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M3 Release Dates:
(subject to change)
July 31, Hong Kong
July 31, Malaysia
July 31, Singapore
July 31, Philippines
July 31, South Korea
July 31, Russia
July 31, Hungary
Aug. 1, USA/Canada
Aug. 1, Mexico
Aug. 1, Spain
Aug. 6, France
Aug. 7, Taiwan
Aug. 7, Germany
Aug. 8, UK
Aug. 8, Norway
Aug. 8, Austria
Aug. 8, Sweden
Aug. 13, Belgium
Aug. 14, Switzerland
Aug. 16, Japan
Sept. 2, China
Sept. 11, Australia
Sept. 11, New Zealand
Sept. 11, Greece
Sept. 26, Italy

Reviews & Articles:
Brisbane Times: Review
Time: Hong Kong Revives The Mummy
LA Times: Review: The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
Reuters: Michelle Yeoh brings kicks and poise to Mummy
Suite101: Rob Cohen's The Mummy
CelebrityCafe: Michelle Yeoh Gives Critics Something to Talk About

Interviews:
PressDemocrat: Mummy's strong women
Ain't It Cool: Moriarty Interview: Michelle Yeoh
Moviehole: Interview: Jet Li & Michelle Yeoh
Birmingham News: Michelle Yeoh defies the odds
Deadbolt: Inside the Dragon Emperor's Tomb with Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh
IESB: Interview: Rob Cohen Tackles THE MUMMY
IESB: Interview: Brendan Fraser Battles Another Mummy
IESB: Interview: Maria Bello Takes on THE MUMMY

The Mummy 3 News: 
© MichelleYeoh.info
[* For more news on Michelle Yeoh or site updates, please visit News page ]
[** More information to share? Please e-mail webmaster ]

(05/01/09) The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor was nominated as "Best Horror Film" for the 35th Saturn Awards.

(02/05/09) Photos from the 17th Annual Art of Motion Picture Costume Design exhibition, FIDM (Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising) Museum & Galleries, Los Angeles. Six sets of the M3 costumes, of Zi Yuan, Emperor Han, and Lin are being displayed. The exhibition runs from January 28 through Sunday, March 29, 2009. (link)


left photo: costume designer Sanja Hays at the exhibit
(photos from "Ventura County Star" and "Flickr". more photos)
(01/14/09) The Mummy 3 has been nominated for the Excellence in Fantasy Film at the 11th annual Costume Designers Guild awards.

(01/07/09) The Mummy 3 is on Oscars' shortlist for the Visual Effects category. On January 15, members of the Academy's visual effects branch will be viewing 15-minute excerpts from each of the seven shortlisted films. 3 nominations for the award will be announced on January 22. (Official press release)

(12/11/08) Special features for the two-disc DVD and blu-ray sets of The Mummy 3 with a video clip. Features include deleted and extended footage, segments on casting, stunts and other behind-the-scenes matters and commentary with director Rob Cohen. North American release date: December 16.

(11/14/08) The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor will be screened on November 22nd at 8th International Marrakech Film Festival. It is a part of the special tribute to Michelle, "Timeless Female Heroine". A total of 6 Michelle films will be screened and Michelle will be there to receive the honor. For detailed schedule please see News.

(10/14/08) - Universal Studios Home Entertainment has announced the technical specs and special features for the upcoming two-disc Deluxe Edition DVD and Blu-ray disk, to be released in the U.S. on December 16. (press)

Disc 1
• U-Control - Scene Explorer
• U-Control - Know Your Mummy
• U-Control - The Dragon Emperor's Challenge
• U-Control - Picture in Picture
• U-Control - Visual Commentary with Director Rob Cohen
• Deleted and Extended Scenes
• The Making of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
• From City to Desert
• Legacy of the Terra Cotta
• Feature Commentary with Director Rob Cohen
• BD Live - My Scenes Sharing Exclusive Content
  Disc 2
• A Call to Action: The Casting Process
• Preparing for Battle with Brendan Fraser and Jet Li
• Jet Li: Crafting the Emperor Mummy
• Creating New and Supernatural Worlds
• Digital Copy of The Mummy: Tomb of the Emperor Dragon

- The U.K. Blu-ray/DVD release date is December 1st.

(09/22/08) A special presentation by Digital Domain and Rhythm & Hues Studios, showing how they created the special effects and imagery for The Mummy 3, will be held at Gnomon School of Visual Effects, Hollywood, 6-9 p.m. October 2.   (Details and RSVP)

(09/08/08) The boxoffice total of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor has reached $355 million with the domestic total $100 million. Michelle said she's very happy the film is doing well globally. The film is to open in Australia, New Zealand, and Greece this Thursday and in Italy on September 26.

(09/05/08) - Scans from "Feminine" and "Galaxie", Malaysian magazines. For larger pictures and articles please visit Photos -> Magazines section.


(1-4) Michelle Yeoh and Isabella Leong   (5) Brendan Fraser, Maria Bello, Michelle, Jet Li, and Isabella Leong
- Trivia: Among the main Chinese cast, Jet Li is from Mainland China. Michelle is ethnic Chinese who is a Malaysian. Jessey Meng (Colonel Choi) is Taiwanese. Isabella Leong (Lin), Anthony Wong (General Yang) and Russell Wong (Ming Guo) are all mixed raced. Leong's father is Portuguese and her mother is Chinese. Anthony Wong (Chau-Sang) was born to an English father and a Chinese mother. Russell Wong is half Chinese, half Dutch.

- Video: Michelle Yeoh's revenge   (01:59, Mandarin Chinese) an interview with Michelle including behind scenes with Michelle and Jet Li

(09/05/08) Although the Chinese reviews of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor have been more negative than positive, the film played strong in Mainland China and the first day box-office grossed $2 million at 1,158 screens.

Predictably, one of the big complaints is from the large crowd of fans of Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh. Audiences were disappointed that their sword fight was so short and surprised that it was choreographed more like ancient Roman gladiators rather than Chinese martial artists. Another big complaint is the bad Chinese dubbing. Many audience members felt it was like they were watching a Hong Kong TV series when hearing the familiar voices from Hong Kong TVB. Only Jet Li's real voice was kept, which made it more obvious that the other dubbed voices were out of character.

It is still not clear what the mysterious last minute cut ordered by Chinese authorities was all about. The China Film Bureau confirmed the cut and they said it was a "technical problem" concerning some copyright issue. But when reporters contacted various theatres, the respond they got was: "We are not allowed to talk about it. It is a sensitive issue".   Picture at right: "Cut. Cut. Cut". (Picture from "Nanfang Daily", a Chinese newspaper which has been under great pressure for having reported some human rights issues during the past few years. Several of their managers and chief editors have been replaced/arrested.)

(09/02/08) - For those who have read the script or the movie tie-in novel of The Mummy 3, you may remember the description of this scene: when the foundation army turned into sand dust, the wind blew them into the sky and they formed the faces of Zi Yuan and Ming Guo. This scene was actually shown in some versions of the film, at least it was in the ones in Taiwan, Malaysia, and Macau. (see image at left. thanks to Bin!) But it is not in the U.S. final version. Apparently there are multiple versions of the film, in addition to the Chinese cut.

- Talking about the Chinese cut, just a few hours before the midnight opening in Mainland China on September 1, after Chinese theaters had received the "final" copy, an urgent order came from a high official. Theatre managers were ordered to make one more cut themselves before showing the film to the audience. The portion which were required to be cut involved the end credits, which include the last 5 minutes of rolling credits, and also the special slice of the cast credits where Isabella Leong's name appears. Theatres were requested to keep quiet on this urgent cut and the cut portions (about 250 meters) had to be handed in to the authority. No further explanation has been offered. It is believed that the problem was not about the credits themselves but about the background pictures which had some Chinese characters in them (as the Mainland version was more specifically modified for their audiences, the cut that was ordered might not appear in other international released versions).

Among the changes made to the Mainland Chinese version, the roars of "Freedom! Freedom!" from Zi Yuan's army of undead has become "War! War!" The film was counted as co-production film instead of imported film. The dubbed voices were from TV actors from Hong Kong's TVB.

- After Tussaud Wax Museum in Hong Kong received one of Zi Yuan's gowns, Universal Pictures International provided another of the (same) gowns to the Tussaud Wax Museum in Shanghai, which was opened in June 2006. Photo at left: Michelle's wax figure at Tussaud Wax Museum Shanghai. ("Sohu" photo)

(08/28/08) - Videos:
  Shanghai premiere: red carpet & ceremony   (19:30, in Mandarin)
  Red carpet & ceremony   (01:34, in Mandarin)
  Premiere ceremony   (07:08, in Mandarin)

- Photos: Michelle and Jet Li at the Shanghai premeire of The Mummy 3, August 28th.






last photo: Michelle, Jet Li, Ren Zhonglun (L1), manager of Shanghai Film Group Corp, and director Huang Jianxin (R1)
(photos from "QQ","Sohu", "Sh Online", "tom", "Ifensi", "Beelink" and "163")
The Chinese premiere of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor took place at the Shanghai Film Art Center, Shanghai. A press conference was held in the afternoon, with Jet Li and representatives from the Chinese production and distribution companies in attendance. Jet Li talked more about the One Foundation than the film itself. Reporters were disappointed that Michelle did not make it to the press conference (her plane was delayed) but happily they had chance to meet with her that evening at the premiere.

Michelle said her role in The Mummy 3 is not big but very interesting. The fights were very easy for both of them. When the director gave them several hours for rehearsal, they were done in an hour. Jet Li said he had a great time working with Michelle and he hopes they will have more chances to work together.

Both praised the Chinese team for their hard work and efficiency. Jet Li said director Rob Cohen was surprised how efficient the Chinese team was. Chinese crew members never said no to whatever request they received, even it might have meant a few hundred or thousand of crew had to sacrifice their rest time in order to finish the job, which would never happen in the U.S. or Canada. Michelle mentioned that in Montreal, when they asked for set decorations, they were usually told it would take 10 or 15 days. But in China, the response for the same type of request was: do you need it before or after the lunch? And Michelle brought a message from Rob Cohen: "The director asked me to thank all Chinese crew members and all audience here today for him."

(08/28/08) On August 27, Brendan Fraser and Luke Ford attended the Australian premier of the film in Sydney, Australia.

(08/27/08) The Chinese dubbed version of The Mummy 3 has been screened for local distributors and press in several cities. Jet Li's role, originally modeled after China's Emperor Qin, who was called simply "Emperor" in the final international version after several changes, has now become "Qiu Wang" (Autumn King) in the Chinese version. There haven't been any reports on what has been cut and what lines have been changed. Some media reports criticized the Chinese voice dubbing (not by any of the real actors) that they were plain, non-emotional, and the voices for the O'Connell father and son sounded identical. The theatrical release of the film in Mainland China is scheduled for September 2nd. Meanwhile, there have been multiple online pirated versions of the film available, including high quality ones.

On the 26th, Jet Li was in Guangzhou city and attended a M3 related press conference. The Chinese M3 distributor promised that for each Mummy 3 ticket sold they will donate 10 Chinese cents (1.46 US cents) to Li's charity One Foundation. Jet Li emphasized to the media that this is a commercial, entertaining film and he hopes the Chinese audiences will not focus on history and culture issues. When reporters commented that Jet Li had even fewer fights in the film than Isabella Leong's character, Li half joked that everyone in the film had more fights than he did. Asked about his impression of Isabella Leong, he said he basically did not share any scenes with her, really only one scene from a distance.

(08/27/08) Videos:
- Michelle's video greeting to Chinese Mummy fans through Sohu media   (00:21. in Mandarin Chinese)
- Download film clip: Zi Yuan calling the Foundation army   (00:20) (thanks Angela and Bin!)
- Sohu M3 special   (needs IE to view. 01:25. in Chinese & English)
    Around 00:55-01:05 it has bit filming of the sword fight of Michelle and Jet Li

(08/27/08) Official wallpapers (1280x1024. click to enlarge). For more M3 wallpapers please see Posters & Wallpapers section.


(08/24/08) Jet Li will be in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China on the 26th for the Mummy 3 promotion. It's not clear whether Michelle or other Chinese actors will be there.

Although during recent years, most of the Hollywood films have been shown in Mainland China in both Chinese-dubbed and original English language versions, reportedly The Mummy 3 will have only the Chinese version shown in the Mainland theatres (the pirate versions are in the original language with Chinese subtitles). The Chinese version has some scenes cut and dialog changes made on Chinese authority's demand. There is no report whether any Chinese actors will dub their own voices. I assume Jet Li's real voice will be kept since he spoke only Mandarin Chinese in the film.

(08/24/08) Two behind-scenes photos: Michelle and director Rob Cohen on Montreal set. ("Yahoo" images)


(08/22/08) Chinese poster

(08/22/08) M3 props:



(1-3) costume display at ArcLight Hollywood   (4-6) Terra-cotta warriors at San Diego Comic-Con
(7-8) Zi Yuan's Oracle Bones   (9-10) wooden structure built for the depository of manuscripts
(photos courtesy of bhk, tator, lewis, diaz and alaa)
(08/20/08) The Chinese premiere of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is scheduled to take place in Shanghai, China on August 28. Shanghai news reported that Michelle and Jet Li will be attending.   (tickets)

(08/14/08)


The first photo is a promotional image published by Taiwanese media and it features (L to R) Maria Bello, Brendan Fraser, Jet Li, Isabella Leong, and Michelle. The othree three, with Michelle and Isabella Leong, were from a press interview in Japan on August 4. (photos from "UIP" and "Mainichi")
      Watch the Interview   (05:26, Japanese subtitles)
In the interview Michelle spoke English and Isabella Leong Cantonese. In the middle Brendan Fraser jumped in.

More video clips from Japanese premiere and press conference can be seen from the Japanese Official Site. Enter "Japan Premiere" and each "Click!" contains 4 video clips. The film opens in Japan on August 16.

(08/12/08) While The Mummy 3 is not playing very strong in North America, it continues to top the international box office, finishing No.1 in 16 of 22 new territories which opened last weekend, including France, Germany, U.K. and Taiwan. The overseas tally is now $141.1 million, almost a double of the domestic total ($71 million). In Taiwan, the film collected $3.6 million from just 91 locations for an amazing per-screen average of $39,560. The Taiwan premiere took place on August 6th with Jessey Meng, the Taiwanese model who played the scar-faced Colonel Choi in the film in attendance.

In Mainland China, reportedly the release date has been moved forward to the beginning of September. I have been reading some Chinese movie discussion boards (many of the Chinese audience have watched the film from pirate sources) and not so surprisingly, many posts showed anger toward the film - the posters claimed the "foreign filmmakers" did not know Chinese history and angry about China's Emperor Qin being portrayed as an evil figure. Here I'd like to point out in China, the internet "voices" by no means reflect what the majority of Chinese people think. First, a large number of internet users are young people who grew up under the Chinese communist government's "education". Second, the internet in China is totally controlled by the government. Many posts can not get published (blocked by the "filters") or get deleted soon after posting. Two examples from my own recent experience: Once I was trying to post the Chinese text of Zi Yuan and Emperor's lines when they were calling their armies to battle. It kept getting rejected because it contains the message on "freedom". And after the opening ceremony of the Olympics, I was reading what Mainland Chinese thought about the event and discovered that all the negative posts were disappearing under my eyes (saw the subjects but they disappeared when I tried to click to read)!

