Arnold Vosloo arrived in Morocco to film The Mummy with something no one had anticipated: a belly.
Imhotep’s costume was basically a loincloth. Nothing to hide anything under. So when the head of wardrobe saw the South African actor, he broke out in a cold sweat and went straight to tell Stephen Sommers, the director, about the problem. “We have a problem, we have a mummy with a belly”, he said, according to Vosloo himself, who revealed it to Entertainment Weekly for the film’s 20th anniversary.
The solution was simple and brutal: running, walking, and eating the bare minimum throughout the shoot in Morocco. “I liked to eat; I had a bit of a belly, I still do”, Vosloo, now 64, said with a laugh.
The sacrifice paid off: one of Hollywood’s most memorable villains was born, and now there are rumors that he will wear the loincloth again and probably diet once more for The Mummy 4, alongside Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz.