Trivia / The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

• Awesome, Dear Boy:
  • Rob Cohen had always been very fascinated by Chinese culture and history, so when he was approached and heard the story was set in China, he immediately signed on as director. He insisted that the movie be filmed in China as much as possible and made sure that ancient Chinese culture and art were depicted as accurately as possible.
  • Maria Bello, an avid martial artist and Muay Thai practitioner, had wanted to play an action heavy role for years but figured she would never get the chance after turning forty. She immediately accepted the role upon being offered it.
• B-Team Sequel: Besides a producer's credit, Stephen Sommers had no involvement with this film.
• Creator Killer: With his career already jeopardized by the box office disaster of Stealth, the terrible reception and box office underperformance of Dragon Emperor marked the end of director Rob Cohen's big-budget film career. He wound up making three more films of much lower budgets — the Tyler Perry vehicle Alex Cross, the Jennifer Lopez thriller The Boy Next Door and the schlocky The Hurricane Heist, all of which received poor reviews and two of which also bombed — before Cohen's daughter Valkyrie Weather accused him of repeated sexual assault as a child. He has not made any film since.
• Dawson Casting: Luke Ford was 27 when he played Alex, who is 21 in the film. Indeed, he was 13 years younger than his on-screen father Brendan Fraser and 14 years younger than his on-screen mother Maria Bello.
• Directed by Cast Member: The Latin American Spanish dub was directed by Ricardo Tejedo, who voiced Jonathan Carnahan.
• Dyeing for Your Art: Maria Bello dyed her auburn hair to match Rachel Weisz.
• Fake American: Canadian-Australian Luke Ford as Alex, who now speaks with his father's American accent instead of his mother's English one like in the previous film.
• Fake Brit: Maria Bello as Evy.
• Fake Nationality: The featured Chinese characters are played by Russell Wong (American), Michelle Yeoh (Malaysian), Anthony Wong and Isabella Leong (both Hongkongers) and Jessey Meng (Taiwanese).
• Faux Fluency: Russell Wong (Ming Guo) learned his Mandarin-language dialogue phonetically.
• Franchise Killer: Maria Bello was right that there would be another Mummy movie. What she didn't know at the time was it is a reboot. This film was considered a significant step down from the other two thanks to the long gap between it and The Mummy Returns, the changing of the setting from ancient Egypt to ancient China (which eliminated the Medjai and Ardeth Bey from the equation), and Bello taking over from Weisz. This film became the concluding chapter of a trilogy instead, though the series would technically continue with additional The Scorpion King sequels, the last of which ironically released after the rebooted "series" came and went.
• The Other Darrin:
  • Maria Bello replaced Rachel Weisz as Evy for this film.
  • Luke Ford plays Alex instead of Freddie Boath.
  • In the Latin American Spanish dub, Ricardo Tejedo voices Jonathan Carnahan due to Enrique Mederos succumbing to liver failure in 2004, while Carola Vazquez voices Evelyn O'Connell instead of Mónica Manjarrez.
• Refitted for Sequel: The concept of Jonathan as a casino owner attacked by the bad guys was initially planned for The Mummy Returns, but was cut due to budget constraints. It was brought back for this film.
• Role Reprise: Brendan Fraser and John Hannah reprise their respective roles as Rick and Jonathan for Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Rachel Weisz was initially set to reprise her role as Evy but dropped out and was replaced by Maria Bello. There were differing accounts as to why she didn't reprise her role as according to Rob Cohen, she refused to play someone with a 21-year-old as she was a decade older than Luke Ford, while according to others, she chose not to separated from her then-newborn son Henry. In actuality, Weisz turned down the role after reading the script and said that her son had nothing to do with her decision not to return and pointed out to two other films that she starred in that very year, referring to Definitely, Maybe and My Blueberry Nights.
  • There were plans to have Arnold Vosloo reprising his role as Imhotep but this time, serving as a last-minute ally who helps the heroes defeat the Dragon Emperor. However, Vosloo turned it down as he didn't like the script and didn't want to star in a Mummy film without Stephen Sommers. In relation to that, Oded Fehr was asked to reprise his role as Ardeth Bey but declined after hearing that Imhotep wasn't going to appear in the film.
  • Rob Cohen wanted to kill Rick off in the film.
  • Had this movie been better received, a sequel in South America (likely Peru, given the ending) would've followed.
  • Alex Pettyfer was rumored to have been considered for the role of Alex.
  • Priyanka Chopra, Nicole Kidman, Elsa Pataky, Milla Jovovich, Ali Larter, Mary Steenburgen, Andie MacDowell, Lauren German, Lindsay Lohan, Piper Perabo, Julieth Restrepo, and Wendy Crewson were all considered for the role of Evy after the departure of Rachel Weisz.
  • According to an early script, the film would've had more CallBacks to the two previous films, among many other details that would've made it more interesting:
    • The prologue featured Hamunaptra, the Book of the Dead, and the puzzle box key that opens it. Zi Yuan makes a terracotta copy of the book used to curse the Emperor and later resurrect him.
    • The barmaids at Jonathan's casino were styled with bodypaint like Anck-su-namun.
    • The Bembridge Scholars that Evy mentioned in the first film would have returned in a minor role as the head of the society that would play a role in the Dragon Emperor's resurrection.
    • In the second film, Meela says three men will "receive their [your] just rewards." The Emperor Mummy says Yang will get his just reward when the Emperor conquers the world.
    • During the final battle, Alex's slingshot from The Mummy Returns would return to play a role in the Emperor Mummy's defeat.
    • Upon killing the Emperor, Rick says, "Give my regards to Imhotep."
    • Alex is injured by the Emperor instead of Rick.
    • Shangri-La is depicted as a paradise filled with people from several eras.
    • Instead of taking place after World War II, the story was set during it in 1940. It displayed the tensions between the Chinese and Japanese, with the latter rounding up Chinese insurgents and sending them to work camps, one of the rebels being friends with the O'Connells. Rick and Evy sent Alex to Yale to protect him from the war, but he left during his freshman year without them knowing and failed to enlist in the army.
    • The Dragon Emperor shared similarities with Imhotep in his mummy form: They both drain people's lifeforce to heal themselves; however, the Emperor also turns his victims into terracotta and shatters them when he does; after draining one victim, the Emperor acquires his blue eyes, like Imhotep did in one scene of The Mummy Returns; just as Imhotep made impressions of his face in sand and water in the previous films, the Emperor does the same, making his face appear in the snow during the avalanche scene.
    • With the Dragon Emperor, he had a more ruthless personality, more body horror moments (including his mummification), and he showed more of his mastery over the five Chinese elements. Also, unlike in the film, he doesn't become a shapeshifter.
    • The ending had the five elements play a role in how the heroes defeat the Emperor; by completing a ritual, they unlock a "River of Spirits" beneath the Great Wall to destroy the Emperor's army before stabbing him. Rather than an undead army, many prisoners of the Japanese fight the Terracotta Army.
• Working Title: The Mummy 3: Curse of the Dragon.

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