The Mummy is a 1999 American action-adventure film written and directed by Stephen Sommers and starring Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah, and Arnold Vosloo. A loose remake of the 1932 film The Mummy, Sommers' The Mummy follows the adventurer and treasure hunter Rick O'Connell (Fraser) as he travels to Hamunaptra, the City of the Dead, with librarian Evelyn Carnahan (Weisz) and her older brother Jonathan (Hannah), where they accidentally awaken Imhotep (Vosloo), a cursed high priest with supernatural powers. Development took years, with multiple screenplays and directors attached. Sommers successfully pitched his version of a more adventurous and romantic take on the source material.