James Jacks

James Jacks was the producer on both Mummy films.  He was executive producer of the Coen brothers' cult film Raising Arizona before joining Universal Pictures as vice president of acquisitions.  During his five years there, Jacks was involved in making such films as Field of Dreams, Do The Right Thing, Darkman, Jungle Fever and American Me.  After rising to the position of senior vice president of production, Jacks left Universal in 1992 to form a partnership with Sean Daniel.  They founded Alphaville, one of America's most successful independent production companies.

Together, Jacks and Daniel have produced such pictures as Dazed and Confused, directed by Richard Linklater; Hard Target, directed by John Woo; Tombstone, starring Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer; Mallrats, directed by Kevin Smith; Michael, starring John Travolta; A Simple Plan, starring Billy Bob Thornton, and the first installment of The Mummy.

Their other projects included The Gift, starring Cate Blanchett and Hilary Swank and directed by Sam Raimi; Lucky Numbers, starring John Travolta and directed by Nora Ephron, and the Weitz brothers Down to Earth, starring Chris Rock.  Additional productions include Jerry Zucker's Rat Race; The Hunted, directed by William Friedkin and starring Tommy Lee Jones, Benicio Del Toro and Connie Nielsen; Plague Season, starring Kurt Russell and directed by Ron Shelton, and The Scorpion King, directed by Chuck Russell and starring "The Rock" Dwayne Johnson.

Jacks was born on December 29th, 1947, and he passed away on January 20th, 2014 of a heart attack at the age of 66.