According to The Hollywood Reporter, Jake Johnson (“The New Girl,” Jurassic World) is in talks to join Universal Pictures’ The Mummy.
Johnson will play a military character role written expressly for him in the June 9, 2017 release. He is joining Tom Cruise (Mission: Impossible franchise), Annabelle Wallis (“Peaky Blinders”) and Sofia Boutella (Kingsman: The Secret Service), who is playing the title monster in the film. The storyline is expected to be set in modern day with Cruise’s character to be a special forces soldier.
The Mummy is directed by Alex Kurtzman, who also produces alongside Chris Morgan (Fast & Furious series, Wanted) and Sean Daniel (The Mummy trilogy, The Best Man series). Jon Spaihts (Prometheus) wrote the screenplay, and Bobby Cohen executive produces.
The original monster was made famous on the big screen by Boris Karloff in Karl Freund’s 1932 feature. Subsequent sequels to the original The Mummy saw Tom Tyler (who played Captain Marvel/Shazam in the original 1941 serials) and later Lon Chaney Jr. playing a different mummy than the one Karloff played. Stephen Sommers’ more recent The Mummy and The Mummy Returns films set Arnold Vosloo in the title role. Jet Li then played the villain in Rob Cohen’s The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.
