In 2018, in a long interview with GQ magazine, Brendan Fraser spoke frankly for the first time about his complete disappearance in Hollywood. And now, in 2022, four years later of that bombshell interview, Brendan Fraser is a favorite in the 2023 Oscar season.

Over the past few years, Brendan Fraser has been attending fan meetings. Maybe a star with a different level of vanity or self-importance wouldn’t talk about this fact because it might be considered embarrassing or humbling, but Fraser is not that star. He appeared at those places, shook hands, signed autographs, talked about the past…

Brendan Fraser started doing this and in his latest chat with GQ magazine for its Men of the Year issue, he told the GQ reporter the reason he appears in such places is “to get over the government”. me”.

The once world-famous star said that at first he didn’t want to do it: “I thought, that’s not what I would do, or, I don’t want to put myself in a vulnerable position. in front of everyone”. But then, Brendan went to Comic Con in London. That was in 2019.

Brendan admitted that he was partly paid for those trips; another part is that after a difficult decade, he suddenly felt like going back there.

“I want to meet everyone” – Fraser said.

Even now, in a year where Brendan Fraser has, quite coincidentally, with his performance in Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale, become a strong 2023 Oscar contender – a performance reminder audience about how great Fraser used to be, and how great he was once thought to be.

Despite his brilliant return, Brendan still appears at conventions. And what he found was this: People would line up to see him. Some of these people will ask him about The Mummy, the series in which Brendan Fraser starred from 1999 to 2008 — and whether he would consider making another one?

Some of those same people wanted to discuss confusing plot points from Doom Patrol, the superhero TV series Fraser made for HBO Max. Others came because they saw something in Fraser—an actor who was a familiar face in some of the biggest movies of the 1990s and early 2000s, star of School Ties and Encino Man and Looney Tunes: Back in Action – has some indescribable connection to their youth.

“In their words” – Brendan told a reporter from GQ magazine – “They say I’m their childhood”.

And in some cases, Brendan Fraser has learned to recognize a more specific type of connection.

“I can recognize someone in the room who I know has something to say, something to share, who has had something happen to them… someone has hurt them,” Brendan said.

The Egyptian Mummy star said many people came up to him and revealed their secrets in what Fraser called a “glorious moment of honesty”. And what he did was hold that person’s hand.

“Could really use some help” – Brendan said – “I really want them to know if they admire or appreciate me for any particular reason, then if that happens to me then It can happen to anyone. And we’re all just… we’re all just human.”

Perhaps, like the vulnerable men and women at fan meetings, you’ll know what Brendan Fraser is referring to here. But if you don’t have an idea, don’t follow the life and career of this 90s-2000s star closely… In short, the story is this: A few years ago, in an interview, Brendan said tell a journalist a series of stories that he has never told in public before. Brendan talks about the reasons why he stepped back from Hollywood, or that caused Hollywood to back away from him – he’s still not sure which.

And, most of all, in that interview, Brendan shared an astonishing allegation, that a once powerful man in the American entertainment industry named Philip Berk, former President and member of the The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which organizes the Golden Globes, groped and sexually assaulted him during a 2003 luncheon at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

The experience, Brendan Fraser said at the time, “made me retreat”. It was like “something was taken away from me,” he said.

This incident has colored Brendan’s life ever since, in ways that sometimes make him feel small and sometimes really, really big…

It’s an unlikely phenomenon: one of those articles that goes viral in a way that defies expectation, or even explanation, and then continues to circulate widely for years afterward.

According to the GQ reporter who conducted the interview with Brendan in 2018 and also conducted the new interview in 2022, it would be strange to talk to this star without saying, at least one a little bit, about the last time the two of them met.

After the story broke, Brendan said he heard from college friends whom he had never worked with or seen again in his 30-year career and one day he realized received an email informing him that he was trending on Twitter.

“I was like, Oh, my God. Oh, shit, what do I do now?” – Brendan said – “And those were the people who said they liked me. And they referenced that piece. I was like, Is this good, is this a problem ? I don’t know what I did to get this?”.

The experience he had after the 2018 article was mostly positive, Brendan said, but it was also complicated. He admitted something very personal in a very public way, and the revelations went viral.

“I think the feeling I have is, this is a hard feeling to describe and not vulgar, but it’s like: I saw you naked. It’s like people know what you look like, they know the story about you”.

However, Brendan insists that telling his story in full was “liberating and a weight lifted”.

