’IF you p*** off a woman, she will scare you way more than a man,” says Mummy star Sofia Boutella
“IF you p*** off a woman, she will scare you way more than a man,” says Sofia Boutella, who stars in The Mummy with Tom Cruise.
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SOFIA Boutella was scared of The Mummy — until she got to know the ancient Egyptian aristocrat intimately.
“I think I was terrified to play a monster,” says the former dancer, who has worked with the likes of Rihanna and Madonna.
The Algerian beauty’s main concern was being typecast in the role.
“I felt like every time I saw an actor play a monster in a movie, with the exception of Boris Karloff, they hadn’t done much afterwards in terms of their career.”
That’s the main reason why Boutella said“no” to director Alex Kurtzman the first time he offered her the part.
The 35-year-old actor had just done Star Trek Beyond (2016), in which she plays the alien warrior Jaylah.
Boutella is barely recognisable in the plum, kick-arse role beneath the thick white pancake makeup and striking, full-facial tattoos.
Spending more hours in the make-up chair was another strong disincentive to playing the entombed Egyptian princess.
Boutella is a good-looking woman. But at this point, the desire on the part of filmmakers to bury her underneath layers of make-up must be making her feel slightly paranoid.
“I know! What are we going to do about that?” she laughs.
In the end, however, Kurtzman’s enthusiasm for his contemporary reboot of The Mummy was simply too infectious to resist.
“I’m a blank canvas. It’s what I do for a living. I thought: why not embrace it,” Boutella says.
The model/dancer/actor breaks tradition in the new film as Universal Pictures’ first female Mummy.
She saw the finished film for the first time at the Sydney premiere.
“I had so much fun. I loved it! I feel so proud. Boris Karloff made that character iconic more than 80 years ago.
“I feel like I am walking in his footsteps. Making The Mummy (a) female (character is necessary, I think, because not only do we not see enough strong female characters, but we don’t see females in those roles.
“And I think if you piss off a woman, she will scare you way more than a man.”
Starring Tom Cruise as Nick Morton, a blundering, plundering soldier of fortune who awakens vengeful Egyptian princess Ahmanet (Boutella) from a slumber that has lasted thousands of years, The Mummy is the first film in Universal Pictures’ Dark Universe franchise and features Russell Crowe as Dr Jekyll/Mr Hyde.
The studio recently released a publicity image announcing the other actors cast thus far in updated versions of its back catalogue of classic monsters.
Boutella, Cruise and Crowe, whose character is a linking agent between the films, were photographed alongside Javier Bardem (Frankenstein’s monster) and Johnny Depp (The Invisible Man).
“That was a pinch moment,” the actor says.
Boutella’s “"It" girl” status was confirmed in April when she won the 2017 CinemaCon Award for Female Star of Tomorrow.
“Everything happening so fast for me,” she says.
“I called my manager and said: ‘what do I do with all this?’
“It does put pressure on me because I want to live up to these recognitions and these awards.
“Hopefully it’s only going to push me to be better.
“I love movie-making. Being recognised that way is flattering but I want to stay focused on making films.”
While the LA-based star is currently on a steep upwards trajectory, that doesn’t mean she hasn’t paid her dues.
Boutella didn’t receive a pay cheque for two years after she gave up dancing to pursue a career in film.
In fact, she didn’t have enough money to meet her upcoming mortgage payment when she landed her breakthrough role as Gazelle, Samuel L Jackson’s evil sidekick, in Kingsman: The Secret Service.
“On the Monday, my business manager emailed me and he said ‘I don’t have enough money for your next month’s mortgage, what are we going to do?’
“I said to him ‘don’t worry I’ll figure something out’.”
On the Wednesday, Boutella woke up to an email from her London agent Kate Buckley, notifying her of a 2pm audition for Kingsman.
“I knew the audition went well. That was my job done. After that, everything is out of your hands,” she says.
“I learned as a dancer to let things go. You don’t have an emotional attachment, you don’t sit by your phone, waiting for a call, because you put too much pressure on yourself.”
But after 24 months of strong auditions that had ultimately gone nowhere, “it’s a creative choice, it’s not personal”, Boutella’s fortunes were about to change.
“Literally the next day, Thursday, I woke up to another email from Kate.
“She said you are flying to London this afternoon because (Kingsman director) Matthew Vaughn wants to see you.”
Boutella was told to pack her bags for five months, in case she landed the gig.
“If I hadn’t, I would have flown back on the Sunday.”
Boutella still doesn’t know how she would have taken care of the roof over her head had Vaughn chosen another actor for the role.
“I owe Matthew quite a lot because he believed in me and he saw something in me and that sort of opened a path for me,” she says.
As for being typecast in monster roles after The Mummy, Boutella need not have worried.
The actor plays Charlize Theron’s green, French spy lover in Atomic Blonde, which opens in the US next month.
“I love that I have been given a role where I don’t kick arse. That David Leitch, who was a former stunt co-ordinator and is now an amazing director, didn’t see me as a go-to stunt girl,” she says.
“I also loved working with Charlize, who is such a good actor. Being next to a strong woman like this is empowering.”
The Mummy opens today. Atomic Blonde opens in Australia on August 3
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