For a period in the late ’90s and early ’00s it felt like Brendan Fraser was in place to be the biggest movie star in the world. He’d starred in massive blockbuster movies like The Mummy series, Bedazzled, Crash, ENcino Man and a personal favourite, Dudley Do-Right and seemed like a wholesome, well-intentioned bloke making his mark in Hollywood.
This made it all the more puzzling that he seemed to drop right off the Hollywood radar in the mid-2000s before seemingly disappearing into pop culture obscurity, a footnote in cinematic archives for the generations to come.
Like others before him, Fraser seemed to burst onto the scene and disappear almost as quickly, leaving movie-goers with fond memories and some genuinely good performances before moving on to the next stage of his life.
What we apparently didn’t know is that Fraser was allegedly sexually assaulted by a former president of the Hollywood Foriegn Press Association, leading Fraser into a wilderness of mental health problems and a lack of support becoming all-too-evident in the make-or-break world of the film industry. He would also undergo numerous surgeries following the gruelling toll he put his body through playing Rick O’Connell in 2001’s smash hit The Mummy.
“I was put together with tape and ice… I was building an exoskeleton for myself daily.”
GQ Magazine interview, 2018.
Further, Fraser suffered an acrimonyous and heartbreaking split with his wife Afton Smith in 2007, adding more to stress to a man slowly drowning under significant burdens. He was, at one point, paying roughly US$900,000 a year in alimoney payments which he petitioned to be lowered in 2013 when the reality of his inability to make big dollars in Hollywood took hold.
Fraser firmly believes, as do many others, that he has been blacklisted and struck off following the revelation that he was allegedely sexually assaulted by Philip Berk, president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) for a record eight terms, and it’s not hard to see why. He alledges the includent took place at the Beverly Hills Hotel back in 2003, so the timeline and subsequent snubbings from high-profile galas, awards and roles seems to fit.
With all that on the table, the idea that an ill-intentioned meme could spark internet communities and the renaissance of Brendan Fraser is truly heartwarming.
For those who don’t live their lives on the old information super-highway, allow me to enlighten you. Also, please don’t judge me, I’m a millenial in lockdown and susceptible to technology withdrawals at any moment, so it’s lifesaving stuff!
The meme, which intended to compare a picture of Fraser from the ’90s and one of him in 2021 and make light of his aging and weight gain suffered significant blowback and led to his story getting more mainstream attention than ever before.
Further, the internet appears to have adopted Brendan Fraser as the beacon of wholesome Hollywood man we’ve desperately sought for so long. No ego, no pretentions, just a good man doing a job and that’s the sort of example we can all get behind.
And now, the renaissance seems to have gathered momentum. Already the highlight of Doom Patrol, which is entering its third season, Fraser has now been cast by Martin Scorsese alongside Oscar winners Robert De Niro and Leonardo Di Caprio in the upcoming Killers of the Flower Moon and by Max Barbakow in Brothers, which also stars Glenn Close, Peter Dinklage and Josh Brolin.
The internet has an incredible power to make things or break things and while alleged abuser Philip Berk has been turfed out of the HFPA and is on the outer amongst industry insiders, the second coming of Brendan Fraser feels like the wholesome story we all needed in 2021.
What is your favourite Brendan Fraser movie? Let us know in the comments below.
Pioneer Australia 