Updated: Tom Cruise joins Universal's Classic Monsters-Verse for The Mummy

UPDATE: Both Tom Cruise's camp and Universal have vehemently denied that there is no deal in the works for the actor to star in THE MUMMY, so put this one in your "Wait and see" column for the time being.

And you were skeptical about what Universal is planning to do in order to get their Classic Monsters shared universe off the ground...? Well, the studio just locked up one of the biggest movie stars in the world to help kickstart their efforts.

Tom Cruise has agreed to star in THE MUMMY, although the nature of his role is still being kept under the veil of secrecy. The film is set in present-day, but there is still some wonder what story it is they're going to tell, be it one of the leaked concepts that have surfaced in recent months or something new entirely that Jon Spaights has penned for the script. With Cruise now signed, sealed and delivered, you can be sure he'll be an active part of the property's development, so all bets are off moving forward as to what THE MUMMY shapes up to be.

If you remember, Cruise was once attached to a reboot of VAN HELSING, so his affinity for classic monster tales is rather clear. That film may have never come to fruition, but Universal almost feels better off as a result. After all, there are far worse decisions to make than to use one of the more bankable talents in the industry to attract eyes to the first film of a then-larger universe. That's how you hook 'em, and Universal seems to be understand that right now, with word spreading that they are also chasing Angelina Jolie for BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN.

According to Justin Kroll who broke the story, Cruise had an opening in his schedule between JACK REACHER 2 and MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 6 after Doug Liman agreed to do GAMBIT. That put LUNA PARK on hold for a little bit, and THE MUMMY fit right in. OVERLOOK HOTEL, the prequel to THE SHINING, also was trying to lure Cruise, but THE MUMMY provided too powerful a chance for Cruise to get involved with something he's a big fan of itself. And that's how we got here.

Interview: Arnold Vosloo

Life tends to get turned upside down in movies. Many respected British theatre actors cheerfully take their pay cheques and turn out for all kinds of Hollywood hokum, a far cry from their dusty theatrical roots.

And much the same is true of Arnold Vosloo, the South African born anti-hero of "The Mummy Returns". Back home he was a hard working theatre actor with a string of prestigious credits to his name, but now thanks to his performance as the evil Imhotep in "The Mummy" and this latest blockbusting sequel, he is known for something quite different.

"Oh it’s a relief to do movies," Vosloo smiles, "especially ones like this because you get to be like a little kid again and run around and play in this great adventure. I had a wonderful time."

Brought back to life once more, Imhotep not only has to battle his old foe Rick O’Connell (Brendan Fraser) but an even older one in the form of the mighty Scorpion King. However audiences get a chance to see Imhotep’s softer side, as we realise the depth of his love for Anck-Su-Namun.

"I’m so thankful that all that stuff made it to the screen," the actor nods, "because a lot of the time studio executives say that there’s no time, or ask why we should feel sympathy for this bad guy".

"I joke that I’m the romantic lead in the movie, I just happened to pick the wrong girl. Imhotep is kind of the tragic villain, I guess, and a lot of people have come up to me and said I was hating you, but then I reach a point when I was feeling sorry for you too. It's those different facets that help explain why this film is such a success".

Manipulation of the tyrothricin production profile of Bacillus aneurinolyticus

• A group of non-ribosomally produced antimicrobial peptides, the tyrocidines from the tyrothricin complex, have potential as antimicrobial agents in both medicine and industry. Previous work by our group illustrated that the more polar tyrocidines rich in Trp residues in their structure were more active toward Gram-positive bacteria, while the more non-polar tyrocidines rich in Phe residues had greater activity toward Plasmodium falciparum, one of the major causative pathogens of malaria in humans. Our group also found that the tyrocidines have pronounced antifungal activity, dictated by the primary sequence of the tyrocidine. By simply manipulating the Phe or Trp concentration in the culture medium of the tyrothricin producer, Bacillus aneurinolyticus ATCC 10068, we were able to modulate the production of subsets of tyrocidines, thereby tailoring the tyrothricin complex to target specific pathogens. We optimized the tailored tyrothricin production using a novel, small-scale, high-throughput deep 96-well plate culturing method followed by analyses of the peptide mixtures using ultra-performance liquid chromatography linked to mass spectrometry. We were able to gradually shift the production profile of the tyrocidines and analogues, as well as the gramicidins between two extremes in terms of peptide subsets and peptide hydrophobicity. This study demonstrated that tyrothricin peptide subsets with targeted activity can be efficiently produced by simple manipulation of the aromatic amino acid profile of the culture medium.

