Brendan Fraser, his rise, fall and return to the big screen – Centro Noticias Tamaulipas

Many wonder: What happened to Brendan Fraser? He is an icon of popular culture who was once one of the actors most recognized of hollywood; However, he suffered a fall in his career and recently returned to the movies to be applauded on social networks and set as an example of self-improvement.

It is about the star of the 90s, who became famous due to movies like The Mummy and George of the Jungle; but, inexplicably, apparently, she disappeared from the spotlight and soon lost the fame she had earned.

How was the rise of Brendan Fraser?

Brendan Fraser turned heads when he was in the movie Private school in 1992, accompanied by unknown young actors Matt Damon, Chris O’Donnell and Ben Affleck.

In fact, this film was the one that preceded the one that truly launched him to fame in the United States: the california man.

In this film, Brendan Fraser played a cavemanIt appears in the modern world when the block of ice in which it has survived for thousands of years melts.

There he made clear his incredible comic essence and also certain action skills, qualities that would serve him for the films with which he would conquer international audiences, between tropical jungles and Egyptian tombs. Especially this last one: The Mummyin addition to being the saga that lasted the longest for Fraser, one of the best movies of the 90s. And one of the best adventure movies of all time.

Curiously, during his childhood he lived in different countries, including Switzerland, the Netherlands and Canada, due to the frequent transfers his family made.

In 1994, he starred in two comedies: With Honorsalong with Joe Pesci, Airheads, with Steve Buscemi and Adam Sandler and The Scouts opposite Albert Brooks, directed by Michael Ritchie.

After brief appearances or cameos in some film productions, in 1997 it was released George of the Jungle, directed by Audrey Wells. The film grossed $174 million worldwide, cementing him as a star.

And two years after this success, the adventure film was released The Mummy, co-starring Rachel Weisz and directed by Stephen Sommers, in which he plays Legionnaire Rick O’Connell. The film grossed $416 million internationally.

In full swing, and a year later, he participated with Elizabeth Hurley in the comedy To the devil with the devilremake of bedazzled1967 British film.

In this movie, Brendan Fraser plays an unsuccessful man who sells his soul to the devil.

Facing overwhelming success, in the year 2000, Fraser lent his voice in the animated film Sinbad: Beyond the Veil of Mists and in 2001 he reprized the role of Rick O’Connell in the second part of The Mummy, the mummy returns. The film, which grossed $433 million globally, became the highest-grossing production of his filmography.

Also in 2002 it premiered Looney Tunes: Back in Action, project that combines animation and real image. In 2004 she participated in the choral drama crash in which he played the Los Angeles district attorney and won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Cast, an award he shared with Matt Dillon, Don Cheadle, Sandra Bullock and Ryan Phillippe, among others.

crash was the winner of Oscar for best filmfor the best editing and for the best original script.

In 2007, Fraser participated in the drama The Air I Breathe, along with Kevin Bacon, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Andy Garcia. The film did not receive good reviews.

In 2008 he starred in two productions: Journey to the Center of the Earthin which he also took part as a producer, and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, alongside Jet Li and Maria Bello filling in for Rachel Weisz as Eve Carnahan. The film was not well received by the specialized press, but it grossed $401 million worldwide.

What happened to Brendan Fraser?

It was from this point that more and more Brendan Fraser began to disappear from the public scene by appearing in independent, low-budget or almost unknown films.

In fact, his last major role was in 2010, when he starred with Harrison Ford in the medical drama Extraordinary Measuresbut it did not receive the support of the public and critics.

It should be noted that Brendan Fraser suffered from a bad combination of unpredictable elements.

The first, the surgeries. Fraser, as Tom Cruise, was an actor looking to do his own action scenes. He pushed his body to the limit during movies of The Mummy. The consequence? A spinal injury, broken ribs, trauma to the knees and even problems speaking, since his vocal cords were seriously affected.

One of those black Hollywood legends tells that he even faked a hanging and had to be revived in the middle of the filming set because he was about to suffocate. After all this, he underwent several surgeries to alleviate the pain. The big risk scenes were left behind.

