»'MUMMY' A WILD RIDE FOR WEISZ
By Larry Ratliff Special to the Express-News

LONDON — Don't ask Rachel Weisz to walk a mile for a camel. The British actress who shares the screen with Brendan Fraser in the rollicking remake of "The Mummy" still has scars from too many bumpy rides across the shifting sands of Morocco. "They are really horrible animals," Weisz said, sipping bottled water in a suite at London's Dorchester hotel. "I grew up riding horses. I love horses. There's a good dynamic, a good relationship between man and horse. Camels and humans were not meant to be together.

"I don't care if they're being abused somewhere right now in the Middle East. They're horrible. They stink, they would go aaaawwwwwkkkkk and make these crying noises so you feel like you're hurting them. You feel guilty. You get camel guilt."

Those interested in Weisz's acting ability only have to look as far as the camel scenes. The 28-year-old, who co-starred with Keanu Reeves in the action flick "Chain Reaction" in 1996, looks at home on the cud-chewing mammals.

"I pretended," she said with a smirk.

The new version of Boris Karloff's 1932 horror classic lightens the mood enormously. Writer-director Stephen Sommers ("Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book," 1994) is the first to admit that there's a definite "Raiders Of the Lost Ark" or "Gunga Din" feel to the big-budget ($80 million) remake. Not one drop of blood is spilled as Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo), the mummy, goes on a special-effects-loaded rampage after he's unearthed from a 3,000-year sleep in 1923 Cairo.

This "Mummy" serves up scares instead of horror. There's also plenty comic relief to ease the tension for the PG-13 audience.

"I thought when I read it that it was very funny. It was like the things I used to see on Saturday morning on television here. It reminded me of 'Buck Rogers' and 'Zorro' and 'Tarzan.' It seemed like an old-fashioned comic book type story," Weisz said.

Weisz, currently on stage in London's West End production of Tennessee Williams' "Suddenly Last Summer," has a rich character arc to explore in "The Mummy." Evelyn (Weisz) is a prim Egyptologist working in a Cairo library when the film opens. As the adventure unfolds, however, Evelyn lets her hair down and swigs Scotch with the boys. The mummy doesn't merely unleash plagues over Egypt that could lead to the end of the world, he develops a special interest in Evelyn.

It's true: "The Mummy" is a real adventure ride, a swashbuckler very much like "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981). More often than not, Weisz plays a variation of Karen Allen to Fraser's alteration of Harrison Ford. "We had great chemistry. Chemistry is something you can get with anyone if you just kind of get each other, I think. It's just an attitude of empathy and understanding," she said.

Fraser said he can't put a finger on why the chemistry works between Weisz and himself, except for the deep and mutual respect he shared with her. But he remembered something Ian McKellen told him on the set of "Gods and Monsters."

"If you have a good relationship with people, it'll make a better film," Fraser said.

Like Fraser, recently on screen in the goofy comedy "Blast From the Past" as well as the acclaimed drama "Gods and Monsters," Weisz alternates between huge studio productions such as "The Mummy" and smaller-budgeted or independent projects such as "Stealing Beauty," "Swept From the Sea" and "The Land Girls."

According to Weisz, the size of the project matters very little.

"Really, it's all just movie-making to be honest. There are 2,000 more extras on this, but that doesn't really effect my life. You're still playing a character and telling a story," she said.