(08/09/08) Video: Highlights from the Japanese press conference   Aug. 5   (06:07, in Japanese and English)   (thanks Sako from Japan!).
Isabella Leong, Brendan Fraser, and Michelle greeted everyone in Japanese. The video also shows Manami Kurose singing, Michelle being presented with the birthday surprise, and the funny bit on Michelle stopping Fraser from keeping "stealing" icing from the cake. More photos from the event can be seen at News.

(08/06/08) HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICHELLE
Our Birthday Greetings to Michelle

- Reports:
   Happy "19th" Birthday to Mummy star Michelle Yeoh
   Japan premiere for Mummy movie

(08/05/08) On August 5th, a press conference was held in Tokyo for the Mummy 3 promotion. A birthday cake was presented to Michelle during the news conference, a day prior to her birthday (August 6). Japanese actress and singer Manami Kurose, who performs the Japanese version of the end title song for the film (Japanese title: "Hamunaputora 3"), sang "happy birthday" for Michelle. The cake was decorated with an image of the "Eye of Shangri-La".

Video from Japanese promotion   (01:13)


1-4:Michelle, Brendan Fraser, and Isabella Leong at the M3 news conference in Tokyo
5. Manami Kurose (left) sings to Michelle




2-4: a birthday cake for Michelle   5-6: Brendan Fraser licks a piece of the cake
(photos from "Reuters", "Cinema Today", "Japan Today", "Hamunaptra 3" and "Getty")
(08/04/08) - Photos from the Japanese premiere, Tokyo, August 4th. Michelle, Brendan Fraser, and Isabella Leong attended the event.



(photos from "AP", "Reuters", "Sanspo", "Sina", "Baidu" and "Getty")
- Reviews/Articles:
    Michelle Yeoh brings kicks and poise to "Mummy"
    Michelle Yeoh Shines in the New Mummy
    Jet: Michelle best in the world

- The Mummy 3 took the top spot at the foreign box office during the opening weekend, landing No. 1 in 26 of its 28 markets, including Hong Kong, South Korea, Malaysia, Russia, Spain, and Mexico. Grossing an estimated $59.5 million, the film substantially outpaced comparable openings for the first two Mummy films in the same markets ("The Mummy" $16.7 million and "The Mummy Returns" $21.5 million). It opened No. 2 in North America, grossing $40.5 million, which brought worldwide weekend tally $100 million.

In Mainland China, the release date has been postponed to September 24th. The filmmakers have to make the changes demanded by the Chinese authority before the film can be shown to the Chinese audience. However, now the online movie links to the pirate versions of The Mummy 3 are everywhere and from Chinese movie discussion boards we can see that MANY people have already watched it and even written their reviews based on the bad quality pirate versions.

- Taking advantage of the new big screen pairing of Jet Li and Michelle, Dragon Dynasty re-released the DVD of Tai Chi Master, a fantastic 1993 Hong Kong martial arts film starring Jet and Michelle. The film was previously released on DVD in the US by Miramax under the title Twin Warriors, but with some dialogue changes and scene cuts, and the music was rewritten. The Dragon Dynasty version includes both the original Cantonese soundtrack (subtitled) and an optional English dubbing.
Order Tai Chi Master DVD from Amazon

(08/01/08) - Michelle is in Tokyo now. The Japanese premiere of The Mummy 3 will be held in Tokyo on August 4th.

- Videos from CBS's "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson":
    Interview with Jet Li (July 29, 09:30)
    Interview with Michelle Yeoh (July 30, 08:45, including a new film clip)

- The prologue narration was not Michelle's voice, btw.

(07/30/08) - Videos:
    Comic Con M3 Panel:   Part II (09:11)   Part I (09:59)
    Interview with Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh   (MannyTheMovieGuy)
    LA premiere (05:51)
    Rob Cohen Interview (06:22, shocktillyoudrop)

- Hong Kong premiere of The Mummy 3 took place on July 29th. Anthony Wong and Jessey Meng, who play General Yang and Colonel Choi in the film, attended the event ("Sina" photo). The film opens in Hong Kong on July 31st.

- Reportedly the release date for Mainland China is tentatively scheduled on September 24th.

- Articles:   Mano a Mano With The Mummy   Michelle: I believe in afterlife

(07/28/08) The U.S. premiere of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor took place on Sunday July 27 at Universal Studios Hollywood. The film will open in 3600 plus locations this coming Friday.

Premiere videos:   AP video (03:04)   Truveo (01:28)

Reports:   The Morning Call   Yell   Hello


1 (L to R). Jet Li, Michelle, Brendan Fraser, and director Rob Cohen   2. Michelle with Brendan Fraser, Jet Li and Li's daughter
3. Michelle greeting with Rob Cohen   4. Michelle with Russell Wong and Isabella Leong   5. Michelle and Jet Li


1. Michelle signing autographs for fans   2. Michelle, Jet Li, Li's daughter, Universal Pictures' chairman Marc Shmuger (L2)
and President and Chief Operating Officer Ron Meyer (L1)   3-5. John Hannah, Luke Ford, Maria Bello at the premiere
(photos from "Wire Image" and "Getty". more premiere images see News)
(07/27/08) - Photos from San Diego Comic-Con, July 26. Right photo: main cast members at San Diego Comic-Con (from right to left) - Brendan Fraser, Jet Li, Maria Bello, Michelle Yeoh, John Hannah, Luke Ford and Isabella Leong. They showed a new clip of the Yetis from the film and took questions from the audience. (report)


- Video intervews:
    * Access Hollywood: Jet Li & Michelle Yeoh Talk The Mummy   (04:04)
    * MovieGuy: Jet Li & Michelle Yeoh Interview   (04:21)
    * LatinoReview: Comic-Con - John Hannah   (04:26)
    * LatinoReview: Comic-Con - Isabella Leong   (01:06)
    * LatinoReview: Comic-Con- Luke Ford   (01:24)
    * LatinoReview: Comic-Con- Brendan Fraser   (05:20)

- Philippines site: Inquirer.net - The Mummy

(07/26/08) Video: Making of The Mummy 3   part I (09:15)   part II (10:45)
The video contains tons of behind the scenes footage as well as interviews of the key cast and crew members. Also the Official Site has some new clips.

(07/26/08) Key cast members including Brendan Fraser, Jet Li and Michelle will be at Comic-Con San Diego this afternoon. Universal's special panel starts at 3:45pm, Hall H.   It's also mentioned at the end of the video Kelli Gillespie interview with Michelle and Jet Li (03:14).

(07/25/08) - Promotional photos from Chinese magazine "Movie". 1st image: Brendan Fraser, Maria Bello, Michelle, Jet Li, and Isabella Leong. Rest: Jet Li, Michelle, and Brendan Fraser. (thanks "A Bird" for the scans!)


- Interview/article links:
    * "She's Mummy's girl and a whole lot more Michelle Yeoh defies the odds to become an international star"   page 1 page 2
    * Michelle Yeoh brings mix of silk and steel to latest Mummy film

(07/24/08) The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor premiered (world premiere?) in Moscow, Russia on July 24th. Brendan Fraser, Maria Bello, Jet Li, and Michelle attended the event. The film will open in Russian cinemas on July 31st.

Videos from the Moscow premiere:
  - Premeire ceromony (01:27)
  - Photocall and premeire ceromony (04:07)

Brendan Fraser, Maria Bello, Jet Li and Michelle at the premiere

Michelle attending the Mummy III premiere in Moscow

Maria Bello	Brendan Fraser	Jet Li	Michelle and Jet Li
(photos from "Antonb", "Moskva", "Film", "Yahoo" and "Superiorpics")

(07/24/08) M3 Production Notes   (doc document. 56 pages. thanks Denzylle)
The production notes contain information on making the story, casting of the film, 91 days of filming on two continents, production design, swordplay and martial arts, VFX, and bios of cast and crew. In the custume design part, it mentions that one of Isabella Leong's outfits was inspired by Tibetan national costumes. The designer created nine beautiful costumes for Michelle, designs not exactly determined by the period since her role is as a sorceress. "When Michelle put them on, they became alive. She is so graceful and wears the costume so beautifully. The way she moves and holds her neck... she almost floats," said the designer Sanja Hays. Hays also recounted the making of Michelle's costume for her final sword fight: "It was for the big sword fight with Jet Li where she wears a pleated skirt. I bought a knee-length skirt for myself in Shanghai; I swirled in it, and the way it moved was amazing. We made it in a long version, and one of the girls here, Malika, went through hell trying to figure out how they did it. Everything was hand-pleated, but we finally figured it out. The skirt is very straight when Michelle is standing, but when she kicks, fights and swirls in it, it flies out in a full circle. I can't wait to see it on screen."

(07/23/08) News photos from a media photocall for the Mummy promotion, Berlin, July 23rd.


1. (L to R) Jet Li, Michelle, Brendan Fraser and Maria Bello
2-4. King and Queen of the Asian Kung-Fu cinema


Michelle with Maria Bello during the photocall
(photos from "WireImage", "Time Wrap" and "AP")
(07/23/08) - The U.S. premiere of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor will take place on Sunday July 27 at Gibson Amphitheatre, Universal Studios Hollywood. Director, producers, screenwriters and all main stars - Brendan Fraser, Jet Li, Maria Bello, John Hannah, Russell Wong, Luke Ford, Isabella Leong and Michelle - are scheduled to attend. (Press release)

- M3 promotion late night talk show lineups:
    Monday, July 28, Brendan Fraser, "Tonight Show With Jay Leno"
    Tuesday, July 29, Jet Li, "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson"
    Wednesday July 30, Michelle Yeoh, "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson"
    Wednesday July 30, Maria Bello, "Conan O'Brien"
    Friday, August 1, Brendan Fraser, "Conan O'Brien"; Brendan Fraser, Maria Bello, "The View"

- Last week from the 15th to 18th, there were several press junkets for the M3 promotion in Los Angeles. A special screening for the press was held on the 17th. Michelle and Jet Li accepted multiple interviews. Brendan Fraser, Maria Bello, Luke Ford and Isabella Leong also attended some of the junkets.

Videos:
    Jet Li, Michelle Yeoh Interview   (in English)
    Brendon Fraser Interview
    Maria Bello Interview
    Rob Cohen Interview
    Michelle, Jet Li, Luke Ford, Isabella Leong   (01:17, in Chinese and English)


Michelle, Brendan Fraser, Maria Bello and Jet Li at M3 press conference
at Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, July 15
(photos from "WireImage". More photos see News july 23)
(07/22/08) - Five new M3 clips can be seen at ShockTillYouDrop. Clip#2 features Michelle and Jet Li's sword fight.

- New poster and M3 promotional images ("Mingpao" and "IGN"):

Poster

Sorceress Zi Yuan (HQ)

Michelle (R) and Isabella Leong

Maria Bello, Brendan Fraser, Isabella Leong, Michelle, and Jet Li

General Ming Guo	Zi Yuan & Ming Guo	Zi Yuan	Emperor & Zi Yuan	Ming Guo & Emperor

Zi Yuan in Shangri-La	Terra-cotta warriors		Rick & Evelyn with Foundation army	Lin facing the three-head-dragon

General Yang vs Yeti	Alex & Lin	Rick & Evelyn discuss artifacts with Benjamin Fry	Rick & Evelyn O'Connell, Jonathan Carnahan

- After Universal agreed to make all the cuts and changes demanded by the Chinese authority, The Mummy 3 has obtained permission for the film to be released in Mainland China. The Chinese distributor said the changes will be minor and the fluency of the film story should not be affected. Reportedly the requested cuts/changes include scenes which reflect the cruelty of the evil emperor, such as killing slavery workers during building the Great Wall and "Che Lie" of General Guo. Currently there is no release date set for China. The common guess is that it will be sometime after the Olympics, no earlier than late August.

Note that obtaining release permission may not guarentee a theatrical release of the film in China. Sony's Memoir of a Geisha, starring Zhang Ziyi, Gong Li and Michelle, was denied a public release despite the film having been approved by the authority in November 2005. China's political situation is unstable. Things such as policy change, additional rules, decisions being turned over, etc., are not a surprise and can affect release.

(07/12/08) [Notice] I'm going for a trip and most likely I won't have time to update the site before July 22nd.

Yesterday Brendan Fraser appeared at Universal Studios Orlando's Revenge of the Mummy for M3 promotion. Press junkets will be held next week in LA with main stars attending.

(07/11/08) In January 2001, Michelle's wax double was unveiled at the Madame Tussaud Wax Museum in Hong Kong. The statue had been dressed in a Wai Lin gown for 1997's Tomorrow Never Dies (see photos of the wax double). Now the museum has changed it to one of Zi Yuan's gowns from The Mummy 3, donated by Universal Pictures International. A M3 trailer is being played next to the wax statue.


(photos from "Sun", "Mingpao" and "CNA")
(07/11/08) After playing a lot of "guessing games", the Chinese media has finally gotten a confirmation that the Mummy 3 will not be released in Mainland China as scheduled, originally set to come out on July 29th. The Chinese authorities demanded certain changes to the film. No details have been given to the public, nor a possible release date.

Although the M3 filmmakers tried not to make any political statement in the film, they may not realize that the Chinese communist government is very paranoid. If they see a portrayed villain has similar characteristics as they do, they would think you are referring to them. Mummy heroes defeating the tyrannical Emperor who crushes the people's freedom -- I'd be quite surprised if the Chinese authorities allowed this theme to go into China smoothly.

Link: China demands 'Mummy' changes (Variety)

(07/08/08) A movie tie-in novel, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, was released on July 1st. Written by by Max Allan Collins, the novel is based on the screenplays by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar and with no access to the actual film. Comparing it to the screenplay version from July 3, 2007, I noticed some minor changes and a few scenes left out of the script:
   1. no battle between Zi Yuan (Michelle) and General Yang (Anthony Wong)
   2. no sword fight between the emperor (Jet Li) and General Ming Gao (Russell Wong)
   3. no appearance of General Yang's father
   4. added a scene between General Yang (Anthony Wong) and Colonel Choi (Jessey Meng)
The emperor character in the book is "Er Shi Huangdi", aka Qin Er Shi, the second as well as the last emperor of the Qin Dynasty (see a background story at 01/04/08). We knew already that originally it was meant to be Qin Shi Huang, the first Qin Emperor, but since Chinese authorities did not like the idea, the production company had to change the name several times and it will be Emperor Han in the film.

The third installment of the Mummy series will change the story/location from Egypt to China. NBC Universal even tried to tie the film up with the Beijing Olympics in their promotion. Ironically, the film may have to be delayed in Mainland China because of the Olympics event. Reportedly Chinese authorities don't think the film will fit with the Olympics so they postponed the censor procedure until after the event. At this moment, it is not clear if the film will be able to be shown in China at all. Even if the authorities don't give filmmakers too much trouble and eventually give it permission for release, by that time most of Chinese audience who wanted to see the film would have already seen it from bootleg sources.