The second piece that led Fraser to psychological decline has to do with his ex-wife, Afton Smith, whom he met in 1993 at a party at Winona Ryder’s house and with whom he would collaborate on the film. George of the Jungle. They fell madly in love, got married and had three children.

However, after nine years of intense marriage, they divorced in bad manners and she managed to get a judge to force Fraser to pay her a million-dollar maintenance that amounted to more than 70 thousand dollars a month that later had to be reduced to almost half because of the expense that Fraser invested in treatments to alleviate the consequences of his “filming injuries”. This financial outlay did nothing to help the financial and psychological stability of the former star of the film industry.

Brendan Fraser and the sexual abuse at the hands of Philip Berk

But the strongest thing Brendan Fraser has lived through was a sexual abusewhich he confessed to GQ magazine.

According to Fraser, it was in 2003 when the journalist, Philip Berk, former president of the Foreign Press Association from Hollywood sexually abused him.
In this sense, the actor described how during a gala the journalist put one of his arms around him, grabbed his buttocks and tried to touch his anus with his finger.

Faced with the blockade and shame, he did not even know how to act. “I felt nauseated. I thought she was going to cry.”

Fraser revealed who fled, but did not dare to denounce the journalist. Only when in 2018 it burst into motion #MeToo He had the courage to speak publicly and demand an explanation from Berk, who denied Fraser’s version and said that it had been a bad joke to annoy the artist.

This accumulation of bad experiences gradually undermined Brendan Fraser’s morale, who ended up plunged into depression. “I was miserable,” he explained to GQ.

What happened to Philip Berk?

Philip Berk, who in 2022 turned 89 years old, is currently identified as a correspondent for FilmInk from Australia andgalaxy from Malaysia. He was president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for eight annual terms, the last being from 2010-2011.

However, in April 2021, after 44 years as a member of the association that organizes and delivers the Golden Globeswas expelled for branding the Black Lives Matter movement as “a racist hate group.”

Berk expressed regret via email, saying he only sent it to share for one point. “I only wanted to illustrate the hypocrisy that surrounds us. I forwarded it as an information point. He had no hidden agenda. Now I regret sending it,” published The Hollywood Reporter.

On the other hand, the incident with Brendan Fraser has caused the actor’s refusal to go to the Golden Globes. “I will not participate. I have more history with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association than I have respect for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. And my mother did not raise a hypocrite. You can call me a lot of things, but not that,” the convinced actor assured the media.

Brendan Fraser: Return

Despite the bad experiences, Brendan Fraser has not given up. Since his contribution to The Affair he has turned to television series. He also played Fletcher Chace in the series Trust; to Nathan Fowler in Condor and currently has roles in professionals and in the hit sci-fi comedy doom patrolwhich is still active.

In addition, one of the great recent film opportunities may arrive in 2021 at the hands of Steven Soderbergh, legendary director of Traffic, Contagion and Erin Brokovich. The filmmaker prepares No Sudden Movethe story of a group of criminals who are brought together under strange circumstances and must solve a mystery.

Likewise, for this 2023 the film by Darren Aronofsky will be released, The Whalea film with which he recently obtained the nomination for best actor in a motion picture-drama at the Golden Globes 2023.

For this reason, the return of the 54-year-old actor has been very important in the world of cinema and he himself has spoken about the lesson of never giving up.

In this film, Brendan Fraser plays a man weighing more than 200 kg who lies in a bathtub binge eating, clearly positioning him for the Oscar in 2023 after his success at the Venice Film Festival.

For another, Killers of the Flower Moon of Martin Scorsesewill share a cast with Robert De Niro, Leonardo DiCaprio and Jesse Plemons in a crime thriller with Western touches and the Scorsesian stamp.

“The Internet supports you a lot. There are people out there who love you, and we want the best for you and we can’t wait to see what you do, ”said one of his fans, which moved the actor after his rise, fall and comeback.