Brendan Fraser remembers “scary” experience of shooting a nude scene
Recently acclaimed actor Brendan Fraser has remembered shooting a nude scene with Matt Damon in the film School Ties and has labelled his experience as “scary”. The Oscar-nominated actor, who is receiving critical acclaim for his role in The Whale, was discussing his breakout film with Howard Stern.
The scene in question sees Damon’s character tell the rest of their football team that Fraser’s character is Jewish, which prompts them to fight naked in the shower. When Stern asked whether the pair were completely in the buff, Fraser replied, “Absolutely”.
The film came out in 1992 and was directed by Robert Mandel. “It was scary; it’s scary to do that,” he said, discussing the scene. “And when you’re an actor, and you’re starting off, you’re ambitious and game for pretty much anything. They say jump; you say how high?”
However, Fraser also admitted that the scene wasn’t included just for a shock factor but as an essential thematic part of the film. He said: “But at the same time, I appreciated that this isn’t really for wow or a scintillating factor of going, ‘Hey, look at that. Naked people.’ The point of it was that when Damon’s character says what he says about David, he just reveals who he is.”
He added: “His anti-Semitism and his prejudice is stripped down naked, and it’s ugly. And the door is locked, and they fight over it like shaved apes that need to be pulled apart because they’ve run out of things to say to one another, and it just turns into an ugly knuckle-dusting fit. That’s the point of the scene, really.”
Fraser also opened up on his screen test alongside Damon, explaining: “I just remember thinking, ‘He’s already got the job, and this is my shot here,” he said. “OK, don’t mess this up; bring things down a size. I was used to being on stage at that point in my life and playing to the back row, and I knew that I needed to match pitch with Matt, so I felt like I was his wingman or something, and I think that’s why I got hired.”
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