(07/08/08) The sound track of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is expected to be released on July 29 by Varese Sarabande records.

1. A Call To Adventure (Theme From Mummy 3) (3:02)
2. Silently Yearning For Centuries (2:23)
3. Open Wound (2:05)
4. The Reign Of Terror (2:48)
5. A Family Presses Close (2:36)
6. Formation Of The Terra Cotta Army (3:07)
7. Reading Of The Scrolls (3:54)
8. Crash And Burn (2:24)
9. Alex And Lin (1:13)
10. A New Assignment (2:53)
11. Yang Follows The O Connells (2:53)
12. Shanghai Chase (4:50)
13. Mother And Daughter Reunion (2:01)
14. Ancient China (2:22)
15. Rick's Long Rod (0:42)
16. Entering The Tomb (5:52)
17. Visit From A 3-Headed Friend (1:36)
18. Memories, Retirement And Dinner (2:30)
19. New Year's Betrayal (2:23)
20. The Emperor Versus Zi Yuan (1:44)
21. Love In The Himalayas (2:10)
22. 2nd Century B.C. (1:09)
23. The Museum Becomes Alive! (1:41)
24. Rick And Evy In Battle (2:40)
25. A Warm Rooftop (1:21)
26. Heartbreak (2:36)
27. Return Of The Dragon (2:47)
28. Shielding A Son (2:30)
29. Finale (3:25)
30. My Sweet Eternal Love, Performed by Helen Feng (2:53)

(07/08/08) Recently several press have been invited to visit the M3 edit bay with director Rob Cohen.
   Rob Cohen: Wrapping The Mummy
   Cohen Striving For Special-Effects Perfection 'Until They Pry It Out Of My Hands'
   A Visit To The "Mummy" Edit Bay

(07/03/08) - The Hollywood premiere of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor will be held on Sunday July 27 in Hollywood, California.

- Hong Kong media reported that Michelle, Jet Li and Isabella Leong will be in Los Angeles during July 15 - 17 for the M3 promotion.

- Two TV Spots are available at Mummy 3 official website (under "Video").

(06/30/08) - A new behind-scenes video, "A Look Inside", is available at Papa John's.
- Papa John's M3 pizza boxes
- Mummy 3 official website has some new features up.
- "Ain't it Cool" has two reviews on the two recent test screenings in California (contain spoilers): 1 2
    I heard that Michelle narrated the prologue of the film.
- M3 posters: South Korea, Germany, France and Taiwan:


(06/29/08) [AN UPDATE TO NOTICE from June 3] First, I'd like to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who has been concerned about my friend Wen in China, regardless of whether you have written to me. After a month...   Read more...

(06/27/08) The summer issue of the French magazine "L'Ecran Fantastique" will have a special feature on the film including new interviews of Brendan Fraser, Jet Li and Michelle. (cover pic)

(06/25/08) - The official pictorial moviebook, "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor", will be published by Newmarket Press on August 1st, same day as the theatrical release in the U.S.. 160 pages, paperback and hardcover.

- Posters for Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan have been added to the M3 Posters section.
The title of "The Mummy" has been translated into three different Chinese titles in three different regions of China: "Shen Gui Chuan Qi" in Taiwan, "Dao Mu Mi Cheng" in Hong Kong, and "Mu Nai Yi" in Mainland China.

- Reportedly, the film has been facing some difficulties getting the Chinese authorities' approval. The original plan of releasing the film in Asia a week ahead - especially in Mainland China - had to be changed. The new release date for Hong Kong is now July 31st and for Taiwan August 7th. There is no official word about the release date in Mainland China. Rumors say that Chinese authorities think some of the material in the film does not fit with the current "rules" of censorship, especially during the "sensitive" Olympic period. Chinese media have guessed this film eventually should be able to pass the censorship and get a release permit, but with some delays. The release date in Malaysia is July 31 and Japan is August 16.

(06/23/08) The Mummy 3 display/posters. The first three are photos of a huge M3 display at this year's Cinema Expo in Amsterdam.


(pictures from "Movie Soon" and "Filmz")
(06/20/08) Full new trailer of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. 
      Watch online   [02:28]
      Download: Low (16.33 Mb)  HD Medium (70 Mb)  HD High (118.63 Mb)

Dragon Emperor		Zi Yuan and Ming Guo	emperor's soldiers

Zi Yuan fighting with the mummy emperor	emperor's army awaken (images from Rob Cohen's Blog)

(06/17/08) Director Rob Cohen updated us the process of the M3 post-production in his production blog. The film will be 1 hour and 54 minutes. A full trailer is coming out June 27th.

(06/17/08) The novel written by Max Allan Collins, "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor", which is based on the screenplay by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, will be published by Berkley on July 1st. 256 pages. (pre-order   ISBN: 0425223132, 978-0425223130)
Image at left: book cover.

- M3 game covers: PlayStation2  Wii  DS

(06/15/08) An interesting interview with director Rob Cohen: Conversation: The Mummy Rises Again (thanks Denzylle)
Cohen talked about his love for Chinese culture, how they interpolated Chinese history and archaeology, their works including re-creating the tomb, 500 replicas of terracotta warriors (with extra weapons in their hands: crossbows, halberds, pikes, and swords), horses and chariots. Rob Cohen confirmed that the villain in M3 is indeed tyrannical Qin Shihuang (aka Qin Shihuangdi), the first Qin emperor, but, "we're not allowed to say this is based on Qin Shihuangdi," said Cohen. (for related earleir reports please see 01/04/08 and 07/27/07)

In another interview, director Cohen confirmed several lines of dialogue relating to the imperialistic ambitions of the emperor had to be changed at the behest of Chinese authorities, according to "Screen Daily". The film is currently going through the official screenings required for a Chinese release. China's "Information Times" reported that there might be a chance that The Mummy 3 will hit cinemas in Mainland China on August 1st.

(06/12/08) A press junket for The Mummy 3 is currently scheduled for July 14-15 in Los Angeles. Rob Cohen, Brendan Fraser, Maria Bello, Luke Ford, Jet Li, and Michelle are all scheduled to attend.

Still in post-production, the film has not yet been rated. The North American release date is August 1 and it is expected to open at 3750 plus locations. Originally the film company had planned the world opening of the film to take place in China on July 24. At this moment it is not clear if it can go as planned. The Mummy 3 is not shown on China's current summer release list. Meanwhile, the film will open in other Asian territories such as Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore on July 24/25 and Malaysia on July 31.

(06/12/08) The Mummy Tomb of the Dragon Emperor Game Trailer
Below are some screenshots from the game which have the same sets as in the film. For more details and screenshots of the Mummy 3 game please see 05/08/08.

(1) Shanghai street   (2-4) Shanghai Museum (5) bedroom in the monastery (what is O'Connell family doing here?)

(1-2) the gear chamber		(3-5) tomb
(photos from "Worthplaying")

(06/03/08) [NOTICE] I'm sorry to announce that I may not have time to update this site for several days, or even longer. I just learned terrible news from China. Read more...

(06/02/08) - The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is scheduled to open on July 25 in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore, a week ahead of the US release. Currently there is no release date announced for Mainland China. It is not clear if the film has been "approved" by the Chinese authority.

- There will be a special preview of The Mummy 3 during Fangoria's Weekend of Horrors convention, to be held June 20-22 in New Jersey.

(05/25/08) - Director Rob Cohen will be in London this week working on the film score and taking a few London-base shots with Brendan Fraser, Maria Bello and John Hannah.

- A cool M3 trailer story (Maxim) : page 1 page 2

- A report from the press interviews in LA on May 15th. Universal arranged meetings with Michelle, Maria Bello, and Isabella Leong.

Michelle told reporters that one of the main reasons she got interested in the project is that she would have martial art fights with Jet Li. Director Rob Cohen sent her a very warm invitation letter and actor Vin Diesel, who worked with Rob Cohen before and was filming Babylon A.D. with Michelle at the time, said the director is easy to work with. So she agreed to star. Michelle praised Rob Cohen's passion for Chinese culture. And she said he is very willing to listen to other's opinions. Before the shooting began, she gave some suggestions to the director and they were all accepted.

The filming of the battle with Jet Li went smoothly. The important part was to show emotions during the fight, said Michelle. The most difficult part came from the costumes. Those costumes and ornaments may look magnificent, but they were very heavy. To make the costumes swing during the fight was not any easier than handling the weapons. Michelle said with a smile that other actors envied her for having more costumes and having the most beautiful costumes in the film. Luckily this time she did not get injured, although one time was almost too close. During one fight sequence, Jet Li's sword almost cut her nose and fortunately she moved away fast enough.

Isabella Leong said it was her first Hollywood film and she was very nervous during the screen tests. She said she actually failed during the first try. Luckily for her the director give her second chance. She trained very hard for the action scenes and many people helped her. She was relieved that the director arranged stunt doubles for some of the more difficult movements. Another big challenge for her was English. She said Luke Ford was very patient with her. Isabella Leong said Michelle was her real model and she has learned a lot from Michelle. She said she was very touched by Michelle for her caring and help. Leong said it is a pity she did not have many scenes with Jet Li.

Maria Bello said she always wanted to play an action role and The Mummy 3 fulfilled her dream. She was very excited. She did not have experience in action films, but she really enjoyed practicing martial arts and sword fighting. She said one unforgettable shot was during the filming of a scene of her and Brendan Fraser fighting with six Terra-cotta warriors. Since those were special effect shots, they were actually filmed in front of a green screen and "fighting" with imaginary opponents. It was her first experience with green screen filming and she could not hold back her laughs. They ended having to repeat the shot many times. She said Brendan Fraser was nice, patient, and always in high spirits. Bello said since the characters are supposed to be more than 10 years older than in the previous Mummy, it should not be surprising for the actress change.

(05/16/08) On Thursday May 15th, the three female leads of The Mummy 3, Michelle, Maria Bello, and Isabella Leong accepted press interviews at Casa Del Mar Hotel on the Santa Monica beach. From 11:00am to 4:00pm, each of them met with groups of journalists from areas including Hong Kong, Italy, and Germany.

Michelle at the press meetings		Maria Bello	Isabella Leong
(photos from "Sun" and "Hz")

(05/16/08) - Teaser trailer of "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor":   Watch   Download [01:54, 37MB HD]

- Here are some new images. The first one is a new poster. 2nd one is the M3 teaser poster on a building in Cannes during the Cannes Film Festival.




("Universal Pictures" and "Sina")
(05/14/08) A M3 teaser trailer will debut in U.S. theaters this Friday with prints of Prince Caspian, and will make the international debut on May 22th with prints of Indiana Jones 4. Fans can also enjoy it online at Rob Cohen's blog this Friday.

The upcoming new deluxe edition DVD and Blu-ray release of The Mummy, due to hit store shelves in July, will include a sneak peak and a ticket offer for The Mummy 3.

(05/10/08) Hong Kong media reported that Michelle and Isabella Leong will be in Santa Monica, California this coming Thursday for The Mummy 3 publicity and they will accept press interviews. Director Rob Cohen was in Hong Kong a couple of days ago and he met with several Chinese media.

(05/08/08) Sierra Entertainment, a Los Angeles-based game developer and publisher, has announced its plans to release "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor", a video game adaptation of The Mummy 3 film, on July 22nd in North America.

Players will take on the role of Rick O'Connell and his son Alex. Voice talent includes Brendan Fraser, Luke Ford, John Hannah and Michelle. The game is currently in development for the Wii, PlayStation 2 and Nintendo DS, featuring the locations of the film from the Chinese catacombs to the Himalayan peaks, with action as well as puzzle solving and hieroglyphic decoding gameplay elements.

Links:  M3 Game Features   M3 Game official website


(05/07/08) Media reported director Rob Cohen told "Heat" (U.K. magazine) that actress Rachel Weisz turned down the role of Evelyn in The Mummy 3 because the character was "too old": "I got a very angry phone call from her agent, saying she'll never play the mother of a 21-year-old. I said, 'OK, good, fine, bye.'" The role has been replaced by Maria Bello.

(05/01/08) Universal's official site for The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is up at www.TheMummy.com. So they have decided to call the evil character "Han Emperor" (for previous related reports see 01/04/08 and 07/27/07).

New images have been added to the Promotion Photos section.

(04/30/08) Director Rob Cohen has relaunched his newly designed website RobCohentheMummy.com. Here are some new production photos and concept art drawings:

Michelle, Isabella Leong, and director Rob Cohen on the Shangri-La set		library in monastery / depository of manuscripts	underground astrolab	undead warrior

(04/29/08) Official teaser poster (click on image to see HQ version). Director Rob Cohen said he will go to London on May 27 to record Randy Edelman's score with the London Symphony Orchestra at Abbey Road, including traditional Chinese instruments, traditional Tibetan instruments, a choir, Buddhist monk chanters, and koto drum percussion.

(04/14/08) Quotes from the M3 script, July 3 2007.

          EMPEROR:
I will restore order and crush the scourge of freedom...
          ZI YUAN:
Open the currents of justice and the lost ways of honor. Bring down the wrath of the oppressed on this Emperor and all who follow him...
          EMPEROR:
I will slaughter without mercy. I will conquer without compassion...
          ZI YUAN:
I call upon the hundreds and the thousands to rise up and seize this moment, to take your victory, to take your justice and to take your revenge!

(04/02/08) "Access Hollywood" Video: Access Extended - BTS: 'The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor'   [02:02]
Tim Vincent's exclusive set visit featuring behind the scenes and interview with Brenden Fraser. There are three seconds of Michelle and Jet Li's sword fight at 00:53-00:55.

(03/28/08) New video from the official blog: "Visual Effects", Santa Monica, CA

(03/24/08) In the new update on The official blog, director Rob Cohen said Michelle will arrive in the U.S. tomorrow for the M3 sound dubbing. A trailer can be expected soon.

(03/17/08) - Some newly released M3 production photos.


- "JoBlo" reported that a teaser trailer was shown on the ShoWest:

"A quick shot of the Great Wall of China. Brendan Fraser and crew are on an archaeological dig in China. They walk into a room full of stone statues. They talk about The Dragon Emperor and how he was cursed by his enemies and turned into a mummy of stone. Fraser accidentally sets something off that awakens the Dragon Emperor and he comes breaking out of his rockness and charging out of the tomb.

Everything afterwards came at us real fast but I swear I saw a Yeti in there somewhere and at the end there was an extended shot of a three-headed dragon creature who didn't look too happy. There was a 300-like shot of a mass of arrows coming down from the sky on some poor saps. Fraser and his son in the movie exchanging some banter and quick glimpses of Michelle Yeoh and Jet Li in action."

(03/12/08) Another poster of The Mummy 3 from the ShoWest 2008. ("Comingsoon.net")

(03/11/08) Actress Maria Bello revealed that she has signed for three more sequels in Universal's Mummy franchise. Last week Luke Ford told Australian media there is a possibility for a spin-off of his Alex O'Connell character.

(03/11/08) Video: A night filming in Hengdian [00:59]  They were shooting one of the ancient time scenes, perhaps Dragon Emperor's army taking over the State of Chu.

