Horror impresario Clive Barker has just revealed plans for a remake of The Mummy that would involve a transgender lead.
In a chat with fellow horror director Mick Garris for Garris’ podcast Post Mortem with Mick Garris, Barker and his friend reminisced about their proposed remake of the Universal classic. The pair had collaborated on a script and even pitched the concept to Universal, with Barker–then a hot director thanks to the success of Hellraiser–set to helm the film.
“It had the first gender change.. transsexual… so we were ahead of the curve,” Barker recalls. “So there’s a boy born… a boy-child born at the beginning of the narrative, who is obviously significant in the narrative… but we cut twenty years and there’s no sign of this guy. Apparently. There is a wonderfully strange, mysterious woman who is part of the narrative, a very important part of the narrative – I don’t want to say too much because we’re gonna make this one day… I hope… we should talk to Netflix…”
Related: Daily Dose: Clive Barker hearty dose of homoerotic noir
“The little boy… who is born at the beginning of the narrative… has become this exquisite woman,” he continues. “And a major part of a modern-day narrative about The Mummy. But this is our naivete, Mick. How could we ever have thought, in 1989, when we turned this in, that they would say, ‘Ah, great!’ I think I’ve had a slightly naïve attitude [towards] the suits.”
Barker and Garris also reveal that the story would have been very sexual in nature and set in a Beverly Hills museum.
Here’s hoping executives at Universal Pictures hear the podcast. The studio went on to successfully reboot The Mummy in 1999, and produce several sequels. A more recent remake in 2017 starring Tom Cruise was meant to launch the studio’s “Dark Universe;” an extended universe that would entail all the classic horror monsters. The film proved an enormous bomb, and the studio canceled subsequent entries Bride of Frankenstein and The Invisible Man as a result.
Dymension
Um, why? Why not just make an original film starring a transgender? Why do we keep recycling the same tired movies?
skeldare
Didn’t they just make remake The Mummy and it bombed even with Tom Cruise? Why not do something ORIGINAL.
Cam
I wouldn’t say “Even with Tom Cruise”.
It may have bombed because of Tom Cruise. Outside of Mission Impossible he hasn’t had a ton of hits recently, and the Scientology exposes have not gained him any new fans.
BoomerMyles
A trans lead character revolutionary for back then?
I know all there is to know about the Crying Game.
Cam
And Stargate.
LumpyPillows
If you’re going to make a gratuitous movie to feature a trans character, at least make them the hero.
radiooutmike
Does anyone know how to read? Barker is talking about something that was settled in 1989.
He made Nightbreed the next year which is one of the queerest films imaginable.
Cam
Queerest films imaginable. You know, except there were no queer people in it.
LumpyPillows
Pretty sure Netflix wasn’t around in 1989. Not really sure what point it is you’re trying to make .
trell
Sorry, but for me, Clive Barker is a big disappointment!
He could have been one of the most amazing writers and LGBTQ+ representatives of his time. I remember reading Weaveworld, TG&SS and Imajica when they were first released, and I became a massive fan. After that, Barker seemed to disappear into obscurity, occasionally popping up to release a very boring and lackluster book, or to announce starting a new project, that really ended up going nowhere. There have been books still awaiting sequels that have been unwritten for 30 years. That’s even worse than George R.R Martin’s track record!!
Sorry Clive, but this is just another one of your fantasies, isn’t it?