What makes a perennial box-office draw turn into a cult-adored hero-in-hiding instead?
The Mummy
A-Lister of yesteryear Brendan Fraser may be considerably removed from the above-marquee heyday of his star power that saw him move the millennial generation. Now, the industry veteran is currently in the midst of formulating an Oscar-bound second act – and a much-welcomed one, at that.
Crash. Monkeybone. The Quiet American
Last year, Fraser, 54, demonstrated his character actor chops most certainly translate to the big screen (albeit, in Steven Soderbergh’s No Sudden Move for HBO Max). This performance teased fans with just a glimpse of what would be in store for the upcoming stops along his comeback tour.
The Whale
After its premiere at the Venice Film Festival on Sunday, September 4, The Whale was hailed as an early Academy Award favorite upon arrival by the critical consensus. Fraser’s return to leading man territory, especially, has seen him singled out as a Best Actor frontrunner.
“In The Whale, directed by Darren Aronofsky (who shepherded Mickey Rourke’s return in The Wrestler), Brendan Fraser is a better actor – slyer, subtler, more haunting – than he has ever been,” Variety wrote in its review. While Rourke roided up to play a faded performer seeking redemption through reuniting with his estranged daughter (Evan Rachel Wood), Fraser’s Aronofsky-helmed re-emergence required him to don a prosthetic suit ballooning him up to 600 pounds.
Reportedly taking place in a single room, The Whale depicts Fraser as the absolute inverse of his chiseled late 90s, early 2000s disposition: an obese, recluse English teacher who binge-ate to (1) mourn his deceased gay lover, and (2) grapple with the shame he feels for having left his wife (Samantha Morton) and teenage daughter (Sadie Sink) for him years earlier.
“Man this makes me so happy to see this beautiful ovation for Brendan,” Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson tweeted in response to the video circulation of Fraser crying while receiving a 6-minute standing ovation on Sunday. “He supported me coming into his Mummy Returns franchise for my first ever role, which kicked off my Hollywood career. Rooting for all your success brother.”
Extraordinary Measures. Gods and Monsters. Dudley Do-Right
Martin Scorsese tabbed Fraser to play a key supporting role in his upcoming Killers of the Flower Moon for Apple TV+, which will also star Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert DeNiro and Jesse Plemons. Not too shabby for someone who hasn’t regularly commanded the bulk of a movie poster since the East Coast Blackout of 2003–a time frame where everything changed for the actor, Fraser believes.
As part of a profile conducted by GQ in 2018, Fraser revealed he was groped at a summer 2003-held Hollywood Foreign Press Association luncheon by the organization’s then-president, Philip Berk. Years of self-blame and self-destruction saw Fraser’s already failing marriage spiral into acrimonious divorce soon after that. The trauma also brought upon a body deterioration that contributed to producers starting to send “can’t miss” scripts and movie offers elsewhere.
Airheads. School Ties. The Air I Breathe
“I think the big thing about him [Fraser] is the fact that he played such iconic roles, and one day you just never saw him again,” Paul Bisono, 27, of Hauppauge, noted. “I used to love watching Monkeybone. When you look into his backstory, and what he’s been through, you really feel for him, because he’s not a bad guy [like others who abruptly leave the spotlight]. He was just dealt a bad hand, and I think that resonates with all millennials and younger generations as they enter adulthood.”
The #MeToo movement spawned the rightful fall of many careers rendered unsalvageable, legacies forever spoiled. But for every Hollywood horror story, there are many others that – thanks to the empowerment of those who now recognize a platform inaccessible to them prior – confirm exposure (of one’s perpetrators) no longer guarantees career derailment by default.
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. The Scout. Still Breathing
At the height of his fame, Fraser so feared he couldn’t hack it as Superman, a role which he was courting at the time, that he instead jumped at the chance to star as his own begrudged (former) stuntman alongside the box-office doomed Back in Action (2003) Looney Tunes instead. He did so out of the unconscious appeal of acting in a movie that called for him to punch himself in the face “because he deserved it,” Fraser told GQ.
Blast From the Past. Bedazzled. Looney Tunes: Back in Action
Looney Tunes: Back in Action holds up superior to both Space Jam entries, though, because its protagonist has true thespian charisma flowing through, and pouring out of him. To use a silly, half-animated adventure to work out his demons through artistic expression is something that oozes off the frame. It also runs retroactively bittersweet when you realize Fraser viewed his staying power as nonexistent.
After years of feeling and being beaten, Fraser is back in action. The Whale is just the beginning. Think about what Birdman did for Michael Keaton.
Encino Man. George of the Jungle. Journey to the Center of the Earth
On the Venice press conference panel to promote The Whale, Fraser noted his journey to “where I am now has been to explore as many characters as I can. This (role) presented the biggest challenge to me.”
All-encompassing goodness prevails, even when at your most dormant.
But dormant, Fraser is no longer.
The Mummy Returns