Here are several good quality set photos from Hengdian. The first one was taken during the actual filming last November. The rest were taken in early December and you can see the unique M3 designs/decorations to the palace. The second one is the entrance pass to the Throne Room. (photos by fergusthompson and kanegen)


(03/09/08) A teaser poster of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, displayed at the ShoWest 2008.

(02/19/08) New video: Editing M3
Director Rob Cohen updated the The official blog yesterday. He said a teaser trailer can be expected within a month. The current version runs 125 minutes and the first studio screening is planned for February 28th. The VFX shots still need a lot of work.

(02/07/08) YouTube videos: M3 interviews by Mark Sung:
   - Interview with the action director Vic Armstrong (done in Shanghai at the end of last November)
   - Visual EFX, interview with Blaine Lougheed, the set data technician

(02/06/08) Some M3 set construction photos from the Mel's Cite du Cinema studio in Montreal:

"entrance" to Shangri-La

building Shangri-La
(courtesy of Zeste Celestes and "fotoproze")

(01/18/08) - Malaysian New Straits Times published an interview with Brendan Fraser. Asked if he had to learn any new skills for the Asian setting movie, Fraser said: "Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh are starring in this film and the latter can kick an apple off my head. There is a more fluid style to this film because of the martial arts. Rick is not part of that school.... Rob suggested I study at the National Training Center in LA where they train in a combat self defense system called Krav Magra." Talking about Rick's "new wife" Fraser said "I don't want to give the joke away but I can promise you a brand new Evie."

- Some photos from the Montreal filming:


1. Producer Bob Ducsay (left) and director Rob Cohen on the set of an underground chamber
2. Jet Li's Emperor in the chamber
3. a view of the Montreal filming set
(photos from "NST", "3M" and jetli.com)
(01/13/08) More shots from the Xingjiang shooting, November 22 - 23. In the first two photos we can see the head eunuch Li Zhou (in black), Ming Guo (double) and Zi Yuan (double). ("Tianshan net" photos)


(01/07/08) The official blog has a new update with the video: A Fireworks Wrap

(01/04/08) I've got a Chinese translation of the M3 script which version is dated July 3, 2007. This may or may not be the actual shooting script but it should be quite close to the final one. The production started on July 26 last year in Montreal and wrapped up in China a month ago.

In the script the Emperor became Qin Er Shi, the second as well as the last emperor of the Qin Dynasty. In real Chinese history Qin Er Shi was the 26th son of Qin Shi Huang and a puppet emperor after his father's sudden death. He was under the control of chief eunuch Zhao Gao during his less than three years of rule (210BC - 207BC) before his life and the tyrannical Qin Dynasty were removed. There are different counts for the age when he died, some say in his early 20's and others say he was only 15. In the early version(s) of the M3 scripts the Dragon Emperor was Qin Shi Huang. At some point it became Emperor Han. Apparently they kept changing the identity of the character in order to avoid the Chinese authority's complaints. (see report of July 27) It was not fixed even after the production started. We do not know what identity the Dragon Emperor will take in the final cut. But one thing we can be sure is that the set design for ancient part of the story is from Qin Dynasty.

A large portion of Jet Li's character will require some assistance through special effects, like when the character is covered in clay or takes beast forms, for example.

Since this is an adventure of the O'Connell family, we can expect Michelle wouldn't have the most screen time. We probably will miss her for half of the movie. However, the Zi Yuan character is my favorite from the script. As we already know, she appears in both the ancient period and modern times, in two different character designs. I like seeing Michelle as a symbol of fighting for justice. And I like this theme of the film - that the tyrannical regime must be dissolved, miseries must end, and freedom must be triumphant - something which is only too real for today's China. (Although the production team had been in China for more than two months, many of them may not aware what's really going on in the country. It is hard for foreigners to really know the place where the government carefully hides things from international society and people are afraid of talking about any "sensitive issues"...)

In this version, Zi Yuan's creation of "pools of eternal life" was removed. That's too bad. I really liked that part from the earlier scripts. Hope the production company might consider making a spin-off for the character. With topics on China getting hotter and hotter, they can certainly make interesting movie(s) - with 2000 years of civilization to be covered!

Based on this version of July 3, the library built inside the Shanghai Film Studio should not be the Emperor's library (see report of 11/23/07) but is actually the interior set of the ancient depository of manuscripts (the exterior scenes were filmed in Xinjiang). Also, there is no appearance of Jet Li's character's father (see 07/18/07) [minor spoiler warnings til end of the paragraph] but there will be a short scene of Anthony Wong's character's father. Michelle will have a fight with Anthony Wong. Jessey Meng's character will have some fights as well. Some of you may have read some early versions of the script or "ISEB"'s story sketch based on the version dated March 19. Here are a few obvious changes:
1. the India or Hamunaptra scenes were deleted and they added London scenes (filmed in Canada)
2. no back story on Alex
3. no flashback on how the pools of eternal life were created
4. Lin has a better and bigger reason to become mortal
5. Jonathan Carnahan gives out where the next possible Mummy story will take place

I've also seen a detailed story summary (in Chinese) which is slightly different from the script mentioned above. It's not dated but should be based on a version later than March 2007.

(01/01/08) HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone!

Here we have some more photos from the M3 production. The first one is an official release, perhaps shot in Montreal.

O'Connell family	IMHOTEPS night club (Shanghai). Vic Armstrong (L2), his wife Wendy, John Hannah (R2), Liam Cunningham (R1)			filming at the Nanjing Road set, Shanghai

on the Han Street set, Hengdian World Studios (photos from "Filmz", Vic Armstrong's blog, "Shaoxing Evening" and Chinese BBS)

(12/28/07) Taiwanese model Jessey Meng said her role in The Mummy 3 is as an adjutant in General Yang (Anthony Wong)'s army. She said initially she rejected Rob Cohen's invitation since her role in the script was very small. It required her to be on set for two months but she would only have about 5 minutes of screen time. Later the director talked to her through phone calls and e-mails, and convinced her to join the production. He even added several scenes for Meng including a relationship of some kind with Anthony Wong.

(12/23/07) HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
"Wow!... a visit to a magical Shangri-la!" - Performing Arts Insider
    For anyone who is interested in traditional Chinese culture, I highly recommend the upcoming Holiday Wonders and Chinese New Year Spectacular. Featuring traditional dance, music, song, martial arts, mini-dramas, etc., it's a showcase of China's rich cultural past. The global tour will be in more than 65 cities around the US, Canada, Europe, Asia and Australia. Don't miss the world's largest Chinese New Year live-stage celebration! Let the show take you back 5000 years into ancient China in two of the most memorable hours of your life. Visit www.BestChineseShows.com for information on the show & ticketing.

(12/17/07) "PopPhoto" has an interview with Jasin Boland, the still photographer for The Mummy 3. He mentioned some of his M3 experience, including creating some shots trying to pick up the flash from a gun. He went out with Brendan Fraser, a few weapons, 250 rounds of ammunition, and a couple of Nikons. "The images are so cool, and closer to the release of the film, you should see those shots everywhere." He also talked about how relieved he was once he was able to retrieve a series of files from a card error. "The shots were a series of specials on Michelle Yeoh and to lose them would have been devastating and the studio would have gone nuts," said Boland.

(12/09/07) "Michelle Yeoh should be made Queen of the World. If so, I would be a monarchist. What an elegant woman! She is a light being. She glows from within, even in sunlight." - from Director Rob Cohen's Mummy Blog (updates on December 8). Visit the blog for more.

(12/05/07) Video clips:
    - Mummy 3 press conference in Shanghai, Nov. 26 (17:48, in Mandarin and English)
    - Michelle Yeoh and Jet Li: joy of filming the fights (3:00, in Mandarin)

(12/03/07) Onstage at IMHOTEPS night club, they filmed a "live performance" with 26 year old American Chinese rock singer Helen Feng, who plays a singer in 1940s Shanghai. The jazz band "played" their instruments soundlessly. With the music from her wireless headphones, Feng performed a song entitled "Forever Love" (translated title) which is also the end title song for the film. Reportedly the lyrics were written by director Rob Cohen. They did the recording and filmed the performance at the same time. It took only about 15 minutes. ("CE" photos)


Although the principal filming has wrapped, reportedly the M3 team has still been filming some scenes including more horse work.

(11/30/07) The Mummy 3 has completed its filming in Shanghai in the morning of November 30th. The last scene filmed was a big party inside a luxurious night club in 1940s Shanghai: Luke Ford and Isabella Leong. Brendan Fraser and Maria Bello. There were about 80 westerners and a dozen Chinese guests, all dressed for holiday. At one point director Rob Cohen and his wife joined the dances on the dance floor...

(11/30/07) More photos from the filming at the Hengdian World Studios, November 12 - 17th. (photos from Sina and Baidu blogs)

1. Michelle on set. Notice that she had the same hair style and dressed the "same" as in the Xinjiang scenes - with much finer costumes. The metal tipped shoes nearby are for use during horse scenes to prevent the horse from accidentally stepping on actor's feet
2. in front of the Throne Room (Imperial Presenting Hall): the second left is Michelle. An imperial officer can be seen at second right
3. Michelle's horse
4. a view of part of the Qin Palace square. For some of the scenes on the square huge green screens were used, apparently for special effects shots

The Emperor's Throne Room (Imperial Presenting Hall) is one of the important locations during the ancient part of the story for The Mummy 3. The Throne Room related scenes were filmed in both Hengdian and Shanghai. In the Shangahi Film Studio they had the interior of the Throne Room and the furniture and decorations were transferred to Hengdian right before the Hengdian filming. At the Hengdian World Studios, they re-decorated the outside pillars (the dragon patterns seen in several photos) of the Right Side Hall of the Qin Palace and made it into the Throne Room. Inside the hall, one side was used for the Throne Room and the other used for the Emperor's bedroom. According to the reports, the M3 team did not have to pay rental fee for the week long filming in Hengdian. Instead, the deal is that the production team will leave all the furniture and decorations created for the film there. The Hengdian Studios believe they can make a good use of them for tourists, etc.. The set construction and decoration in Hengdian took over two months.

Another part of the story which was shot at Hengdian involved the Dragon Emperor (Qin) invading and taking over the State of Chu. The first two pictures below are the actor and actresses who play the King of Chu and his concubines.


(11/29/07) These are more pictures from the Xinjiang filming on the 22nd and 23rd. ("67" photos)

"monks"	Michelle and Russell Wong's doubles		ready to shoot

According to the reports, the costumes which Michelle and Russell Wong's doubles wore were pretty rough, since no close-ups were needed. The head eunuch, played by Chinese actor Liu Tao, had the finest costume on Xinjiang set and they did do close-up shots of him. And there were no fallen leaves in front of the Thousand Buddha Caves and so the production team actually had to bring a big bag of leaves in and scattered them on the ground to let the "monks" sweep them.

The story goes, reportedly, that Zi Yuan and Ming Guo went to a temple there searching for a secret book in the temple's ancient depository of manuscripts. The director wants Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves to be the temple and Sugong Tower as the depository. In the film we will see these two structures connected together via digital special effects .

(11/27/07) Yesterday we reported that a M3 team filmed in Xinjiang for two days last week. Xinjiang scenes mainly involve Michelle and Russell Wong's characters: they rode horses to a temple (Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves), unaware that they were being followed by a head eunuch. In Xinjiang they filmed scenery shots, long distance shots of Michelle and Russell Wong's doubles, and some extra scenes such as monks sweeping a courtyard, etc.. The interior scenes of the temple were filmed in the studios in Shanghai. Here are some photos from the Xinjiang filming:


(photos from "Nanfang Daily")

1. Zi Yuan and General Ming Guo stopping at the Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves
2. Zi Yuan and Ming Guo galloping pass the Flaming Mountain
3. Michelle's Xinjiang double (right, in costume). Reportedly the same person also doubled for Jet Li in some horse scenes. On the left is a smoking "monk". Talking about monks, does everyone know director Rob Cohen will have a cameo in the film - as a MONK (at Shanghai set not Xinjiang)?

(11/26/07) A press conference for The Mummy 3 was held on Monday November 26th at the Shanghai Film Studio. Rob Cohen, Brendan Fraser, John Hannah, Maria Bello, Luke Ford, and Isabella Leong attended the event and the actors were in their makeup and costumes from the filming. Michelle, Jet Li and Anthony Wong had finished their filming earlier and so were not in Shanghai.

Some reporters (those without cameras) were allowed to view a 7 minute teaser trailer which was just made for the event. It started with a large group of terra-cotta warriors, followed by a fight between Brendan Fraser and Jet Li, a sword fight between Jet and Michelle, Anthony Wong's gun fight with Fraser in snow mountains, Luke Ford's kiss with Isabella Leong, Jet Li standing on his giant statue waking up the Terra-cotta army... along with explosions, earthquakes, avalanches......

Even though the shots had no special effects yet, reporters said it looked more exciting than the previous two films. The occasionally exposed wires did not bother reporters but they couldn't resist asking the director why Zhang Heng's Houfeng Seismograph, which was invented in 132 A.D., appeared in the part of the story set in the period of 200 B.C.. To the question director Rob Cohen answered that it is a fantasy and they may not follow every historical detail, and besides, he wanted to blend in more Chinese historical treasures to show to the audience.

According to the reports, the Chinese characters portrayed by Michelle, Isabella Leong, and Jet Li all looked very elegant and beautiful in the trailer, though in their opinion Jet Li's Emperor did not look anywhere evil. They used some film props to decorate the conference room, inlcuding a screen used behind Emperor's chair, flags, and four bronze gongs. Filming in China will wrap up in a few days.

The M3 premiere in Beijing is scheduled on July 24, 2008.

Video: press conference. (3:13, in Chinese and English)

Photos from the press conference (they spelled Isabella's name wrong. photos from "Sina", "QQ" and "One Network"):


(11/26/07) - Finally, Vic Armstrong has got us a photo of Michelle as promised :-). His blog had a new entry "Bond Meets Mummy" with this photo - Michelle on her last day with the M3 action unit (in Hengdian I think, the background is the entrance of the Throne Room) and she was "surrounded by all her friends from the Bond we did together TOMORROW NEVER DIES," said Vic, "these are my AD, camera crew and grips and we have done many pictures together all over the world. It was lovely working with her again she is such a beautiful person inside and out." (Thanks Vic!!). From L to R: Pete Field (camera operator), Terry Madden (1st AD), Ron Nicholls (grip), Kenny Atherfold (main grip), Michelle, Vic Armstrong, and Jonathan Taylor (DP).

- An M3 team appeared at Turfan (aka Turpan), Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of west China and filmed there for two days on the 22nd and 23rd. According to "Xinjiang Daily", director Rob Cohen was not in Xinjaing filming, nor any of the main cast members. A group of people with some extras filmed at the Flaming Mountain, Sugong Tower, and Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves which is located in the mystic Grand Canyon of the Tianshan Mountains.

- Anthony Wong has finished his parts in The Mummy 3. Many Chinese crew members have done their work on M3 and left the project one after the other.

- Some pictures from Hengdian filming, November 13th. The first one shows the filming of the "Che Lie" sequence. Russell Wong or his double can be seen in the center (photos from "Shaoxing Evening"). Reportedly the right side hall of the Qin Palace set was changed into the Emperor's bedroom which is in black theme as other buildings of the Dragon Emperor.


