Tom Cruise's 'The Mummy' director calls film his biggest failure; 'regret million things'

Superstar Tom Cruise's 2017 action-adventure film The Mummy minted  $410 million worldwide, however, still resulted in losses amounting to nearly $95 million for the Universal Studios. The film's director Alex Kurtzman looked back at the project, calling it the 'biggest failure' of his life on both personal and professional fronts. 

Talking about it on The Playlist's Bingeworthy podcast (via PEOPLE), Kurtzman spoke about the reboot, stating that he has learnt a lot from his 'failures'. "I tend to subscribe to the point of view that you learn nothing from your successes, and you learn everything from your failures," he mentioned. 

Tom Cruise's The Mummy director calls the film his 'biggest failure'

He iterated that while there are about a 'million things' he hates about the film, it has also given him many gifts which are 'inexpressibly beautiful'. He recalled how young and amateur he was in the business of directing at that time, stating he has come a long way since. 

"I didn't become a director until I made that movie, and it wasn't because it was well directed — it was because it wasn't," he said. The filmmaker mentioned how he would have missed out on so many learnings had he not undergone that experience. He said he hadn't undertaken such a large-scale project before The Mummy, calling the production process 'brutal'. 

"I am very grateful to have been given the opportunity to make those mistakes because it rebuilt me into a tougher person, and it also rebuilt me into a clearer filmmaker," he added. As for now, the filmmaker says he doesn't maintain silence if he doesn't feel things are going right, and he won't proceed with it. "And you can't get to that place of gratitude until you've had that kind of experience," he concluded. 

More about Tom Cruise's The Mummy 

 Coming as a reboot of The Mummy franchise, the film starred Cruise as U.S. Army Sergeant Nick Morton, who accidentally stumbles upon the ancient tomb of an entrapped Egyptian princess. The film also starred Sofia Boutella,  Annabelle Wallis, Jake Johnson, Courtney B. Vance and Russell Crowe in pivotal roles. The film had a poor run at the box office, while also receiving negative reviews from critics. 

(IMAGE: INSTAGRAM/ @JILLIANCOSTA)