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Following his triumphant revival of the beloved horror classic The Evil Dead with 2023’s Evil Dead Rise, director Lee Cronin has established himself as a filmmaker horror fan can trust — someone who treats iconic franchises with care and respect while still bringing fresh originality to them.
Now, he’s back with a bold, R-rated, and unapologetically gruesome reimagining of ‘The Mummy’. A version that doesn’t just deliver intense gore, but also prioritizes authentic casting and meaningful representation.
In our exclusive interview, the Irish director discusses his deep love for ancient Egypt and why it serves as the perfect backdrop for a horror story. He also addresses potential comparisons to the iconic The Mummy films, the unique challenges of casting and directing children in such intense roles, how The Mummy’s title card differs from the viral and fan-favorite title card of Evil Dead Rise, his plans to expand one of his earlier short films into a full-length feature, and much more.
Q: Let’s start with the challenge of naming the movie ‘The Mummy’ knowing people will compare it with the ‘Mummy’ franchise. Were you at any point worried about that?
Lee Cronin: I think, as a filmmaker and as a storyteller, you’re always thinking about audience perception when you decide that you’re going to make a movie. And not that I ever felt any particular fear, because I knew that once people experienced the film, that they would see that there’s a mummy front and center in the story, albeit a different type of mummy and a different purpose with mummification. So I was less scared and more excited about the idea of reinvention.
Q: What intrigues you the most about Egyptian mythology that made you wanna make an original supernatural story about it?
I’ve always had an interest in ancient Egypt from childhood, and it’s something that attracted me at a young age in terms of books and visits to museums. I think what it links to for me is an interest in Buried Secrets. I think that is really, really exciting, and it’s a really interesting place. Then in a horror context, when you can lean into that notion of something that is hidden or buried away for a reason and then is unearthed maybe when it shouldn’t be, it provides a really great platform to tell a scary story.
Q: Have you ever been to Egypt?
Unfortunately, I have not, and it’s something I’m going to remedy! I wanted to go, but it got so busy making the movie that I couldn’t. I was invited many years ago with a short film that I’d made, it was being presented in Egypt, and it clashed with a work commitment then as well. So, I need to find a window of time where I’m not busy, so that I can actually go and visit.
What was really cool with this movie was the fact that I got to bring a lot of Egyptian personality through the cast that we have with May Calamawy and May Elghety and beyond. I had these wonderful actors that I was able to learn a lot about the culture from, and really hone in on the details. That was more important than getting on a plane and having the time to do that was making sure that I captured the authenticity through the people that were in the movie.
Q: One of my favorite things is the casting of 2 Egyptian women in The Mummy. How did the search for May Calamawy and May Elghety go?
So, it always starts with having a great casting director. I was aware of both of these performers, and they were brought to me as two people that were really interested in being in this film and playing these two really important female roles in the movie. So, once they were in front of me and we met, and they did some auditioning for me, it was very, very clear that they were absolutely the right people for the roles. They share some incredible scenes together as well, which I really love, where it’s just about the two of them. Some of my favorite scenes in the movie are with May Calamawy and May Elghety.
Q: Your horror movies so far have featured children in big roles. Has it been easy getting them to deliver such frightening or frightened performances in those intense scenes?
It’s always a challenge. Casting is a challenge full-stop, finding the right people to take on your characters. I think with casting young performers and children, often you might actually need to audition more than you might with an older performer or a more experienced performer. What you’re really looking for is somebody that you can have a conversation with, whether they’re nine years old or 90 years old. It’s important that you can have a conversation and communicate with them. Also, that they can take direction in a really accurate way because I’m very accurate as a filmmaker in terms of what I want and what I need to tell the story.
So, I think you’re always looking for someone that can listen and also communicate. In terms of getting the performances where they’re either frightening or they are frightened, that’s just about having really good rehearsal time, and so that they can also understand the story and understand why they’re doing it. You know, you need someone to be scared for a reason, not just be scared because you told them to be.
Q: Is there any classic horror trope or old-school trend from earlier films that you wish would make a comeback right now?
I love really paranoid psychological horror as well, and there are some movies that do that but if there were more movies – as much as I made a movie that’s packed full of gore and spectacle – I’d also love to see more movies that purely create horror through the psychological. So, movies like Rosemary’s Baby or The Wicker Man are things that I always enjoy, and some projects I develop in that space as well. I think there’s lots of different ways of scaring people, and I think that kind of variety is great.
Q: Do you feel the horror genre gets enough awards recognition right now?
I think it’s starting to. I think in the past, it’s been overlooked, and it’s been overlooked at times when it really should have been more front and center. But obviously just this year, there’ve been some excellent genre movies that received the recognition that they deserved.
I hope that’s a breakthrough for the continued kind of respect because I think with horror movies that have strong characters and strong performances, you’re having to create a drama and then also bring all of the other tools – the technical tools and the cinematic tools – to create an overall experience. And that’s a lot for a director to bring together in a way that’s cohesive and entertains and scares at the same time.
Q: The title card for Evil Dead Rise has built its own fanbase now. Do you expect the same thing to happen with The Mummy’s title card?
When I realized the intent with the Evil Dead title card, it was there from the script stage. It was even on the page of the screenplay describing how it would emerge. I’ve actually had people raise that with me in conversations twice today. I decided with this movie that I wasn’t going to try and repeat that trick, because if I had hit those heights with that one, maybe the only way was down. So, we’ve got a great title sequence in this film as well, and it comes in at a great moment to kind of tell you about the journey you’re about to go on and it looks visually amazing but it’s very much its own thing that suits this movie.
Q: Have you ever considered making a long feature version of your short ‘Through The Night’?
Absolutely! I have a project in development that is a distant relative of that original short film that I made. I always liked the idea of a couple that are struggling in their relationship and there being a supernatural entity involved at the center of all of that. Through The Night is a short that doesn’t go particularly heavy on explaining what things are because that was never really the intent, and a feature film would allow me to do that.
Q: Would you like the story of Kassie and Beth from ‘Evil Dead Rise’ to continue?
When you create characters that you fall in love with, and that audiences fall in love with, you’re always going to have ideas about where they would go next. I’m very excited to see the new Evil Dead movies but for me, I would never say never, in terms of revisiting those two characters and where their lives
went. Because at the end of Evil Dead, they’re like a new version of a family that has emerged out of the carnage of the story that I told, so I would always maintain an interest in where their journey led them.
Q: Ross Duffer mentioned he cast Nell Fisher as Holly in Stranger Things 5 just from seeing her in the Evil Dead Rise trailer. What are your thoughts on that, especially after directing her?
I’m not surprised is really the answer! Fisher is an incredibly talented young lady and she was really, really young when we cast her in Evil Dead. I remember seeing her casting tape and knowing right away that she was going to be a superstar – straight away, before she was even in my movie or before I had her on set. It really does not surprise me in the slightest. I remain really excited to see where her career goes because she’s a supreme talent.
Lee Cronin’s The Mummy is now playing in theaters worldwide.
