First Jet and now Michelle?

Yeoh and Li in the Mummy 3?

We already heard the rumour that Jet Li was to appear in The Mummy 3, well now the rumour expands and that Li will play the lead role as the Mummy and that Michelle Yeoh will also join the film.

Now that works as we have always heard from the start of the Mummy 3 rumours that the script was moving locations to China, so the appearance of leading Asian actors would make perfect sense, and Li can play a mean baddie.

Apparently the rumour comes from someone who attended a screening of Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story at a University in the US, apparently Rob Cohen was there and talked a little about the Mummy film. IGN caught the scooper and I caught the story through Rope of Silicon:

"...he [Cohen] confirmed that Jet Li will play the Mummy in The Mummy 3, which he is directing. He also said that the film will take place in China and Michelle Yeoh will also be in the film. The biggest bombshell was that the film's protagonist will not be Brendan Fraser, but rather his character's son, now 22 years-old. Also, Jet Li will be the head Mummy in a group of Mummies that were the Teracotta army."

IGN contacted Yeoh's agency and they said that she has not signed for the film, so take all this with the usual bucket of salt. It seems that the screening did take place and that Cohen was there for a Q&A, so perhaps this is right after all.

Back in June last year we heard that Alex was the lead, and in March last year the idea that the story had moved to China was confirmed.

So although it's rumour and we're still waiting confirmations, it seems like it is headed in the right direction. Chinese Mummy Li after all.
Ford to star in third 'Mummy'
Shooting will begin in Montreal July 27
By MICHAEL FLEMING

U is mulling possibilities for its 'Mummy' future as Brendan Fraser returns but Rachel Weitz exited.

Universal Pictures and director Rob Cohen have set Luke Ford to star in the third installment of "The Mummy," in a move that potentially sets the franchise up for future films.

The 26-year-old Australian actor was cast with the expectation that he will eventually carry the franchise.

"We may spin off into a complete father-son direction with Brendan (Fraser, who played the adventurer who battled the monster in the first two installments), but by getting an actor who is in his 20s and not a teenager, we can also put the future on his shoulders," Cohen told Daily Variety. "He tested against four much more established actors, and he was magic when he read with Brendan."

As sequel star salaries grow prohibitively expensive, several franchises are bringing in new blood. Shia LaBeouf is playing the son of Indiana Jones in the fourth installment of that franchise, and Fox just hired David Goyer to develop the Sheldon Turner-scripted "Magneto," an "X-Men" spinoff to be driven by two young leads that will play Magneto and Professor Xavier.

In "The Mummy" sequel, Ford will play Alex O'Connell, the 20ish son of adventurer Rick O'Connell (Fraser), who journeys into the forbidden tombs of China and into the Himalayas, where they run into a new shape-shifting mummy, a former Chinese emperor who was cursed by a female wizard.

Jet Li plays the mummy, Michelle Yeoh the wizard. The studio has tested six actresses to replace Rachel Weisz in the role of Evelyn Carnahan O'Connell after she declined to reprise.

Script was written by "Smallville" creators Miles Millar and Alfred Gough; Sean Daniel, Jim Jacks, Stephen Sommers and Bob Ducsay are producing.

Shooting will begin in Montreal on July 27, and then move to China. Pic will open in July 2008, just before the Olympics begin in Beijing.

The first two "Mummy" films grossed $841 million worldwide and spawned spinoff "The Scorpion King."

Ford just finished starring with Toni Collette in the Elissa Down-directed "The Black Balloon," and has appeared in "Kokoda" and "Junction Boys."

Ford's repped by WMA and Australia-based Matt Andrews of Marquee.