Patricia Velásquez Summons Memories of Making The Mummy

Patricia Velásquez Summons Memories of Making The Mummy

I have been I have received all kinds of gifts from Egypt oh that’s beautiful beautiful right yeah he sent me he said that he’s had them for years look how beautiful oh wow beautiful stunning his powers are growing this just keeps getting better and better a good place to begin is how this project came to you did you uh have an audition or was a script simply titled the mummies sent to directly to you the way this movie came about was such a extraordinary lesson from the universe and why it’s important to be kind to everyone and how we just never know the repercussions of encountering people in life I was in LA and my agent sent me to to see a general casting with different people so one of these meetings was the casting director at Universal it was a general meeting her name is Joanna Calbert and I want I I walked into the office and we just had a really really wonderful conversation that was it and then the day after I’ve been offered this movie call the mommy I couldn’t believe I definitely I I had no idea how big this movie was going to be I don’t think anyone any of us knew that they will be such a big hit and then at the same time I I didn’t know that I was walking into such a big film uh so you know I was kind of new in the industry so I flew to London and it was all very nice and then went to shepperton Studios which is an iconic studio in the UK it wasn’t until I walked into set that I realized that I was in a in a big film do you remember what your thoughts were when you saw the words the mummy and you knew obviously it would be a maybe a horror movie I’m a South American Indian from an indigenous Community called Wu so I’ve always had Fascination for cultures traditions and especially meaning of things because maybe my my parents you know my dad worked at UNESCO so we grew up in France and then Mexico and then went to Venezuela I always had a f Fascination for spirituality and history and what everything means and um so when I saw the name the mommy I had been in Mexico visited mommies in Mexico when I grew up there I didn’t really think it was going to be a horror movie or a family movie all I thought is oh I’m going to be able to dig in because that’s what I love um that’s where that’s where my my uh heart in my mind went what was your reaction when you’re standing around on those shepher and sets and it looks like a th Palace I could not believe that I was there because you know you you go into the studios here I mean I was just shooting in Warner Brothers this week and yes is very iconic it’s amazing and I think because you’re in Europe the buildings have different shape and there’s so much history itself that you feel that you’re walking into to a window of time at a through a very special window where you can see all of it so that already in itself uh I was feeling very uh honored what is the memory that first Springs to mind or what do you really cherish or cling to when you think back on this experience on the of the first movie well this was a movie that changed my life and and that kind of set the course of my acting career um you know up until today it’s it’s just do doesn’t matter how many projects you’ve done you will always be an tunon um and then when when I really is is is that David when I think of the mommy I really think is that the importance of kindness and how you just never know you never know you’re kind to people and you never know that that person that you might meet might be looking for somebody and and in that respect to everyone who’s listening to us you know assistance are are the deal are the deal makers they can make or break something cuz so be nice to assistants be nice because you just not only you never know how they going to where they’re going to end but they really have um a lot of power so just just make them feel very special because you just never know where where you can end up with them and I was impressed and still am when watching the movie by the choice to have ancient Egyptian scene subtitles did you and Arnold work with any egyptologists or linguists to learn those lines yeah we worked with they had a linguistic from UCLA uh and we work with him um and obviously there isn’t a recording of how the sound was um so it’s an approximate to what they thought it sounded like and this was maybe one of the first scenes we shot or something and and then I started screaming and Stephen goes and we do another take and I’m it’s really big set so I’m even already at this point I screaming so much I’m starting to lose my voice and then finally you know Stephen kind of calls me on the side and he says why why you screaming I says Stephen you said you wanted this to be as authentic as possible I is no he said oh no no no forget it just say no so that was the only time he actually said no just keep it normal don’t scream I at this point I had no voice left it was a but it was it was one of those anecdotes but yeah we worked with a linguistic and and and we made we we worked hard on the dialogue uh it wasn’t easy but you know just like any other uh acting work when you are really focusing on what it is that you are trying to achieve through your acting then the words come easy so when you go back and watch either of the mummy movies and you see your scenes and Arnold scenes do you understand do you remember enough of the muscle memory oh what they’re saying without the sub yes muscle more than Mommy too because I had a ton of lines and the mommy too uh but yes I I do remember for sure you know I there are some line some classic lines like I remember the one with uh Rachel where we’re fighting and she’s on the floor and I go or something like that that was uh B had way tee out that was from the first one so yeah I I have a memory in a lot of the lines what was the process like of uh