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He seemed to be everywhere in the 1990s – the funny guy in George of the Jungle, the sweet soul who danced with the devil in Bedazzled, the action star in The Mummy films. Then he was gone.
Every so often, fans would wonder what had happened to Brendan Fraser but he remained reclusive.
But Brendan is lurking in the shadows no longer. His latest film, The Whale, has catapulted firmly him back into the spotlight, earning him Tinseltown's highest accolade: a best actor Oscar.
He won the coveted gong for his role as Charlie, a severely obese English teacher trying to reconnect with his teenage daughter, and the recognition has meant everything to him.
“I started in this business 30 years ago and things didn’t come easy to me but there was a facility I didn’t appreciate at the time until it stopped," Brendan said choking back tears in his acceptance speech. I just want to say thank you for this acknowledgement.”
He thanked the cast, the director of the film, Darren Aronofsky, playwright Samuel D Hunter andhis manager JoAnne Colonna. He also paid tribute to his sons Holden (18), Leland (16) and Griffin (20), and his partner, Jeanne Moore.
Brendan (54) was gracious when acknowledging his fellow nominees: Austin Butler, Colin Farrell, Bill Nighy and Paul Mescal. “Gentlemen, you laid your whale-sized hearts bare, so we could see into your souls like no one else could do, and it is my honour to be named alongside you in this category.”
His role in The Whale has been a triumph. Brendan also earned Toronto International Film Festival’s Tribute Award and he won best actor at the Screen Actors Guild and Critics’ Choice awards, and best actor nominations at the British Academy Film Awards (Baftas) and Golden Globes.
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READ MORE| Brendan Fraser is barely recognisable as he packs on the kilos for a new role
For his role as Charlie, he had to gain weight for the part but most of the bulk came from a prosthetic suit that weighed up to 136kg.
Being that heavy was an emotional experience and it takes courage to live your life when you’re that large, he says.
“You need to be an incredibly strong individual to be that man.” “It gave me an appreciation for those whose bodies are similar. I learned that you need to be an incredibly strong person, physically and mentally, to inhabit that being,” the actor said at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Brendan’s body has taken a beating over the year. “By the time I did the third Mummy picture in China I was put together with tape and ice,” he says, recounting the injuries he sustained from his action movie stunts.
He had multiple back surgeries and a partial knee replacement, and at one point he needed to have his vocal cords repaired. In all, he was in and out of hospitals for the better part of seven years.
“I believe I probably was trying too hard, in a way that was destructive,” Brendan says. It was around this time that he and his wife and mother of his three children, actress Afton Smith, divorced.
Brendan went through a dark phase and depression consumed his life. He was also blacklisted in Tinseltown after being sexually harassed, he says. The assault was the reason he didn't attend the Golden Globes.
In 2018, the actor opened up to GQ about the alleged incident. It took place at a 2003 lunch hosted by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the organisation that hosts the Golden Globes. Philip Berk, a former president of the association, reached out to shake Brendan’s hand, then allegedly groped his buttocks. Brendan was overcome with panic and fear. “I felt ill. I felt like a little kid. I felt like there was a ball in my throat. I thought I was going to cry.”
Philip denied the accusation and the incident made Brendan retreat, he says
He gradually started to work again but taking small parts; nothing in the league of the leading roles he once enjoyed. He played billionaire J Paul Getty’s security chief in the mini-series Trust, a prison guard in The Affair, a mysterious security contractor in Condor and a race car driver who becomes a cyborg superhero in Doom Patrol.
The Whale director Darren Aronofsky was looking for an actor “to reintroduce”, Brendan says. “And I wanted to be reintroduced.”
Darren, who’s known for dark and edgy offerings like Black Swan, Mother! and Requiem for a Dream, says he considered various actors who weren’t currently in the spotlight to play Charlie, but none “made sense or clicked” until he thought of Brendan.
Although Brendan has played serious parts, as he did in Gods and Monsters, opposite Ian McKellen, Charlie was different to any character he’d played in the past. He had to dig deep for the role but relished every minute.
“If there’s no risk, then why bother?” he asks. “I want to learn from the people I’m working with at this point in my career. I’ve had such variety, a lot of high highs and low lows. So, what I’m keen for in the second half of my time doing this is to feel like I’m contributing to the craft and I’m learning from it. “This is a prime opportunity. I wanted to disappear into it. My hope was that I would become unrecognisable. I wanted to know what I was capable of.”
His makeup artist girlfriend, Jeanne Moore, gushed about him at the Academy Awards. She took to Instagram and posted: “So proud of my Oscar-winning Man!!! What an incredible journey it has been!!! I am so proud!”
Jeanne wore a blue gown by designer Christian Siriano and remained firmly at the side of the Oscar-winner all night. This was not the first time she's supported him. While they have kept their relationship very private, their first public appearance together was at the Venice Film Festival in September 2022 where Brendan and the team behind his latest film received a six-minute standing ovation after the screening of The Whale.
Brendan’s comeback is being called “the Brenaissance” and fans are thrilled that he’s back. His upcoming movies include Martin Scorsese’s true-life drama Killers of the Flower Moon, opposite Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, and the comedy Brothers, with Josh Brolin and Peter Dinklage. “Everyone has missed him,” says film historian Chris Yogerst.
“It’s almost like the public was just waiting for this moment. Seeing him back on the screen – it was like an old friend was back.”
Sources: NPR, Independent.uk, Today.com, People.com, GQ, News.com, The Guardian, The Star, Instagram, US Weekly, The Guardian
