John Hannah has revealed the favourite movie of his career is 1999 adventure blockbuster The Mummy.
John Hannah had the best experience of his career on The Mummy – but there was one scene he asked director Stephen Sommers to change which he was totally wrong about.
The 63-year-old Scottish actor played thief Jonathan Carnahan, the brother of Rachel Weisz’s character, Egyptologist Evelyn Carnahan, in Sommers’ 1999 adventure film – which was inspired by the 1932 film of the same name and also starred Brendan Fraser as Rick O’Connell – and the subsequent sequels.
Hannah felt like a “kid-in-a-candy-shop” working on a huge Hollywood blockbuster, but there is a scene that he initially hated where Jonathan has to pretend to be a zombie chanting “Imhotep” – the name of the villain, played by Arnold Vosloo.
Sommers refused to remove the scene and it was proven to be the correct decision as audiences loved it.
When asked what his best acting job has been, he said: “Probably The Mummy. Doing a big Hollywood movie was such a fun shock for me. It was so exciting to be on a set like that – it was kid-in-a-candy-shop stuff.”
Discussing the zombie scene in an interview with The Telegraph newspaper, he added: “There’s a bit in The Mummy I have always hated, where I’m running out of the museum to get the car, and there are all these zombies chanting ‘Imhotep’. I was supposed to join in and pretend I was a zombie as well, and groan ‘Imhotep’ as they pass me, then go back for the car. I thought this was the lamest, most embarrassing thing ever. I tried to get Steve to change it. But I went to one of the test screenings and that moment got the biggest laugh and a round of applause. I was totally wrong.”
Hannah’s latest role is as Sergeant Murray in new Netflix series Sandokan: The Pirate Prince, which is based on the popular novels by Emilio Salgari.
The Four Weddings and a Funeral star thought his career would slow down when he reached his 60s, but instead he has been offered some of the most interesting roles of his professional life.
He said: “When I turned 60, I used to joke with my family that I’d retired. I felt like my career was what it was it wasn’t going to get better. I wasn’t suddenly going to be discovered, and you get offered a lot of the same stuff. I’d always been very driven. But I felt released when I turned 60. I got that monkey off my back. Ironically, since I made that decision, the work I’ve been offered has been really, really interesting. I’ve had some of my best jobs of my whole life in the last few years.”
John Hannah reveals The Mummy scene he was totally wrong about
