart
The Twilight star knows her way around an immortal storyline, and sometimes she already looks kind of dead, right? In a good way, though! A sexy way. Not a necrophiliac way. I’ll stop now.
Angelina Jolie
Before she become a self-important director of mind-numbingly boring movies, Angelina Jolie was a crazy kid obsessed with death and knives and blood and all things macabre. We miss that Angelina Jolie! We also think she could play a very convincing, but also beautiful, mummy with an axe to grind.
Emily Blunt
Emily Blunt has made a pretty impressive transition from rom-com leading lady to Hollywood badass. From what we’ve seen so far, there’s pretty much nothing she can’t do, and we like the idea of a mummy with a British accent. More posh.
Rachel Weisz
Yes, we know: Rachel played Evelyn in The Mummy andThe Mummy 2, but who says an actor can’t appear in an original and a remake as different characters? Haven’t you seen the Miracle Worker? No? How about Planet of the Apes? Charlton Heston made an encore appearance in Tim Burton’s remake. Who’s to say The Mummy remake can’t be set 3000 years in the future and the mummy is Evelyn? Think about it.
Photos by B Lacroix / WireImage