Whilst 1999’s “The Mummy” remains a classic in many people’s eyes, the sequel “The Mummy Returns” wasn’t as well received.
It also became famous for boasting one of the worst computer-generated effects ever put to film – a completely CG half-scorpion version of Dwayne Johnson’s The Scorpion King character.
The effect is so bad it has been endlessly memed over the years, and always shows up on ‘worst VFX shot’ compilation lists across multiple outlets.
Reflecting on his career in a new piece as part of a GQ video series, actor Brendan Fraser revealed that the people in charge knew that the CG was poor and made a plea for kindness towards the overstressed and overstretched animators:
“I never met Dwayne [Johnson] until after the premiere because he was a piece of tape on a stick that we referred to. Of course, they put him in CGI later.
I know, I know. Be kind! The guys who did the CGI of the Scorpion King, [I saw them] at the premiere, and they were like, ‘Hey, how are you? We did the Scorpion King CGI. Yeah, we needed a little more time. It was very last minute.’
Some of the charm of it now is…it could get remastered I guess, but it wouldn’t be as fun if you didn’t see this janky video game character of Dwayne. It’s somehow just perfect how it works.”
Johnson recently took to Twitter recently to express his gratitude towards Fraser for encouraging Sommers to take a chance on him on that film, saying: “He supported me coming into his Mummy Returns franchise for my first ever role, which kicked off my Hollywood career. Rooting for all your success brother.”
The Fraser-led “The Whale” is due out in cinemas on December 9th.