(If the production company wondered how these pictures were taken after extremely tight security has been enforced, in this case, the reporter has given his account of the story - he bribed the guard of a side gate with a pack of cigarettes.)

(11/23/07) Jet Li's Mummy Emperor! More photos can be seen at yanggang.jetli.org.cn.


(11/23/07) In addition to the Nanjing Road set and an Egyptian-themed bar we have mentioned, there are also several other sets which are built inside the Shanghai Film Studio. The first photo we showed on Nov. 7th is the lower part of the "Shanghai Museum" where the terra-cotta Emperor will be awakened. Reportedly the finished building looks similar to the Shanghai Exhibition Center. The interior scenes of the Museum were actually filmed at a studio in Montreal.

The other indoor sets in Shanghai are for ancient scenes. They include Emperor's Throne Room (interior), General's Bedroom, a room to concoct pills of immortality, and the Emperor's library. The four sides of the library are stacked with all kinds of ancient books - carved on bamboo, bones, turtle shells, etc.. There is a huge desk in the center of the room and the top of the desk can be opened by a remote control. This is the place where Zi Yuan (Michelle) discovers a secret. The bedroom belongs to General Ming Guo (Russell Wong). The magnificent room is decorated with fine embroidery and more than 100 bronze candlesticks. A very large bed is placed in the center with beautifully embroidered pillows and beddings. A pair of dragon-phoenix candles are in front of the bed to light up a love scene.

(11/21/07) A group of photos taken from the Shanghai M3 set.

Brendan Fraser (L) and John Hannah playing with lion head "rocket"			Anthony Wong	Maria Bello getting off the truck

Luke Ford and Isabella Leong. Anthony Wong can be seen in the 3rd photo (front right)			General Yang shooting at Lin

Emperor's dragon chair	a sand table model of the Great Wall	decorations in the bar		Nanjing Road
(photos from "Southern Metropolis Weekly", "Cri" and "EastDay")

(11/20/07) - On the 20th they were filming one of the largest M3 scenes in the Shanghai Film Studio, involving about 500 extras. It was the 1946's Chinese New Year Eve in Shanghai.

- 1st Night, Shanghai, China: video clip from the official Mummy blog. They were filming at the Nanjing Road set.

- "Nanjing Road in the 30's" is one of the theme sets in the Shanghai Film Studio, and it was originally built in 1994 for Chen Kaige's Temptress Moon. The real Nanjing Road is Shanghai's principal shopping district. In Shanghai, a portion of the architecture is in colonial European style from the late 1800's through the 1930's. Below are some photos from the M3 Nanjing Road set, taken at the beginning of the month ("Sina" blog).


(11/18/07) Here are some set photos from Hengdian. Filming in Hengdian wrapped up in the morning of November 17th.

scaling ladder for attack	burning/burned books		a beheading scene was filmed here

slain bodies	arrows
(photos from Sohu blog)

(11/18/07) The U.K. "ES Magazine" had an interview with Rachel Weisz in the Nov. 16 issue. Weisz played Evelyn O'Connell, the librarian-cum-adventuress, in the first two Mummy movies. Her decision not to reprise Eve's role seems to be a part of being a mother. She's quoted saying "I would have had to go to China for three months and I just can't travel like that any more." (thanks Denzylle)

Actress Maria Bello has replaced Weisz for the character of Evelyn O'Connell in The Mummy 3. In the story before their new adventure begins, Rick and Evelyn have retired to Oxfordshire, England, and [spoiler warning] Evelyn has published her new books "The Mummy" and "The Mummy Returns". In one scene one of her fans asks: "Is the character in the books really you?" to which Evelyn answers: "To tell the truth, I'm not the same person as her." (a pun)

(11/16/07)
- On the Shanghai set, M3 production has been continuing shooting night scenes in 1940s Shanghai. An average 400 extras were involved everyday. They are aiming to wrap up China filming on November 28th.
- Famous Hong Kong car/bike stuntman and stunt coordinator Bruce Law will be performing some incredible car stunts for M3. Law worked with Michelle on Supercop (co-Starring Jackie Chan) and Project S.
- They used Yuen Wo-Ping's wire team for wired action scenes with Huan-Chiu Ku (Dee Dee) as a martial arts choreographer.
- A report on the end of the Tianmo filming: The fight between Jet Li and Wu Jing was shot indoor at the beginning of November (1st and 2nd). Wu Jing plays one of the three assassins who tries to kill the Emperor (in the ancient time). Many crew members left Beijing for Shanghai by Saturday Nov. 3rd and at the same time an aerial director and a director of aerial photography flew over from the U.S.. Some Chinese/Hong Kong assistant directors stayed longer for the aerial shoots in Tainmo. There were more than 200 soldier extras (these are real soldiers - they are in fact soldiers from Chinese People's Liberation Army). They planned to shoot on Sunday and Monday morning but eventually they had to squeeze all the actual shooting on the half day of Monday. They only managed some rehearsals on Sunday which was the day of the hotel Wei Quan incident.

(11/14/07) M3 filming continued in Hengdian on the 14th. According to the Chinese media, in the morning they filmed inside the Throne Room with the characters of Michelle, Jet Li, Russell Wong, along with some ancient senior military and civil "officers". In the afternoon they filmed more galloping scenes. A report said it was Michelle's double on the horse and the camera followed from behind. They also continued filming the "Che Lie" scene. 300 "soldiers" were doing the same thing as the day before: standing still on both sides of the road. Soon these "soldiers" will be replaced by terra-cotta warriors. People were excited to see some terra-cotta warriors were carried from a truck and placed on the square. They are painted in red and black, very similar to those soldier extras.

Reportedly the battle scenes will be filmed at night.

soldiers	terra-cotta warriors	Michelle's double on white horse	more arrows on the wall
(photos from "Hangzhou Daily Express" and "Sina" blog)

(11/13/07) The 13th of November was the first day of M3 shooting in the Hengdian World Studios, Zhejiang Province. Crew members and extras started arriving at the studios at 2:00AM and the actual shooting didn't start until 7:00AM. There were about 300 "soldiers" standing on both sides of the road. The first scene shot was Michelle's character galloping on a horse (some extras shouted Michelles' Chinese name excitedly: "Yang Zi Qiong! Yang Zi Qiong!"). She ran back and forth several times across the field. At one point the horse stopped unexpectedly and refused to move. She got off the horse and nearly tripped on her long robe trying to drag the horse into moving. It took about an hour to finish the horse riding scene.

The second scene started about 9:00AM. This time it was Russell Wong and Michelle's characters with a dozen of mounted troopers riding into the city. It took another hour. After four or five hours of standing around wearing heavy helmet and armor, the extras were so exhausted and many of them fell asleep on the ground until their lunch boxes arrived.

In the afternoon they shot a sequence [spoiler warning] where Russell Wong's character was pulled apart by horses - it was one of the most brutal death penalties used in ancient China, called "Che Lie", where the prisoner was torn asunder by five horsecarts (or horses directly). In the film they used eight horses. It was very difficult to shoot and they repeatedly had to reshoot the scene so much the horses became exhausted, a few even falling asleep. Crew members kept having to wake them up. Some western assistants shouted to the half-awake horses: "Run! Run!" But the horses didn't respond. Then some of the Chinese people reminded them these are Chinese horses. So they shouted: "Pao! Pao!" After more than 20 takes the shot was finally done.

There will also be some smaller scaled scenes shot inside the Throne Room. Reportedly it will be the scene when Zi Yuan is being presented to the Emperor.


(photos from "Hangzhou Daily" and "Qianjiang Evening")
(11/13/07) - HQ version of Michelle's Zi Yuan in The Mummy 3: 1 2 3 4 5

- Michelle is now in Hengdian. When director Rob Cohen said in his blog ("Shanghai, China") that he finished filming with Michelle last weekend, apparently he meant her scenes with him in Shanghai.

The Hengdian World Studios will be closed to the public from the 12th - 16th. Here are some photos from Hengdian, November 12th. Group shooting didn't start until the next day.


(photos from "Qianjiang Evening" and "Today Morning Express") Photo decriptions:
1. a watchtower over a gate to a desert city. The gate will be struck by a rain of arrows. The war chariot in front of the gate was actually used in a Zhang Yimou movie and the M3 team has repainted it from white to black.
2. the central gate is ready for shoots.
3. locals, many of them are farmers, lined up to be chosen as extras. If chosen, they get 70 Yuan per day (about USD$9.5).
4. the chosen ones became ancient soldiers instantly (some taller ones get to be generals - no photo).

(11/11/07) A large number of the M3 team members have already arrived in the Hengdian World Studios. Hengdian filming starts on the 12th. According to the reports, although the actual shooting will only take 4 or 5 days and those shots may only show up in the final cut for a few minutes, the set construction and decoration in Hengdian have taken about two months. Many Chinese crew members are surprised by how exquisite the props look compared to what were seen on Zhang Yimou's or Chen Kaige's period productions shot in Hengdian.

Reportedly some Hengdian shots will be background scenes of the Dragon Emperor: conquering other cities/countries, killing civilians, burning books and burying scholars (strong reference to Emperor Qin aka Qin Shi Huang), etc..

battered city	Throne Room: pillars at entrance and the interior			spongy "dead bodies"	books, carved on bamboo, will be burned by the Emperor
(photos from the Hengdian M3 set by "Hangzhou Daily Express")

(11/11/07) On November 9th, "Sina" reporters interviewed actor Brendan Fraser and producer Bob Ducsay in Shanghai. Ducsay said there was a long pause after the second Mummy film until they heard of the Terra-cotta warriors, which gave the filmmakers inspiration to have another Mummy film.

Reporters said Fraser himself looks more dramatic than in his movies. He talked about keeping balance between family and work. Talking about working with Jet Li and Michelle, he laughed: "I'm the good guy and Jet Li is the bad. Of course good guy wins!" And he said Michelle "taught" him to beat Jet Li hard and he's following her instructions and he thinks he did very well.

Here are some more tidbits from the Nov. 8 set visit (may contain minor spoilers):

- Asked why he chose Anthony Wong for his movie, director Rob Cohen said he studied Asian movies and he liked the actor very much. He thinks Wong is charming even when he plays a negative role. He has the depth of a man, said Cohen. He had actually chosen another actor for the role (Jane's note: Tony Leung Kar-Fei) since initially Wong had a schedule conflict. Four months after the preparation started Anthony Wong said he would have time to play the role and the director was very happy to have him on the team.
        Asked his opinion on Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh's performances, the director said: "They are wonderful. The film has two basic elements - reality and illusion and they could combine the two so well and they make the movie real. I'm pleasantly surprised."

- Although their characters' affection and hatred span over 2000 years and they may try to kill each other in the story, reporters described that Jet and Michelle looked like "brother and sister" on set when not filming. But, according to Michelle, "I call Jet Mei-Mei (little sister) and he calls me Ge-Ge (big brother)". Jet Li "complained": "She bullied me all the time on set! I guess she's getting her revenge on me for cutting her scenes out from Fearless. I owe her for that." Michelle said she didn't mind that (being cut out). "But didn't you see he stabbed me (in filming)?" she asked reporters jokingly. Both of them said it's an easy shooting for them and they have been having a great time. Michelle said there will be more drama than action scenes between them. Asked if there will be any love scene between the two, "Love scene? We are enemies," answered Michelle, "no love scene." (It was hilarious to see dozens of Chinese news reports calling them "Sister Jet Li and Brother Michelle Yeoh"...)

- Isabella Leong said she's very excited to be on this project. This is the first action film for her. She said she didn't request using doubles unless the director asked her so. Kissing with Luke Ford will be the first on-screen kiss with a man for the 19 year-old. Reporters asked Luke Ford how he thinks of Leong, and the young actor said she is the most beautiful girl he has ever met. Both Leong and Ford received four months of physical training for their roles. Leong has an English teacher with her during the filming.
        Isabella Leong was initially recommended to the director by Michelle. Rob Cohen asked Michelle if she knows anyone suitable for playing her daughter. Michelle said she had been in Europe, America, and other countries most of the time for the past couple of years and she's not very familiar with the younger generation in the Hong Kong/China film industry these days. But the name of Isabella Leong came to her mind. Michelle thinks Leong is a talented actress with great potential.

- Reporters told Michelle that Luke Ford said he's very thankful for her teaching him Mandarin Chinese. She almost choked when she heard it (she was drinking water) and then laughed: "Teaching him Mandarin? My own Mandarin is bad! I guess he thanked me because he didn't know what I taught him." Everyone in the room laughed. Talking about Michelle's Mandarin, comparing today to the time she was filming Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon when she had to memorize her lines literally sound by sound, Michelle now answers in Mandarin all of the questions from the Mainland Chinese reporters.

- Jet Li said his character is not the Qin Emperor and the film story is not taken from history. And he said he's not sure his character is good or bad. "Am I bad? I'm just doing what an emperor does." He said. "The emperor doesn't have a wife and loves only one woman." Although it seems the story has been moved to 50 B.C. which would be during Han Dynasty (206 B.C. - 220 A.D.), all of the Chinese media still refers Li's character as Emperor Qin. In the early version of the script, the character was indeed Emperor Qin (Qin Shi Huang). (see report of July 27)

(11/10/07) Some of you may have already seen that director Rob Cohen has put another new entry in the Mummy Production Blog. He has finished Jet Li's scenes and he's finishing with Michelle today (10th) with a love scene between Michelle and Russell Wong in Shanghai. "Two more beautiful people were never created," said the director.

The 2nd unit (action unit) has finished Shanghai shooting and is moving to Hengdian. The main unit will be finishing the chase sequence and some shots at IMHOTEPS. Filming in the Hengdian World Studios will only last 4 or 5 days.

Rob Cohen confirmed that Michelle's character's name in M3 is "Zi Yuan" (aka Ziyuan). "Zi" means "lilac / purple" and "Yuan" means "beautiful lady". In the very early scripts the character was named "Zohora" (not a Chinese name), and it was changed to "Zi Juan" at some point ("Juan" means "silk"). Hey why don't they simply use Michelle's Chinese given name -- "Zi Qiong"? "Qiong" in Chinese means "beautiful jade". :-)

There have been hundreds of media reports on the M3 production from the Greater China region last few days. After the media set visit on November 8th, on the 9th actor Brendan Fraser and producer Bob Ducsay also accepted interviews in Shanghai. I will need bit time to sort out the news reports. Keep tuned.

(11/09/07) Great new M3 photos! Most of them are from Montreal filming.


O'Connell family in action


Shangri-La beauties


Alex and Lin
(11/08/07) Here are several newly released official Mummy 3 images.

Michelle Yeoh as Zi Yuan		Jet Li	Luke Ford	Isabella Leong

On November 8th, the production company organized a media set visit. About 30 reporters from Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea visited the Shanghai Film Studios where the M3 production is currently taking place. Rob Cohen, Jet Li, Isabella Leong, Luke Ford and Michelle accepted interviews.