putting on that body pain and I’d assume you knew that that was in the script and going into it David I knew but I didn’t know it was going to be such a pain in the butt uh it was it took almost 10 hours to get that makeup on and there I had four people drawing on my body um and then they did a special chair so I could see so the paint would not smear uh and special shoes and then I had anywhere between two to four hours of retouching every day I was just going to say if you’re doing 10 hours just putting the makeup on how many hours do you have left to actually shoot a scene well no because the first the first day it was only to try the makeup and then they left it they left it on so when I went to shoot I had it on and they will just retouch so when you’re you know when I was on set they were just retouching but the makeup was already there so it would smear overnight but not as much and then I got sick I by the end of it but you know I don’t know remember there was a Bond girl that that died from body pain painting but no they left a a like a hole in the back where the skin could breathe but even though I still got sick but not thank God no noce bad and then that’s why for the mommy too I said no way I’m not getting that paint again and and we used a bodysuit and well just out of curiosity so you had to wear it overnight how many days when were you allowed to take it off no I didn’t I couldn’t I think about 10 days for 10 days you wore the makeup yes I did and it was really funny we were going to this you going to restaurants at night and people now I know what it feels like to have a fullon tattoo people look at me weird it was definitely uncomfortable but it was worth it it really you know it was an idea and we were able to execute it and you know I model for so many years that I I was used to that kind of work um then once you forget about it it just really helps you with the with the character even more than in like in the mommy too I had the the bodysuit but there was nothing like actually having the paint when I watched The Mummy as a kid I always felt you know I felt a lot of sympathy for a Knox on the moon like I get the sense she did not want to be the pharaoh’s mistress and uh so did you and Arnold in your minds were you playing this maybe more as the heroes of your own love story when you did your SCS together 100% there was never a doubt that you know these two people were in love and it is a love story uh never anything else uh the only thing is like in the case of anun moon or Miller you know she made the wrong choices of how to go about fighting for this love uh but but she was fighting for love nothing else like a any other Love Story oh she the original story is that yeah she’s on this relationship but she she falls smly in love with Arnold and she wants to be with him that’s it I mean she made she found her soulmate I always thought and I’d be curious if you view the especially in the second one if this is just kind of a story of two rival love stories between yourself and Arnold on one end and Brendan and Rachel on the other that’s a really good question I’ve never been asked that before um for sure you know they say that competition is the key to competition is the key to survival they say you know even in relationships there has to be some sort of competition healthy competition and that’s what keeps it going um I I do absolutely think there is some rivalry these people were fighting for love it’s either you or us we know what’s at stake the stakes are really high in my mind there was never any doubt that we were going to make it in the second Mommy I still wonder sometimes why she made the choice that she made at the end maybe because I thought they would be another mommy for it to fix it and that gave me permission to make a mistake were you pleasantly surprised when the author came to have not only come back for the sequel but to have a much bigger role in uh part two I was so honored I was so surprised I was so happy uh I couldn’t believe when I read the role and I couldn’t really I couldn’t believe that I was going to play two roles I mean how fun you know Rachel always used to say I wish I was playing your role it’s always so much better to play the bad girl it’s true when you play the evil Bad characters it’s so much fun as an actor I was so I couldn’t believe and then again there it goes to doesn’t matter how small things might be because when you think of the first mommy doesn’t matter how small things might be just give it your all because you never know what can happen and that was a proof of that so you were on shepperton in the first one but you were actually in Morocco and on other locations in the sequel yes yeah we went to air food and we also went to warza at Ines we were there for quite a while lot of sandstorms and when these sandstorms will start we will all have to run into our trailers and just sit there for a long time and I remember one time specifically that this Sandstorm just would not go away and he smelled like we had cell phones and we could be texting we’re just there um so it would that I remember being really scared this one time because this I felt like the and then I kept thinking well I don’t think the trailer is going to fly away worst can happen is that he you know falls to the side because this thing was moving like crazy you know Rachel lived lived in London so she became my PA you know we had to train a lot for the fight scenes you know the fight scenes it was never really supposed to be us fighting that’s why we they had design those masks that we have when we fight but we Rachel and I got so into it we became very competitive because we became good friends and we became so competitive that we ended up doing the fights ourselves they only thing I didn’t do was the backflip and we were working at the beginning before we started shooting we would work for hours hours a day