The surprising actor who wished he could act as good as Brendan Fraser
Just like Matthew McConaughey and Zac Efron, actor Brendan Fraser has gone through a significant rebrand, emerging from industry obscurity to become one of the industry’s biggest talking points. Thanks to his recent casting in Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale, Fraser is now staring down the barrel of Oscar success after several years of absence from Hollywood and countless ill-fated projects before this.
Rising to popularity as a young man in such films as School Ties, starring Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, as well as Airheads, with Adam Sandler, Steve Buscemi and Chris Farley, in the 1990s, Fraser quickly became a leading man thanks to his good looks and evident potential. At the turn of the new millennium, he took roles in George of the Jungle and, most significantly, The Mummy, which would become the star’s most recognisable franchise.
Though, as cinema transitioned into a new millennium, Fraser struggled to keep up, and his star-power steadily diminished, with even The Mummy franchise unable to maintain the actor’s relevance. By the end of the 2010s, the actor was a shell of his former star persona, reduced to acting obscurity and menial supporting roles in random films from across the vast landscape of Hollywood.
It’s easy to forget, however, that Fraser is actually a solid acting talent, having impressed critics on several occasions throughout his career. Such was indeed the case back in 1998 when he appeared alongside the likes of Ian McKellen, Lolita Davidovich and Lynn Redgrave in the biographical drama Gods and Monsters, which followed the last days of the Frankenstein director James Whale.
Working closely alongside McKellen, the iconic British actor grew very fond of Fraser and even stated at one point during production that he wished he could one day be as good of an actor as the George of the Jungle star.
With a glittering filmography that includes collaborations with the likes of Bryan Singer, Peter Jackson, Richard Loncraine, Joan Craft and Bill Condon, it’s certainly surprising that McKellen would give Fraser such praise, but we’re sure that the American actor was delighted to be compared to such an icon of stage and screen.
Enjoying a serious contemporary resurgence, Fraser has already earned great acclaim for his performance in the Aronofsky movie The Whale, and he already has a collaboration with Martin Scorsese lined up for early 2023 with Killers of the Flower Moon. Focusing on the treatment of the Osage tribe in northeast Oklahoma, along the Kansas line in Pawhuska, the 27th feature film from the veteran director tells the tragic story of Mollie Burkart, one of the city’s wealthiest individuals.
Take a look at the trailer for Gods and Monsters, below, where Fraser shows off his acting chops beside McKellen.