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• Supplementary material is available with the online version of this paper.
• Edited by: J. Stülke

• Abbreviations:
  GS	gramicidin S
  LC	liquid chromatography
  Phc	phenycidine
  Tpc	tryptocidine
  Trc	tyrocidine
  UPLC	ultra-performance liquid chromatography
  VGA	Val-gramicidin A

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© 2013 SGM | Published by the Society for General Microbiology

Accent makes Arnold Vosloo a perfect Hollywood 'villain'

Arnold Vosloo.
Image by: RUVAN BOSHOFF

South African-born actor Arnold Vosloo's homegrown accent has helped him flourish in Hollywood playing movie villains.

"He has the strong facial features and of course the accent... none of your top bad guys speak with a typical American accent," Regardt van den Bergh, a director who worked with Vosloo, told the the Sunday Times.

Van den Berg cast Vosloo in the 1983 film "Boetie Gaan Border Toe".

He said that despite his typecasting, Vosloo was actually a serious actor.

"I am sure he would love to land a role with a bit more flesh to showcase his talents."

Vosloo first made it big in "The Mummy" and its sequel. He is currently on screen in "GI Joe: Retaliation" which has earned more than R1 billion at the box office.

Arnold Vosloo a great villain

South African-born actor Arnold Vosloo's homegrown accent has helped him flourish in Hollywood playing movie villains, The Sunday Times reported.

"He has the strong facial features and of course the accent... none of your top bad guys speak with a typical American accent," Regardt van den Bergh, a director who worked with Vosloo, told the newspaper.

Van den Berg cast Vosloo in the 1983 film "Boetie Gaan Border Toe".

He said that despite his typecasting, Vosloo was actually a serious actor.

"I am sure he would love to land a role with a bit more flesh to showcase his talents."

Vosloo first made it big in "The Mummy" and its sequel. He is currently on screen in "GI Joe: Retaliation" which has earned more than R1 billion at the box office.

Lieutenant General Mkhwanazi slams claims that senior cops want Phiyega out

Former acting national police commissioner, Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi has denied allegations that he has been ‘discarded’ by the South African Police Service (Saps).

Mkhwanazi says he is happy in his current role as a Divisional Commissioner for Facilities Management.

Mkhwanazi is challenging the reports by local media which reference him among a number of senior police officials who expressed dissatisfaction with the leadership of National Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega.

I am satisfied with any position that improves me as a manager. I do not feel that I was demoted. I am happy, that is why I am at work. If i wasn't, I would've resigned. But, it doesn't mean I am always going to be happy with whatever decision management takes. We cannot always agree on things.

— Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi , SAPS

Reports also claimed that Mkhwanazi was 'discarded' from Saps, suggesting that he was unemployed without verifying the facts from him.

For more on this story, visit the EWN website.

Listen to the full conversation from The John Robbie Show:

Arnold Vosloo death reports are a hoax

John received an article reporting that critically-acclaimed South African-born actor, Arnold Vosloo died in an accident. His sister however later called into the show to confirm that this is a hoax. Arnold is alive and well in the US.

Arnold is best known for his roles as Imhotep in the movie The Mummy and _The Mummy Returns, _as well as Pik van Cleef in Hard Target, Dr. Peyton Westlake/Darkman in Darkman II and Darkman III, among others.

Listen to the full conversation below: