by Paul Fischer

Evil is fun, at least on the big screen. In Universal's larger-than-life The Mummy Returns, the baddies are as fascinating as the film's heroes. Paul Fischer spoke to Arnold Vosloo (as the Mummy Imhotep), and Patricia Velasquez (his love, Anck-su-Numam) about being bad, and discovered two very classy and eloquent individuals.

ARNOLD VOSLOO returns as the evil Mummy in question, and has no hesitation in being typecast as a bad guy. "Hey, if Hollywood wants to pay me the big bucks to be a bad guy, bring it on, I say." Vosloo, who has performed many classics on the stage, was more than happy to reprise Imhotep in The Mummy Returns, "partly because of Steven [Sommers, director] and the bigger pay check of course", he says smilingly. While Velasquez took the ancient Egyptology seriously, this most serious of classically trained actors preferred a lazier approach. "The language was impossible for me. You wouldn't believe the number of times I screwed up Imhotep's dialogue. Or they would suddenly ask me to add something on the fly and God knows what I'd say." Vosloo says that The Mummy Returns "is not necessarily the kind of movie I'd see on my own, but it's still a great crowd pleaser, and this is character is still wonderful to play. Not to mention working with that CGI stuff which is pretty cool." Vosloo is a great fan of classic films, and says his major ambition is "to redo Peckinpah's Bring me the Head of Alfredo Garcia."

Born into a theatrical family, Arnold Vosloo took to the stage as a classically trained actor in his homeland of South Africa. After ten years of taking part in anti-apartheid theatre, Vosloo was invited to appear in his first American theatrical production in Chicago in the early '90s. Director Ridley Scott noted his imposing stage presence and cast Vosloo in the better of the two Columbus epics, 1492, playing sidekick to Michael Wincott's heavy. As much as he enjoyed the experience, Vosloo felt his 18-month sabbatical in America was over and headed for New York before winding his way back to South Africa. "I called my folks and said I'm coming home," he recalled. "Then Al Pacino's people called and asked me to come and read for Salome, the Oscar Wilde play. I was certain they were going to want a big name actor to take the role opposite Pacino and Sheryl Lee from Twin Peaks, who was great. But I was there in New York, and I said 'What the heck? I'm flying out in two days; I'll go in.' So I went in, and I was so filled with fear I gave a good reading and they hired me!"

The New York theatre crowd turned out in droves to see Pacino, who had not set foot on Broadway since American Buffalo eight years earlier. Once again, Vosloo made a big impression, which resulted in his second cinematic role - another bad guy, this time for acclaimed Hong Kong action director John Woo, who was making his American theatrical debut with Hard Target - produced by Jim Jacks at Alphaville Productions, who would later produce The Mummy. Vosloo, who lives in Santa Monica with his oversized dog, is having a ball. "I can make one or two of these big films a year and then, in an ideal world," As for being bald for other villainous roles. "Hey, it worked for Yul Brynner, right?" He has a point.