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There’s something quietly steadfast about May Calamawy: whenever a project calls for meaningful, nuanced Egyptian or Arab representation, she answers with conviction. Ramy delivered a tender, deeply specific portrait of a Muslim American family whose struggles and joys felt universally human. Moon Knight brought the first Egyptian superhero to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, crafted with the vision of Egyptian artists. And now, at last, we have a The Mummy reboot with genuine Egyptians at its heart, both Calamawy and May Elghety cast authentically in roles that finally feel rooted in truth.
Speaking with Calamawy about Lee Cronin’s The Mummy, from Blumhouse and Atomic Monster, it’s immediately clear how perfect a fit she is. Beyond the authentic casting, the Scarlet Scarab star has always loved horror.
“I’ve always wanted to do horror, and I loved watching it. I love the suspense, and it’s just fun to take people on a ride,” she says. “And then I was very intrigued with the fresh angle that Lee Cronin was bringing to it. He wasn’t drawing from the iconic films that we know, and I like the direction that he was going in.”
As a fellow horror geek, I couldn’t resist asking about her favorite scary movies. Her answers didn’t disappoint. “Psycho’ really messed me up. I had to sleep with the light on for a very long time,” she recalls. “I loved Get Out, because it’s one of the first times, I watched a film and was like, ‘Oh, wow, you can do that?’ Because there’s so many layers. There’s so much commentary in it, and it’s entertaining and it’s scary.” The final pick was the cherry on top: a campy ’80s cult classic. “When I was really young, I would just get bored a lot, and I’d go raid my brother’s room and I’d find tapes and I found this tape, this film called Puppet Master, and not many people have seen it. And I don’t know if it stands the test of time, but then it freaked me out. It’s like, this guy that goes to this remote house, and then gets attacked by these puppets. That’s a really bad logline. But anyway,” she recalls with a laugh.
Being a fan of Jordan Peele’s clever directorial debut myself, I asked how she’d feel about a social horror film in the vein of Get Out, but centered on Arabs. Her face lit up as she said, “You know what? I would love that. But it’s really gonna take guts because there are so many red lines in the Arab world about what we can talk about and not talk about.” She added, “The Arab world has the best stories, in my opinion, and there are so many untold ones.”
Critics are already raving about The Mummy, with some calling it “gruesome,” “vicious,” and “the most f***ed up movie I’ve ever watched in a theater.” But was Calamawy ever scared while filming? “To be honest, I wasn’t scared because Lee built this set. The set was so fun. We had fun all the time while we were filming. So there were intense moments, acting wise and just knowing that this is gonna read very intense on camera, but I wasn’t scared while filming it,” she says.
The casting of both Mays in The Mummy sparked cheers from fans, including non-Arabs unfamiliar with Elghety. Hiring actual Egyptians marks a real milestone. “It undeniably makes a difference to the cast. If you want an authentic portrayal, then cast authentically because we’re going to speak to these stories right now, in this time better, than other people will,” she says. “At the end of the day, it’s great when people can write from experience. That doesn’t always have to be the case, but you really feel it when it is.”
That authenticity extended to the smallest details, something Calamawy was quick to credit the crew for. “Lee is so attuned to details and cares about them. A big shout out to the prop department and the set. There were sets where I was very impressed, and it helps you as an actor,” she says.
Only one cast member grew up in Egypt: May Elghety. Calamawy highlights how essential the Clash star was to the production. “May [Elghety] grew up in Egypt, and she understands the colloquial framework much better than I would, and definitely someone else who’s not Egyptian. She helped shape some moments with the language, and it made a big difference. I just think it’s these small little moments and the details that will affect people much more. I hope this representation will reinforce for other Arabs that their stories want to be told, and there’s a space for them,” she explains.
This leads naturally to the broader challenges Arab actors face in Hollywood, a topic Calamawy has always addressed frankly. She recalls a story that captured the industry’s mindset: “Someone once told me that during a casting of a film there was a person of color that was cast, and a second person of color was suggested, and then it was either the casting or the producers that were like ‘No, no, this is going to confuse viewers.’ And I really found that extraordinary.”
In Duke Johnson’s The Actor, Calamawy portrayed five different characters, none of them Arab. So I asked if she now actively seeks out non-Arab roles. “I don’t mind playing Arab roles. It’s just that I don’t want my Arab identity to be the entire focus of the role. I can be Arab without it being stated or made into a theme. And I understand why that happened. I understand why certain roles like that were needed and are needed, but because I’ve done it already, I want to try new things,” she tells me.
Another challenge, especially in the last two years, has been the intimidation and potential career blowback for showing solidarity with Palestine or denouncing the genocide in Gaza. That didn’t stop Calamawy, who is part Palestinian, from voicing her support, even though it wasn’t easy. “I will always want to stand up and speak for people who don’t have a voice or who are underrepresented or misunderstood, and hearing and seeing consequences like what happens to other actors around you is wild for me,” she says. “In a world where people share whatever they want to share, why would anyone be afraid if someone wants to share their opinion? I mean, for me, it’s the truth. For someone else, it might be an opinion, but if you’re shutting me down, then I’m going to believe there’s a reason you’re shutting me down, but at the end of the day, I’m always going to say what I want to say, when I want to say it, and I will surround myself with people and work with people and attract jobs that give me that space to be authentic. My compass is, like, my maker. I’m not here to make everyone happy.”
Now living in the UK, Calamawy sees a brighter future ahead, filled with more opportunities, new skills, and greater diversity. “What I found, because I live in the UK now, is that, by contrast, there’s so much diversity, and people of color get to play all kinds of roles. They’re not placed in a box. They can play supporting. They can play the lead. If you’re a good actor, you work, period. That’s what I have found. It doesn’t matter how you look or anything. And I love working in the States. I still have opportunities from the States, but I’m excited now for this new landscape in London,” she says.
She has also been taking creative writing courses, which she describes as still “new territory” for her. “I’m very excited to keep going and see what comes of it,” she says. “I found that there’s nothing like getting lost in writing. I’ve been working on scripts. I’ll end up spending days and then read it back and think, ‘Well, that was shit’. But it doesn’t matter, because just being able to get lost in something and to create it is what’s fun for me.”
The Mummy has also pushed her to work on nailing her Egyptian dialect, a skill she’s applying to her upcoming Netflix series Mercenary: An Extraction Series, starring Omar Sy, Boyd Holbrook, Waleed Zuaiter, and Natalie Dormer. “I grew up speaking more Shami, and I’ve had to make that switch on The Mummy and on [Mercenary] which I just finished filming. So I’ve really been studying,” she says.
So, do we have a new scream queen on our hands? “Why be labeled a scream queen, if I can be the one making people scream? I think I would rather do that. I’d love to be a villain. I really have respect for a strong villain that stays in your mind,” Calamawy says with a smile.
Lee Cronin’s The Mummy hits U.S. theaters on April 17, 2026.
