Oddball on the set

Actress Annabelle Wallis talks about her experience in the reboot of The Mummy, which promises more thrills, stunts and special effects

Director Kurtzman, Sofia Boutella, Tom Cruise and Wallis. multiple languages including Portuguese and French, impressed everybody on set for her ability to perform the stunts without so much as breaking a sweat.

“We were always training at the gym andeverybody had their own space and allotted time. But because we got on so well, we were always training together. It was more fun that way,” says Wallis, who spent most of her childhood in Portugal.

In the earlier part of her training, she was constantly teased by her male co-stars on whether she could be capable of doing all of the physical stunts herself.

But when she eventually managed to outdo them all, that silenced them for good.

“Those guys are really playful and fun to be with. There was a lot of playfulness when everyone got together,” she says.

Wallis, who now calls London her home, is game for anything that comes her way.

“I try not to overthink things. I knew I was in safe hands and that the crew was not out to ‘kill’ me because they needed me to finish the movie. I felt confident jumping around,” she adds.

BETTER THAN THE GREEN SCREEN

Principal filming of the movie began in April of last year in Oxford, United Kingdom.

The crew travelled to multiple locations including Surrey, London and Namibia before filming finally wrapped up in August.

Of all the locations that the cast and crew spent during their four-month shoot, Wallis loved Namibia the best.

“I thought Namibia is so beautiful. That’s the joy of what we do. You’re given the gift of travel, of wanderlust and working around the world. You never forget being in Africa and working with a local crew. It was a great experience. I brought my mum out and it was a lovely treat,” she says.

For the most part, the actress says it adds a sense of realism to the overall movie that one can’t get from relying solely on the green screen.

She says: “It keeps it alive, the energy of being in a vista. We would climb these huge sand dunes and you live so much more in the moment because you don’t know when you’ll experience something like that again. And it really helps you believe that your character is there because you are there!”

BRINGING THE MUMMY TO LIFE

The jetting-setting actress was in Taipei, Taiwan, recently, where she spoke to the regional Press as part of the mov- ie’s promotional event. With her were Cruise and Boutella. Also joining them were director Alex Kurtzman.

At the Press event, Wallis made heads turn as she took centre stage in her electric blue dress. Besides Taiwan, the quartet had been busy promoting the film in Sydney, Australia and Madrid, Spain.

In 2012, Universal Pictures announced plans for a modern-day reboot of franchise.

But the project had since gone through several changes involving its directors.

The directing job was first handed out to Len Wiseman before he announced his exit from the project in 2013.

A second director, Andres Muschietti

and the upcoming was brought in but he too left in 2014.

Finally director Alex Kurtzman came on board and the film took off.

also sees New Zealand-born Ben Seresin as director of photography.

Seresin is best known for his beautiful lensing in movies such as

and

For the music and score, the movie features the work of acclaimed film composer Brian Tyler.

Tyler has composed scores for film, television and video games, the more notable ones being (with Danny Elfman) and

Wallis talks more about her experience working with Cruise, how she got the role and what she kept from the set.

HOW DID YOU MANAGE TO LAND YOURSELF IN THE ROLE OF JENNY HALSEY?

I went for an audition and then it really came down to Cruise making the decision because it was so much about the chemistry