that’s why we take the masks off so they they can show at least that it’s us that I think that’s why the scene is so powerful and so magical and it’s become such a classic fight scene um in history uh yeah we we trained we trained it was wonderful it was so cool you mentioned you were became friends with Rachel what was it like being able to work with her and I Arnold as well for a lot more on the second one I didn’t really talk to her very much on the first Mommy we sort of became friends on the mommy too I think it became more when we went to London um because we we were training for the for the fights both movies have obviously their reputations and affection has only grown over the years but do you recall what you first thought when you saw just the first one compl completed I’m going to guess at the premiere I couldn’t believe it I thought oh my gosh you know for Venezuelan girl indigenous suddenly you see yourself in in a big film like that it felt big but he felt happy because it’s a family film so it just felt it felt like a celebration I brought my whole family I I just had a good time I I could not believe that I was a part of it I think it was surprise for everyone especially in the studio they didn’t expect the movie to be this big were you surprised at all by the tone of the movie because I know some people you know uh Brendan has said in the past he didn’t know what movie he was making yes me too I didn’t and also remember I was not there for that long for the first one so I I didn’t really know what to expect um I was surprised by the tone of the movie it was nothing that I expected I didn’t really expect anything because I was just so grateful to have been a part of it that just whatever it was going to be I was already so grateful what has that Legacy meant for you over the last 25 years well it makes me feel very blessed to be a part of something that symbolizes family and hope and unity uh because it’s you know it shows on the holidays all the it’s this movie is on all the time and I am a part of that that it’s like the universe gave me allow me to participate into something that will always be with us and I I was there my daughter she hear she hears about it from other kids at school I think she’s now seeing Mommy too she’s a teenager right now so she had to play cool she’s like oh whatever uh but uh I think deep inside she has a lot of admiration because a lot of her friends talk about it you know they her friends her age do look at it do watch it she has to play cool but I think eventually she’ll she’ll go back to being a fan again most important I meet people with extraordinary stories and what the mommy has symbolized for them um and how like I met this girl at a ComiCon who beautiful girl just gorgeous girl and she said that she suffers from terrible anxiety and before she was diagnosed she used to see like hide in the back of the couch when the family was watching The Mommy and she would recite the lines of the movie and then when the she started going to therapy she told the therapist he asked how do you calm yourself down and she said I recite the lines of anamon and and he said okay well if that’s what counts you down I want you to do that for life just do it and she still does it so imagine when someone says something like that to you uh you know that they um you just don’t know the repercussion of the of the amount of effort that you put into something for me it’s like if I had to do that movie just to help that one girl oh my gosh then that meant not only the most extraordinary experience but that was worth the effort that was and I I hear stories like that all the time all the time so that’s how important this is for for for me there have been murmurings since Brendan won his Oscar about resurrecting the franchise do you think there should be another one I think so I think it’s why not they’re doing sequels to a lot of other you know important films so why not I think it’ll be a great reunion I did want to ask if there’s anything else you really when you think about these movies you would like to share I think David we are in a time in our lives right now where things are divided people are divided there’s so much confrontation and um to be able to be a part of a film that brings us together doesn’t matter what your point points of views are um I think we need more than that um and I’m sure anybody who’s watching this show if you have so those divisions within your household even with yourself then watch the film and invite them over so we can try to find some Unity amongst this very uh divided time could you just mention maybe what you’re working on uh right now or these days yeah well many things but uh this I have a couple of projects that are coming out later in this year one name no address about with um about homelessness and I also run a foundation you know that we’re sending ton of humanitarian Aid to Venezuela that as you know is a country with 30 million people and eight and a half million people have already fled the country so if you want to visit yua W Yu t a ya a or just Google me it will come up and look at our work that’ll be that’ll be wonderful because it’s so we’re growing and uh you know try to do progress programs that have to work on sustainability and helping people to stay in their land because at the end nobody really wants to leave people want to be there but if you don’t have the conditions then it’s tough you got to find a way to protect your family and not protect your family but to give conditions so your family can flourish uh and even yourself so the foundation is definitely taking um a long time right now for me The Mummy Returns

Anck-Su-Numun Actress Patricia Velásquez chats about filming The Mummy and The Mummy Returns, drowning in gold paint, learning ancient Egyptian, and getting in a sword fight with Rachel Weisz.
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