Director Rob Cohen said he is fascinated with China's culture and geography. He described the Tainmo desert as "very beautiful and with many layers". He is still dreaming of filming some big scenes in Xian, the ancient capital of China where the Terra-cotta warriors were discovered. He said he still hopes for permission to shoot there might be granted. "My head is full of scenery shots from there. It's so mysterious and beautiful." Cohen said they did a lot of research and they are trying to combine a western-style adventure with Chinese culture and history. He mentioned his film will not try to make light of the fear and pain the characters will experience. Instead, he would like to show the audience a realistic view of the characters and their feelings.

Inside the Shanghai Film Studios, aside from the Nanjing Road set, M3 team has also built an Emperor's palace and three side halls. A scene which was being filmed on the day of the visit was an interior scene at Emperor's palace, involving Jet Li and Michelle. Jet Li was dressed in black armor while Michelle wore a yellow long dress. [Big Spoiler Warning til end of the paragraph] Michelle, with a very painful expression on her face and a stiletto "stabbed" in her stomach, slowly slid against the wall down to the floor. Jet Li hissed from between his teeth: "Now you can meet Ming Guo in hell!" Suddenly, black liquid started coming out from his face. Terrified, he turned and ran out. This is a dramatic scene where Jet Li's Emperor forces Michelle to choose marry him or die. He stabbed Michelle and a curse from her hit him. It is the last time they face each other in the ancient time frame.

In addition to witnessing the scene filming mentioned above, reporters were also treated with some film footage. The unfinished 4 minute long trailer shows gun-shooting, kung-fu fighting, magic and romance. There is a lot of exciting action. Since this is before the VFX is applied, some wires and blue screens could still be seen. Reportedly they have already filmed about 500 action shots and 1800 non-action shots. The non-action part still needs 300 more shots.

(11/07/07) Here are several more M3 production related photos from Chinese websites. The first one is a building under construction inside the Shanghai Film Studios at the beginning of October. The other two are the interior design for a western-style building in 1946 Shanghai.


A "crashed" plane. Photos taken around October 23-25 on the Tianmo set.


(11/05/07) Actor Anthony Wong, who plays General Yang in the film, was seen in Hong Kong on the 5th. He said he came back to visit his family and also to see a doctor for his sprained hand. He's going to Shanghai soon. Michelle may have already arrived in Shanghai.

(11/04/07) According to "The Beijing News", the M3 production team involuntarily got involved in a Wei Quan movement in Beijing ("Wei Quan" is a new expression in Mainland China, meaning civilians' struggle to defend their basic rights). Around 10AM on Sunday November 4th, more than 100 protesters welled up into the main hall of the 16-story Golden Holiday Hotel at Yanqing County, Beijing, which the Mummy Tianmo team has occupied for the past few weeks. The protesters locked up all the gates, carried a previous manager out of a window, and announced that they have taken over the management of the hotel and the hotel will be closed down for a week. Dozens of police were called to the scene.

Back in 2002, more than 300 people bought ownership of the hotel rooms but then they were cheated and did not get the benefits they were promised. This was the third time in this year that the property owners had come to protest and forced the hotel to close (the other two times were in March and August). Some Chinese M3 team members went downstairs and requested the protesters not to disturb the filming team. They had a brief conflict with the protesters. Eventually a spokesperson from the new ownership committee agreed that they will provide for the usual needs for the M3 team during their stay.

According to Chinese official statistics, in 2005, there was a Wei Quan protest every 6 minutes in China. Evidence indicates that there were even more protests in 2006. Because the "legal system" in China is controlled by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) and is so corrupted, the written "laws" mean almost nothing. When the legal system does not protect their rights, many civilians are forced to use other methods such as demonstrations or appealing to higher officials in their attempts to safeguard their basic rights. But frequently we see reports that individuals who came to appeal their cases to the highest official in Beijing have been beaten, arrested, and even sent to forced labor camps, since the communist government is doing everything they can to "show" the world a "Harmonious China", especially with the Beijing Olympics on the way.

(11/04/07) According to news from the Hengdian World Studios, The Mummy filming in Hengdian will start on November 13th. The production company has asked the studio's actor association to look for 300+ extras, perhaps as Emperor's soldiers. It is not clear which unit will be filming there at the date.

the central gate of the Qin Palace transformed into the gate to the desert city		different colored sands are carefully mixed to cover the ground	the Han Street set will turn into a sea of flames
(photos from "Dongyang", "Qianjiang Evening" and "Shaoxing Evening")

(11/01/07) Here are several more photos from the Tianmo filming set. In the 1st photo, those people you can see dressed in green are for special effects shots and are most likely Terra-cotta soldiers-to-be. Reportedly there is another group of special effects characters and that group all dressed in blue. In the 2nd photo we see Maria Bello in the middle. They had filmed a fight scene with her character, holding a knife and battling with several "green people". And in the last photo, finally we can see clearly what was written on Anthony Wong's soldiers' armbands: it's the Chinese character "Zu", which means "soldier" or "pawn". Funny sign.


("Sina" and "163" photos)
In Shanghai, some Chinese reporters who disguised themselves as extras got closer looks to the set and filming. The production team strictly requires all extras to have proper IDs which many people don't usually carry with them. For some of the group scenes they didn't have enough extras and so the production team members were seen grabbing people from in front of the studio. But many of these people could not do work as extras because they did not have IDs. There are at least 2000 sets of costumes for extras in Shanghai alone, with styles ranging from western suits to Cheongsams and Chinese cotton-wadded jackets. Goodies displayed in the shops on "Nanjing Road" are largely real. One evening, they were filming an explosion scene with the Emperor's bronze chariot rampaging down the street. Extras had more than 10 tries. When "cut" was finally shouted, some of the ladies in high heels were so exhausted they simply went to sleep under the roadside trees. There have been some accidents on set but no serious ones have been reported. The Shanghai Film Studios will remain closed to the public until November 30th.

Shanghai shooting has been basically taking place during the evenings/nights. Extras are supposed to get paid for their previous day/night at around 5:00AM. They were offered 90 Yuan (about USD$12) per day but frequently they did not get their full pay or did not get paid at all. Their Chinese "agents" used all kinds of "excuses" to reduce the payment, for example: "Today the actual shooting was shorter than yesterday," "You won't get paid for only working one day," or, "You went to rest and it was against the rules." Some even lost the 150 Yuan "earnest money" they were required to pay to the agents as deposit. Reporters saw a poor girl who kept coming everyday and hoping to get paid once. She even begged the agent to at least return her "earnest money" but without success.

(10/30/07) More behind scenes videos:
    - Company Move, Tianmo China.   a new clip from the Mummy Production Blog.
    - Taimo set   (02:45. in Mandarin)
    - Another video clip from the media set visit on Oct. 26th. Watch here or here   (05:20. in Mandarin). There are more than 500 vehicles and 40 departments on the Beijing Tianmo set. Signs (in both Chinese and English) for tents/trailers they showed include "Stunt Training", "Extra Make up & Hair", "Wardrobe", "AD & Production", and "Mummy 3 / Yang". Michelle joked that she might not look very fresh for the interview, since they had to get up around 4:00AM everyday. Some Chinese crew members from the Shanghai set said they have been working 18 hours per day.

On the other Mummy filming set, at Shanghai Film Studios, the action unit has been filming many dangerous action sequences such as chases and crashes during nights.

(10/29/07) Videos (may need to use IE to watch):
    - Filimg of the sword fight   (00:24)   brief segments of the filming of the sword fight between Jet Li and Michelle. The one on the right is Michelle. They were fighting on top of a broken wall (and in one instance she actually fell).
    - Michelle Yeoh: It's a joy to fight with Jet Li   (03:00. in Mandarin)   a Chinese TV news report on the media interview with Michelle last Friday. They show some segments of the filming of their sword fight, and also some funny scenes from their 1993's Tai Chi Master.

Michelle said it was such a joy to fight against Jet Li. They didn't need much of rehearsal. Both of them were very accurate and they could use full force in their combat. Chinese media consider the fight between them - "the two superstars of the Chinese language Kung-Fu cinema" - as one of the biggest selling points of the film. People who witnessed the filming described their fight was simply "brilliant". Both of them fought for real. Their performances were so wonderful that many times people couldn't help applauding at the scene. Some people questioned why sometimes stunt doubles appeared at all. An assistant director explained that actors need to rest and there are cases that there was no need for both of them to be on set all the time (e.g., if shooting close-ups for one of them).

In the film, Jet Li's character can shift into different shapes. He plays an evil role but he looks handsome. There are two different character designs for Michelle: one is from the ancient period and another for the modern time. The pictures of Michelle we have seen are from the later period. In another design she is a fairy beauty. The fight with Jet Li will be the only fight for Michelle in the film. We will see her in more non-action scenes than actions.

Tianmo filming will last until the beginning of November before the main unit moving to Shanghai. Hengdian filming is scheduled to start at the middle of November. Filming in China is expected to wrap up at the beginning of December. They will probably also shoot some scenes in the Canadian Mountains in the winter.

(10/26/07) So far most of the set photos in China had been taken by reporters who snuck onto the sets (one even disguised himself as a lunch delivery boy in order to do so). On the 26th, the Chinese production company organized the first media set visit in Tianmo. Reporters were not permitted to go to the main filming spots or take photos of actors in costumes. They were allowed to look around the backstage. The production company also arranged media interviews with Michelle (she was the only actor interviewed during the visit).

Reporters interviewed Michelle in a tent on the filming set. Michelle said everyone on the production team, including Jet Li and herself, were very excited about the fight between them. It's going to be a "real" fight and she will not use any "magic". She said this is a film which combines east and west and the director has good respect for Chinese culture. Asked about Brendan Fraser, Michelle said he is a great actor in both action and non-action scenes. According to the media reports, Michelle and Jet Li's sword fight is "real" - there will be no special effects there.

Fourteen years ago Michelle and Jet Li made the martial arts film Tai Chi Master (U.S. title: Twin Warriors). Since then Jet always considered Michelle as one of his "brothers". Michelle recalled a funny story from that time: when they were filming a dinner scene they both could not hold back their laughter whenever they saw each other. They ended up spending an whole evening just to get this simple non-action scene filmed. Now on the Mummy set, when Rob Cohen sees the two of them joking and laughing together all the time, he says he wishes he could understand Chinese.

Reportedly they have finished filming the fight between Michelle and Jet Li. Hong Kong actor Anthony Wong has already finished his part in Tianmo.


Michelle at interview on the Tianmo set
(for more photos see News of Oct. 26 and 29)

makeup tent	wigs	costumes	pictures on makeup stands	lunch
(photos from "Sina", "Takung" and "Sun")

(10/25/07) Filming of The Mummy 3 is taking place in Tianmo (Beijing) and Shanghai simultaneously. In Tianmo, director Rob Cohen has been shooting the sword fight between Michelle and Jet Li for the past two days, which is "nothing less than poetry," said the director in a new entry in his blog. "Such great stars of World Cinema, mano a mano against the desert mountainscape as the whole battle roars behind them. This (is) a landmark day for me and my film." On the 24th, in the morning they filmed Michelle fighting with Jet Li's double and in the afternoon, Jet Li fighting with Michelle's double. A Chinese assistant director said it is a very nervous experience for stuntmen when fighting with the real stars, since they are so afraid to make any mistakes and cause any injuries to the actors.

The second unit has already started filming in Shanghai, on the "Nanjing Road" set. For the last two days they have been filming night scenes. The story happens around the Chinese New Year time and the big chase will be sparkled with holiday fireworks. They had spent more than three months decorating the whole road set in the studios. However, some Chinese said the set looks more like an overseas Chinatown than 1946 Shanghai. John Hannah runs a Egyptian-themed bar called IMHOTEPS which is in a three-story building located on the road.

Jet Li riding into final battle	Tianmo set		Gu Xuanzhao, an action choreographer	Shanghai "Nanjing Road" set
(photos from Rob Cohen's blog, "Sohu" and "Today Morning Express")

(10/23/07) China's "Modern Express" had a set report from Tiamno filming on October 16 and 17. There were two Mummy teams in Tianmo filming at the same time. The reporter visited Team B last Tuesday and Team A on Wednesday. On the first day, Team B was filming slave workers who died from building the Great Wall being thrown into a pile. Next day the reporter followed Team A, directed by Rob Cohen himself. The report described a scene with Michelle and a small group that included Brendan Fraser and Maria Bello. They were crouching behind a small sand dune and observing the emperor's tomb. Then someone started to run forward while Michelle quietly retreated to a different direction. She was described to wear a purple-yellow colored long dress, carrying a sword. They also filmed some close-ups of Brendan Fraser and Maria Bello shooting and waving shotguns. Jet Li was not on the set last week but his doubles were. He has two doubles, one stunt double and another for non-action scenes.

Michelle Yeoh (2000 years old!)	Fraser and Bello	ancient mounted troops	Anthony Wong's soldiers	director and a cameraman	Jet Li's double (for non-action scenes)
("Modern Express" and "Sohu" photos)

(10/23/07) There have been more reports and photos from The Mummy 3 production. On the Mummy Production Blog a still image of Brendan Fraser battling Jet Li has been published. I think it was taken during the Montreal shooting. Some Chinese reporters visited Tainmo set last Sunday when the production team took their break. They "discovered" another giant sculpture of the emperor, also in ancient military garb, which is half buried in sand. The Tainmo park has been closed to the public.   ("Sohu" video)

Anthony Wong was on the set last week. Jet Li joined Tianmo shooting on Monday. They filmed a scene where Jet Li's emperor stood on his own statue, yelling and trying to wake up his Terra-cotta army. Soon they will be filming another big scene there - [Spoiler Warning] Michelle the sorceress is going to raise the people who were killed by the evil Emperor from the dead in order to fight with emperor's Terra-cotta force.

Jet Li vs Brendan Fraser	another statue of the Emperor	filming in Tianmo. In the photo at right Anthony Wong's soldiers can be seen		"Great Wall"
(photos from "Mummy Production Blog", "Shijiazhuang City", "Beijing Morning Post" and video scan)

(10/22/07) Director Rob Cohen's Mummy Production Blog has been updated. The colossal sculpture we have seen is actually Jet Li's emperor! The emperor's 5,000 Terra-cotta Warriors will have a big battle with the foundation army which is led by Russell Wong who has been raised by the wizardress Michelle.

(10/21/07) The second unit (action unit) has moved to Shanghai. One of the main filming sets in the Shanghai Studios is the "Nanjing Road", decorated as 1946 Shanghai. A lot of footage will be shot there (including a big chase). Also Jonathan Carnahan's IMHOTEPS, both the exteriors and the interiors, will be shot in the studios. Here are some photos from Chinese blogs:

a glance of the Nanjing Road set, Shanghai		martial arts actor Wu Jing in Tianmo

(10/19/07) Photos from M3 production in Tianmo/Beijing: (1) Brendan Fraser and Maria Bello dodging arrows;   (2) those bright yellow/green figures are for special effect shots. (photos from "Sina" and Sean's Blog)


Reporters have not seen Jet Li on the set but caught his double instead. Michelle left Beijing for Malaysia on Wednesday and stayed there for two days in order to celebrate her father's birthday.

