Former ‘ER’ Actress Maria Bello Joins ‘Mummy’ Film Franchise
Third Flick Finally Gets a Rachel Weisz Replacement
Not only is the third installment of the popular yet frequently derided Mummy franchise written by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, the same geniuses who created the CW’s most excellent series Smallville, but it now also has another television and film veteran in the starring female role of Evelyn Carnahan O’Connell, the character played in the first two installments by British 2006 Supporting Actress Academy Award winner Rachel Weisz. According to Variety, Maria Bello, who played Dr. Anna Del Amico on NBC’s long-running medical drama ER for a relatively brief time from 1997 to 1998, has signed on to assume the Evelyn role alongside fellow cast members Brendan Fraser (of course), Jet Li, and Michelle Yeoh. Recasting was necessary because Weisz gave director Rob Cohen notice that she had no desire to reprise the role that she originated in the initial blockbusters.
I don’t know about everybody else, but the prospect of seeing Bello—whom I absolutely loved in such films as A History of Violence and Thank You for Smoking—in the same movie with Li and Yeoh is definitely something to look forward to. Weisz will be missed, but the casting of Bello has made the longing decrease already.
Maria Bello photo courtesy of Steve Granitz/WireImage.com
