Bello signs up for 'Mummy' role

HOLLYWOOD, May 14 (UPI) -- The third incarnation of "The Mummy" is getting a new leading lady with Maria Bello replacing Rachel Weisz in the Hollywood action-adventure film.

Bello will portray Evelyn Carnahan O'Connell, the role played by Weisz in the first two "Mummy" movies, Variety reported Monday. Weisz had opted not to take part in the third installment.

Bello's recent films include "A History of Violence" and "Flicka." She has two new films ready for release, "The Jane Austen Book Club" and "Butterfly on a Wheel."

Brendan Fraser, Luke Ford, Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh also are in the "Mummy" cast. Rob Cohen will direct the Universal project.

The storyline has the O'Connells and their full-grown son (Ford) traveling to the forbidden tombs of China and the Himalayas, where they encounter a shape-shifting mummy, a former Chinese emperor (Li) cursed by a wizard (Yeoh).

The first two "Mummies" filled Universal's coffers with more than $830 million.