(10/18/07) Actor Luke Ford has been seen on the Tianmo set. Vic Armstrong published a photo with him on his blog. Vic is leaving Tianmo and heading to Shanghai to prepare for a big chase sequence there. Although the main unit will not be in Shanghai until late October, the Shanghai Film Studio has already closed its doors to the public and they said they will ensure a secured environment for the Mummy filming. Costume fitting for extras in Shanghai will start on the 19th.

Meanwhile Chinese media sources have published more photos from Tianmo, some involving extras. Besides the two main filming spots mentioned before, reporters have also seen a beacon tower and a small portion of the Great Wall. Next to the wall lie piles of "dead bodies" - a reflection of the cruelty of the evil Emperor.

The main unit uses 3 cameras (the action unit has 6) on set. It is difficult to move large equipment on soft sand and a few times they needed to use mechanical shovels to rescue the instruments/vehicles that got stuck. There are more than 300 vehicles and 700 workers on the filming set. Various sequences - in ancient as well as modern times - will be filmed at Tianmo, including the final battle. (photos from "Sina" and Vic Armstrong's blog)

Luke Ford (M) with Scott Armstrong (L) and Vic's nephew James (R)	soldiers from Han(?) Dynasty	prisoners on death row	"dead bodies"

extras		the giant statue	beacon tower

(10/17/07) Some scenes they have been filming at Tianmo involve an "exploration team" at the tomb. Around the tomb, they have set up some explorer's tents. Jeeps, shotguns, gasoline cans, dynamites, iron pots and kettles can be seen. One of the scenes they shot on Wednesday was under the ancient wall. An old style jeep was turned over. [Minor Spoiler Warning] The tomb exploring sequence should involve Luke Ford (who may not be recognized by many Chinese).

Photos from Tianmo filming set:

the giant statue		ancient wall		upside-down jeep

explorers' camp site

carrying a Terra-cotta warrior				director's trailer
("Sina" photos)

(10/16/07) There are two main filming sets that have been built for The Mummy 3 at the Tianmo desert: a nearly 100 meter long ancient wall (for photos see report of Sept. 7), and the entrance portion of the Emperor's TOMB. Imitating ancient Chinese underground tombs in looks, this "tomb" has been dug several meters deep into the desert. The entrance to the tomb is right beneath the giant statue of an ancient general (see the previous photo on Oct. 10). The sequence of the discovery of Emperor's tomb will be filmed there, I assume. Some of the tomb's interior scenes have already been shot back in Montreal.

(10/15/07) - Chinese martial arts actor Wu Jing (Jack Wu), who learned martial arts from the same master as Jet Li, will have a cameo role in the film. He said he will have a fight against Li in the film. Also pop singer/actor Leng Zhongyi (Easy) will make a cameo.

- News from China said that China shooting by the main unit will start on the 16th. A large group of crew members - from the United States, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing - have been staying at a hotel in Huairou County of Beijing, about one hour driving from Tianmo.

(10/10/07) Filming in Tianmo started on Monday, although the main unit will not join until next week.

At left is a sneak photo from the Tianmo set - a giant statue of an ancient general. It was taken last week by a crew member of another film/TV production in the region.

The Tianmo filming set has been active for about two weeks. Many tents have been set up on the desert for props and make-up. Last week they were busy with preparations including horse training and clothes-fitting for extras.

(10/08/07) - Video: Brendan's Rain Day. They were shooting at the Rivire du Nord (North River) near St. Jerome in Canada, I think.

- These photos were scanned from a Chinese news video on Mummy's Hengdian set.


The set construction at Hengdian World Studio started in August. As a gate of the desert city, the central palace gate of the Qin Palace is given a different look - it's being covered by wood logs and chips. The back square has been transformed into a desert. Roads and grass are all covered by 5 to 10 cm of sand. Reportedly more than 3000 cubic meters of sand is used. Another filming spot in the studio, Han Street, will be prepared in a different way: the gates and pillars will be covered by metal for a fire scene. Filming at Hengdian is currently scheduled in November. (see early photos of Qin Palace).

According to Chinese media, Tianmo (Beijing) filming will last about 3 weeks. Then 2 weeks in Shanghai. Hengdian filming will only take several days.

- Chinese actor/director Liang Tian will play a small role in The Mummy 3. He told reporters that his role is an eunuch. Liang joined Montreal shoots in early September.

(10/04/07) Yesterday a Hong Kong radio programme featured an interview with Isabella Leong. Talking about her Mummy 3 filming experience, Leong said she shares many scenes with Michelle. She said Michelle is a great actress. "Even it was a close-up of me only, Michelle would stay next to me to help me to get into the character. I really enjoy working with her." She said Anthony Wong has helped her a lot too. She had not filmed with Jet Li yet. Leong said she has filmed many wired scenes. It was uncomfortable and she has got bruises all over her body. But she also has gained some weight due to good food and rest.

(10/02/07) Production photos of The Mummy 3. [updated 10/08] Maria Bello's photo has been replaced with a version that an interesting background can be seen (click on the photo).

Michelle and Isabella Leong	Brendan Fraser	Maria Bello

Finally we've got a photo of Michelle on the Mummy set, in her Shangri-La robe! It confirms my earlier suspicion - that in the "Why Film" video, they showed a bit of filming of a Michelle scene (see second picture of the last update).

In the new update, director Rob Cohen said that Jet Li has joined filming. They have been filming their "trekking through the Himalayas" sequence where the heroes are fighting and searching for Shangri-la. The production in Montreal will wrap up next Thursday. Visit Rob Cohen's Blog and read more.

Michelle finished her Montreal part last week. She's going to meet the team again in China.

(P.S. And I'd like to thank the director for linking this site on his blog!)

(09/28/07) Why Film: a video clip featuring crew members talking about the production. Looks to me they were on the Shangri-La set. September 24, Montreal.


("Rob Cohen's Blog". video scans)
(09/24/07) Started back in July, there have been quite a few Chinese advertisements for The Mummy 3, looking for special actors, models, and extras. These roles have included "dancers", three young women whose height is 166cm to be "Emperor's concubines", "westerners - adults and children", and "a very strong man whom to be beheaded"... Reportedly there will be more than 1000 Chinese technicians and workers working for the production. At this moment, there is a call for a LARGE number of extras (all types) for filming in Shanghai around October 23rd.

(09/23/07) Having finished the Shangri-La "Gateway" battle (some photos and videos have been published previously), last Monday in Montreal they started filming Shangri-La scenes, including a fight sequence.

Vic Armstrong said in his blog that he's heading to China this coming week to shoot Ariel and visual effect footage in Tianmo, where the climatic battle scene eventually will be shot. Meanwhile the Montreal shooting will carry on with the stunt crew headed by Mark Southworth with Mike Lambert and Scott Armstrong (Vic's son). The main team will move to China around 5th of October. Tianmo shooting is scheduled to last until mid to late October before moving to Shanghai and then Hengdian. Some (unconfirmed) reports also said some filming will take place in the regions of Dunghuang and Inner Mongolia.

Michelle has been in Montreal for more than two weeks. Someone spotted her in Montreal Chinatown this morning, having dim-sim with Anthony Wong and a few other friends.

Russell Wong, who plays Michelle's lover, will not be in Montreal and he will only be joining the China filming.

There is no report on whether Jet Li has started filming. All I have heard is that he was not in Montreal a week ago.

(09/15/07) Hong Kong actor Anthony Wong's character in Mummy 3 is General Yang, a military zealot who intends to awaken the Mummy Emperor and aid him in the re-conquest of China and the raising of his terra cotta army. This part of the story is set in 1946. Wong will speak both Chinese and English in the film.

The Mummy Stunt Team: Yang's Soldiers: a video of the Canadian/Asian (Canasian) stunt team during their last shooting day (September 7) (from Rob Cohen's Mummy Blog). The stuntmen are from Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal. As General Yang's soldiers they have been beaten, kicked and thrown by Yeti's, shot by the heroes, fallen of the cliff and engulfed in a huge avalanche.

Two set photos from Montreal (from Vic Armstrong's Blog):

Cohen and Armstrong with the "Canasian" stunt team	Anthony Wong as General Yang

(09/11/07) A photo of the mausoleum set from last week, published at Rob Cohen's Mummy Blog.

(09/11/07) While attending the 64th Venice Film Festival promoting her new film Far North, Michelle said that although she liked to act in romantic roles, she missed the exciting feeling of "kicking ass" and she was eager to join the Mummy 3 filming. "The Kung-fu Michelle Yeoh returns!"

(09/11/07) Actress Maria Bello talked about her role in Mummy 3 to the media at the Toronto Film Festival: "She has the same name, but she's a very different character than Rachel played," said Bello. "She's a bad-ass action chick. I had to train a lot... I've taken months of wushu and karate training. I swing off chandeliers and run around with a Winchester rifle in the Himlayas, so I'm having a blast." Bello said doing an action role is her dream. The blond actress has dyed her hair brown to star as Evelyn Carnahan O'Connell, originally played by Rachel Weisz.

(09/07/07) Dueling Camera Cranes: a video about the Mummy 3 production from director Rob Cohen's Mummy Blog.

(09/07/07) Exclusive photos from set construction at Tianmo, Hebei Province, China:

Mummy set construction: ruins of a palace or a portion of the Great Wall

building the "ruins"	there will be horses in Tianmo scenes but these horses are perhaps not	an artificial tree	field under construction
(photos taken on August 19)

Located in a western suburb of Beijing, the Tianmo desert links together the Badaling Great Wall and Kangxi Grassland. It has two grand sand dunes with spectacular views and it is also a tourist spot for activities such as sand skiing, horse and camel riding, and mini-jeep driving.

The film set for The Mummy 3 is being built east of the grand sand dunes (and can be seen from the top of the sand dunes), about 25 minutes of (not fast) horse riding from the entrance of the park. These photos were taken (while on horse back) during my trip to Tianmo on August 19th. The Tianmo area is a famous outdoor base for film and television. The locals were quite eager to show the "big set for a Hollywood movie" though I was told not to get too close to the set since dogs are used to patrol the area (yes I saw guard dogs there).

Tianmo shooting is scheduled to go from early October to the end of the month.

(09/05/07) According to Chinese media, filming in the Shanghai Film Studio will mainly take place on the "Nanjing Road" set (a big chase). Several websites published advertisements calling for actors and large numbers of extras in Shanghai.

(09/04/07) I'm back. We're missing quite a few updates and here is the first round:

- Director Rob Cohen started a Mummy Blog, revealing some details of the film.

- Some filming is scheduled to take place this month at the Terra-cotta Warriors Museum in Xi'an, an ancient capital of China and a top tourist attraction. Chinese media reported that only some background shots will be filmed there, without any main actors being present.

- Michelle is expected to join the Montreal filming on September 6th.

- Here is a video report (in French) on a temple set, which is supposed to be high in the Himalayas on the way to Shangri-La.

- Some set photos from Montreal:


(1) Mummy set construction on the parking lot outside Mel's Cite du Cinema studios in the Technoparc
(2) the "Himalayas" temple set   (3)(4) Rob Cohen and Vic Armstrong in the courtyard of the temple
(photos from "LCN", "Canada" and Armstrong's blog)
(08/16/07) More information on the Mummy production:
- Jonathan Carnahan's IMHOTEPS will be shot in the Shanghai studios for both the exteriors and the interiors.
- The Shangri-La sequence will be filmed at Mel's Cite du Cinema in Montreal.
- Scenes about ancient China will be filmed in Chinese (with English subtitles). Heard that Jet Li's character will speak only Chinese in the film while Michelle's will speak both Chinese and English.
- The Emperor is not being referred by a specific name (Qin or Han) at the moment and it is a "work in progress".
Some of the information is from "conversations" with Vic Armstrong (thanks Vic!).

[NOTE] I'm going for a vacation. Most likely there will be no update before September 4th. See ya later!

(08/15/07) Canadian news reported that Quebec actor Albert Kwan will play a minor role, Chu Wah, the character who discovers the entry of the tomb where the Mummy emperor rests. He will join the shoot for four days in Montreal and two days in China. Kwan will share scenes with Luke Ford, who plays the son of Rick O'Connell.

(08/13/07) According to news from the Hengdian World Studios, a team of The Mummy 3 crew has arrived in Hendian for the set decorations/construction at the Emperor Qin Palace set (an earlier report and some set photos can be seen on news of June 28). The 4-dragon fountain, central lawn, and a few other places will be remodeled. Some new film sets will be built. Filming in Hengdian is scheduled for late October or the beginning of November. Some scenes that were originally planned for filming in west China will be shot at Hengdian.

Shanghai Film Studio, located in Chedun, Shanghai, will be one of the filming locations for The Mummy 3 as well. Preparation in Shanghai started last month.

(08/07/07) "We are now starting our 3rd week of shooting and have finished one of the larger set pieces which is the prelude to our big chase sequence that we will shoot in Shanghai China in November. The sequence here in Montreal went very smoothly and Rob Cohen the director galloped through everything on schedule. We did some great fights and have set the tone for the rest of the movie." said Vic Armstrong.

John Hannah has not arrived yet. Michelle (most likely Jet Li too) will not join the filming until next month.

(08/06/07) Gigantic sets for The Mummy 3 have been built at the Mel's Cite du Cinema studio near the Bonaventure motorway in Montreal. Some scenes will be filmed at the Rivire du Nord (North River). Filming in the metropolis will continue until October 10, according to the local reports.


Rivire du Nord
(photos from 365 and "Linternaute")
(08/01/07) Yesterday they were shooting some action scenes involving Isabella Leong and had her swinging on ropes and fighting. "She is dynamite and totally courageous." said Vic Armstrong. Michelle and Jet Li have not joined the filming in Montreal yet.

Reportedly the Montreal filming will last until around October 5 before the team heads to China. China's Great Wall will be featured in the story and they plan to shoot in the vicinity of a very ancient part of the Great Wall, which is not a common tourist spot. Some shoots will take place in the Tianmo Desert, 90 kilometers (55 miles) west of Beijing.

(07/30/07) Information rounds-up:
- The shoot in China is planned to take place in Beijing, Shanghai and at The Hengdien World Studios towards the end of the year.
- Michelle's big fight with Jet Li is set to be shot in China.
- Russell Wong, Jet Li, and Michelle will be involved in some horse riding scenes.
- Snow scenes are planned to be shot in Canada to simulate The Himalayas.

(07/27/07) Principle photography started yesterday in Montreal, according to Vic Armstrong, the second unit director and action coordinator. Filming will move to China at the beginning of October.

Various sources have reported that the release date of the film has been rescheduled for August 1st, 2008.

(07/27/07) Thanks to DarkKnight4, I have got an early version of the script which is marked "Second Draft, August 19 2005", by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar.

It has already been revealed on internet that the later version(s) have many changes and rewrites to some of the main characters, though the early script still gives the flavor and main storyline of the future film.

In this early version, the evil mummy emperor is Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China's Qin Dynasty (221BC-206BC). "His thirst for power was unquenchable and his army was a merciless killing machine. He vowed not to rest until he had conquered the entire world." says the voice of a narrator in the script.

Newer reports suggest that filmmakers have changed the identity of the emperor and named him "Emperor Han" (which is confusing IMO. Han could be a Chinese last name, but also could be a name of a Dynasty - Han Dynasty (206BC to 220AD)). The reason, reportedly, is that some Chinese are upset that Qin Shi Huang, who unified China for the first time, would be presented as an evil figure.

In fact, for 2000 years of Chinese history, Qin Shi Huang, one of the most influential figures in history, has always been regarded as a symbol of tyranny. Emperor Qin's policy for rule had four main aspects: excessively heavy taxation; wasting human labor for projects to glorify himself; brutal torture under harsh laws and punishing even the offenders' family members and neighbors; and controlling people's minds by blocking all avenues of free thinking and expression through banning and burning books and even burying many scholars alive. Qin Shi Huang's harsh treatment of his people is only appreciated by the Chinese communist leaders (unfortunately, some young Chinese who learned about Qin Shi Huang only from communist text books have adapted to this twisted view). Three infamous periods in Chinese history when the government systematically persecuted intellectuals are: the Emperor Qin's, the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and also the communist era (1949-now). Mao Zedong, a former leader of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) said openly: "What can Emperor Qin Shi Huang brag about? He only killed 460 Confucian scholars, but we killed 46,000 intellectuals." Under the 57 years of the CCP's brutal rule over China, 60 to 80 million innocent Chinese people have been killed, due to various "political movements".

(07/18/07) The title of the film has been confirmed to be The Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, instead of "Curse of the Dragon" as reported earlier.

(07/18/07) Hong Kong actor Anthony Wong Chau-Sang (Kau in The Heroic Trio.  [note] this is not the same Anthony Wong who played Ghost in The Matrix Reloaded) and Taiwanese model Jessey Meng are now in Montreal rehearsing for the film, according to Hong Kong media.

There have been more Chinese reports on the casting of The Mummy 3. Singer Regina Wan was invited for screen test to play a popular singer in 1930's Shanghai. The singer role will have some kind of relationship with Jet Li's character, according to the media reports. 70 year old Chinese actor Zhou Zongyin was invited to play an old man in the Mummy film, as Jet Li's father. Reportedly the established actor is thinking not to take the role because (1) there is only one scene for the role, (2) after long explanations he still doesn't get whether the role is positive or negative, and (3) he barely watches any Hollywood films and he's not confident he could act in one.

Also, Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Kar-Fei dropped out of the negotiations due to possible schedule conflicts, said his agent.

(07/17/07) Actors including Brendan Fraser and Isabella Leong have been in Montreal rehearsing their fight scenes. Jet Li will get to there later in the year, according to Vic Armstrong. Speaking of Michelle, Armstrong said: "She should arrive here any day, I am really looking forwards to seeing her again as she is the BEST to work with and has tremendous guts and toughness which is amazing because she is so delicate to look at. She has some big fights in MUMMY 3 and has to tackle Jet Li so that should be momentous." Armstrong worked with Michelle in 1997's Tomorrow Never Dies. He was the second unit director and stunt coordinator for films including The World Is Not Enough, Charlie's Angels, War of the Worlds and Mission: Impossible III. He was also a stunt double for Harrison Ford in the first two Indiana Jones films. His wife, Wendy Leech, was a stunt double for Michelle in Tomorrow Never Dies.

(07/17/07) Some photos from the Mummy set in Montreal in May. (from Digit-Ized's photos)

Mummy set construction	Mummy reserved parking	Mummy recycles

(07/16/07) Vic Armstrong, the second unit director and action coordinator for The Mummy 3, said in his blog that after the China scout in mid-June they have been preparing for the film in Montreal. They started fight rehearsals early this month. Mark Southworth is a stunt coordinator and Mike Lambert a fight coordinator. Vic Armstrong's youngest son, Scott Armstrong, will be a stunt double for Luke Ford. There will be a big chase sequence through 1946 Shanghai and shooting in China is scheduled to start in October. Bruce Armstrong, Vic Armstrong's eldest son, will do stunt driving for the filming.

(07/05/07) According to China's "Sina", Isabella Leong, the actress who plays Michelle's daughter, flew to Montreal July 4th for preparation of the film. Since the casting of Leong has not been officially announced, Leong's agent only confirmed she was in Montreal but declined to comment on the reason she is there.

Since the majority of the story happens in China, the production company is hiring a large number of Chinese actors and crew members. Hong Kong media reported that most of the experienced film crew members in Hong Kong are working on Hollywood productions, including The Forbidden Kingdom and The Mummy 3, which in a way affects the Hong Kong film industry negatively - many low budgeted local productions are facing problems of getting good film crews.

(07/01/07) American actor Russell Wong will play Michelle's lover in Mummy 3. Wong's wife told Chinese media: "He plays a positive role in the film, Michelle Yeoh's lover. He will have some martial art scenes." "Will he be a mummy?" asked a reporter. "No," answered Wong's wife. Russell Wong's father is Chinese-American and his mother is Dutch-American. Russell Wong co-starred with Jet Li in Romeo Must Die. His brother, Michael Wong, co-starred with Michelle in Royal Warriors.

(06/28/07) In the middle of the month, a group of 40+ people from Universal, including the director, art director, photographer and producers, visited the Hengdian World Studios in south-east China (Zhejiang Province). Local "Jinhua News" reported that the production company has chosen the Emperor Qin Palace set as one of the filming locations. The main shooting spots will include the West Side Hall, Central Palace Gate, and Qin-Han Street. Some modifications will be done for the Central Palace Gate in order to fit with the film story. According to the report, Qin Palace filming is expected to take place in late October or early November. Set decoration will start 45 days prior filming starts.

Occupying an area of 220,000 square meters with a construction area of 110,000 square meters, the Emperor Qin Palace set was originally built in 1997 for the filming of Chen Kaige's history film Emperor and the Assassin. Since then more than 100 film and TV productions have been filmed there, including Zhang Yimou's Hero and Chen Kaige's The Promise. The square in front of the palace can fit more than 10,000 people.

Below are some photos of the Qin Palace, the Hengdian World Studios.

central palace gate	side hall	corridor	inside

Han style buildings at the Qin-Han Street			replicas of Terra-cotta warriors and horses

(06/24/07) - John Hannah said in his interview with ITV that he will be returning to the Mummy sequel.

- Chinese media reported that Hong Kong martial art actor Donnie Yen (Hero, Wing Chun, Butterfly & Sword) was invited for a role in the Mummy film but he decided not to take it. He said he rejected several Hollywood offers since he did not like to keep playing negative Chinese roles in Hollywood movies.

(05/23/07) When Hong Kong reporters interviewed Michelle on the 22nd in Cannes (photos in News), they asked her opinion on Isabella Leong's boarding. Michelle said she has not heard about the new casting and she thought it was Crystal Liu. She added that Isabella Leong is a very talented actress. Leong's agent confirmed she had gone through the screen test but declined to comment further. Reportedly Crystal Liu's agent is still trying to find a way to fit her schedules in.

(05/22/07) Hong Kong and Taiwanese media reported that the daughter of Michelle's character will be played by Isabella Leong (aka Leong Lok Si), a 19 year old Hong Kong based Macau born singer, actress and model. The production company previously considered Crystal Liu but apparently the shooting schedule of The Mummy 3 will be conflicting with Liu's filming of The Forbidden Kingdom which won't end until the end of August. According to Hong Kong media, other Hong Kong actresses who took the screen test for the role include Myolie Hu, Linda Chung, Bernice Liao, and Fiona Sit.

(05/16/07) "THE MUMMY 3 starts shooting at the end of July in Montreal and then China for release next summer. It stars Brendan Fraser, Jet Li, Michelle Yeoh, Luke Ford and John Hanna. The character of Evy will be recast with another actress [Maria Bello]," script writer Alfred Gough told "iF Magazine".

(05/13/07) Actress Maria Bello will replace Rachel Weisz to play Evelyn Carnahan O'Connell.

(05/10/07) Chinese media reported that 19 year old actress Crystal Liu (aka Liu Yifei) is one of the strong candidates for the role of Michelle's daughter, the guardian of the emperor's tomb. Liu's agent confirmed that she has gone through a screen test with the production company and the reactions were very good. She has not signed on yet. Crystal Liu started her screen career in a Chinese TV series at the age of 15, and she is currently filming The Forbidden Kingdom with Jackie Chan, Jet Li, and Li Bingbing (Michelle's co-star in Silver Hawk).

(05/10/07) According to Canadian "The Gazette", the film crew is already in pre-production in Montreal. Filming begins there July 27 and is expected to occupy several sound stages at Mel's Cite du Cinema studio through to the end of the year. It is estimated that the producers will hire between 800 and 900 local technicians to work on the project.

Part of the production will also take place in China. Reportedly shooting in Xian (Shaanxi province) starts at the end of August and will last more than 10 days. So far no shooting is planned at the Museum of Qin Terra-cotta Warriors and Horses in Xian. Some Terra-cotta army related scenes are expected to be filmed at the Hengdian World Studios in south-east China (Zhejiang province), according to Chinese media.

(05/06/07) Aside from an actress to replace Rachel Weisz for Rick O'Connell's wife Evelyn, currently the production company is also looking for more Asian actors for various roles in the film. One of them is the character of Michelle's daughter. According to Taiwan's "UDN", as Alex O'Connell's love interest, the young actress doesn't have to have much martial arts skills but must be fluent in English. Reportedly pretty much all known young actresses and models in greater Chinese regions are being considered. At the moment it's the company's secret whom they have tested.

A week ago Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Kar-Fei (The Myth, Zhou Yu's Train) told Chinese media that he's in talks with the project. Production in China will partially take place in Xian during August and September. Reportedly the director and producers visited Qin Emperor's Terra-cotta Museum in Xian early this year.

(05/04/07) "ISEB.net" published a DETAILED story from a recent version of the script of The Mummy 3, which is claimed to be dated March 19. Here is a list of the main characters from the script:

THE CHARACTERS   [updated 08/12/07]:
Emperor Han AKA Emperor Mummy (Jet Li): Ancient dictator.
Zijuan (Michelle Yeoh): Wizard, Guardian of the Spring of Life. Mother of Lin.
Min Guo (Russell Wong): Emperor Han's former general. Leader of Foundation Army. Father of Lin.
Lin (Isabella Leong): Daughter of Zijuan and Min Guo. An immortal guardian who watches over the tomb of Emperor Han.
Rick O'Connell (Brendan Fraser): Husband to Evelyn and Father to Alex. Adventurer.
Evelyn O'Connel (Maria Bello): Wife to Rick, Mother to Alex.
Alex O'Connell (Luke Ford): Rick and Evelyn O'Connel's son.
Jonathan Carnahan (John Hannah): Evelyn O'Connell's brother and Rick's brother in law. Jonathan now owns a bar in Shanghai called IMHOTEPS.
Wilson (Unkown): Financial backer from the Smithsonian.
Wu Yang (Unknown): Leader of The Emperor's new paramilitary group.
Outback (Unknown): Aussie, leader of a rag tag team of ex-fighter pilots.
Tao (Unknown): Original leader of Han's Paramilitary group.
Choi (Unknown): Spy for Wu Yang.

The full story is here. I wouldn't recommend it unless you really want to know a VERY detailed story right now. Though most likely it is not the final version of the shooting script, the story line should be quite the same.

(05/01/07) Michelle is confirmed to star in The Mummy 3.

Entitled The Mummy: Curse of the Dragon, the Universal Pictures' film will be directed by director Rob Cohen. Brendan Fraser returns to this third installment of the Mummy series as Rick O'Connell, and 26-year-old Australian actor Luke Ford will play his son, Alex O'Connell. They journey "into the forbidden tombs of China and into the Himalayas, where they run into a new shape-shifting mummy, a former Chinese emperor who was cursed by a female wizard." Michelle will play the wizard and Jet Li will be the Mummy, reported "Variety".

According to Hong Kong media, Jet Li's role will be the main villain of the film - an Emperor of China. The story starts in ancient times before moving to a post-World War II setting. In 1940s, O'Connells has an adventure in China. There they meet the Mummy (Jet Li), who leads an army of Terra-cotta warriors which comes alive and wants to take control of the world. In the story, Michelle, a character with extraordinary power and wisdom, fights with the Mummy Emperor and helps O'Connells to escape and saves the world.

This will be the second film uniting Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh, the best martial arts actor and actress working today. In 1993, they made the Hong Kong martial arts film Tai Chi Master (U.S. title: Twin Warriors) with director/action director Yuen Wo-Ping. (Michelle made a cameo appearance in Jet Li/Yuen Wo-Ping's Fearless which was released last year. But she had no action scenes and her character was not included in the theatrical release.)

Director Rob Cohen is evidently fascinated with Chinese martial arts. He directed 1993's Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story. He was also planning to do a new Bruce Lee film which would use CGI and existing footage to bring the legend alive again.

Actor Brendan Fraser played the main lead Rick O'Connell in the first two "Mummy" films. In June 2005, when Fraser was in Shanghai attending a film festival, he told Chinese media that the third "Mummy" film was under development and a big part of the story may happen in China. At that time he was attached to Roger Spottiswoode's World War II drama Children of Huang Shi, starring Chow Yun-Fat and Michelle (coming out at the end of this year). Fraser told reporters that he is a big admirer of Asian films and loves Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and he's really looking forward to working with Michelle and Chow Yun-Fat. Eventually Fraser was not able to do the film due to schedule problem.

Shooting of Curse of the Dragon begins in Montreal on July 27, and then will move to China. Besides emperor's tomb, it may also feature China's Great Wall and mythical Shangri-La. The highly anticipated "Mummy" sequel is scheduled for release on July 11, 2008.

P.S.:
- The first two "Mummy" films, The Mummy (1999) and The Mummy Returns (2001), grossed $841 million worldwide and spawned the spinoff The Scorpion King.
- Actress Rachel Weisz, who played Fraser's love interest in the first Mummy movie and his wife in the second, won't be returning for The Mummy 3.
- More on Terra-cotta warriors (articles/pictures): Wikipedia Regent
- For 2000 years of Chinese history, Qin Shi Huang (260BC-210BC), one of the most influential figures in history and who unified China for the first time, has always been regarded as a symbol of tyranny. Emperor Qin's policy for rule had four main aspects: excessively heavy taxation; wasting human labor for projects to glorify himself; brutal torture under harsh laws and punishing even the offenders' family members and neighbors; and controlling people's minds by blocking all avenues of free thinking and expression through banning and burning books and even burying many scholars alive. Qin Shi Huang's harsh treatment of his people is only appreciated by the Chinese communist leaders (unfortunately, some young Chinese who learned about Qin Shi Huang only from communist text books have adapted to this twisted view). Three infamous periods in Chinese history when the government systematically persecuted intellectuals are: the Emperor Qin's, the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and also the communist era (1949-now). Mao Zedong, a former leader of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) said openly: "What can Emperor Qin Shi Huang brag about? He only killed 460 Confucian scholars, but we killed 46,000 intellectuals." Under the 57 years of the CCP's brutal rule over China, 60 to 80 million innocent Chinese people have been killed, due to various "political movements".

Links: 
Official Site
Japanese Official Site
Krean Official Site
Rob Cohen's Mummy Blog
Vic Armstrong's Blog
IMDb: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008)
IMDb: The Mummy (1999)
IMDb: The Mummy Returns (2001)