In the new movie The Whale, Brendan Fraser plays a 272kg man named Charlie who is about to die and longs to connect with his daughter before he dies. Speaking about his comeback role, Brendan Fraser is wary of exaggerating the similarities between him and Charlie, but there are ways in which he sees himself in the role. One of them is the simple truth of Charlie’s sincerity.

After the film was released to the public, Brendan Fraser was almost universally praised for the performance he performed in the film. And in turn, that praise began to build into the story Hollywood loves: The Comeback .

Here is a leading man who was beloved and then seemingly disappeared and now, after years in the wilderness, or on the fringes of other people’s movies, is back at the center of things , where he belongs.

Injured…

Buried…

Chipped…

But still here…

Brendan Fraser has a few reactions to this story.

“I like people to feel like they’re getting to know me again” – says Brendan Fraser – “Because we grow up a little bit together”.

The star of “The Egyptian Mummy” said that at big fan meetings, people often say, “Welcome back. It’s good to have you back. I’m happy to see you again.” Older brother”.

“And I said thank you. And some of them even said: We miss you. Where have you been? ” – Brendan recalls – “You know, it was almost like giving I knew I had disappointed them. And the first thing out of my mouth was: I’ve never been this far .

In September, at the Venice Film Festival, where The Whale had its world premiere, Brendan Fraser received a standing ovation at the festival for his performance in the film. A clip recording the moment Fraser shed tears quickly went viral.

“Cry is a word that means you have hurt yourself or some harm has been done…”.

But this is Brendan’s life now: the same, but different.

“I’ve never looked under that microscope before” – Brendan Fraser on what it felt like to receive the ovation in Venice – “It… it was powerful stuff”.

Brenda said he was proud of the movies he had made in the past and when he couldn’t make them anymore, Hollywood didn’t offer anything in return. Then Brendan got older, his appearance changed along with his penchant for rushing into things; work is drying up… Perhaps this is why he is less happy talking about his so-called comeback than those who are supporting him now. Brendan says he knows how fragile and random careers and lives can be. But essentially any of this was and remains beyond his control.

But Fraser also knows he’s capable of more, even if no one gave him the chance, until recently, to show it. Charlie, says Fraser, “was the hardest role I’ve ever played”.

“I’ve been beaten to a pulp and fallen down, set on fire and thrown against walls, and that’s okay. I liked it. I had fun. But Charlie is probably the most heroic character I’ve ever seen. ever played”.

One interesting thing about Brendan Fraser’s performance and emerging status as an Oscar favorite for his role in The Whale is that at film festivals today, they started giving him compliments. The first is in Toronto. There was a gala and at the gala they showed a montage of all of Brendan Fraser’s screen work before giving him the award. He watches all these different versions of himself flash across the screen.

“Every time I see this guy on screen with his eyes wide open and his hair different,” Fraser said, “And I also think for a moment that I hope they haven’t figured me out yet. And It’s great to see those videos. It makes me feel… a strong feeling of affirmation.”

But the feeling is also complicated. There were many years of Fraser’s career that were not accounted for. In Toronto, Fraser sees a shirtless golden boy; after that he saw nothing more. There is a large part of his life missing from the screen.

Was Brendan wrong? Has something important been taken from you? These are not the right questions, Fraser told me. The question is: “How do you account for something that might happen?”

Brendan and the GQ reporter then talked about the last time the two met and the story that came from that meeting. Brendan wanted to know if there was any theory as to why people would want to read a story called “What Ever Happened to Brendan Fraser?”.

He added that some of the things he and the GQ reporter discussed then are a bit difficult to talk about, even today.

“I admit that I feel a little heart pounding discussing this right now, but that’s okay, because my hope is that I can be recognized at this point in my life and career for his professional efforts, rather than a kid’s joke that comes back as a norm in culture, sports… gets wiped out and then comes back.

After the article containing Fraser’s allegations against Berk and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association was published, the organization issued a statement saying, in part, “The HFPA stands firmly against this practice.” sexual harassment and the type of behavior described in this article”. The HFPA promised an investigation and Fraser was interviewed by an independent investigator. Ultimately, the organization came back to him and proposed a joint statement, which, according to Fraser, would say: “Despite the conclusion that Mr. Berk touched Mr. Fraser inappropriately, by Evidence suggests that it was meant as a joke and not as a sexual advance. Berk remains a voting member of the HFPA.

At that time, Brendan Fraser refused to sign the joint press release. And despite Fraser’s very public accusations about a member of the HFPA, the organization continues to operate as before.

“I knew they were going to close ranks,” said Fraser. “I knew they were going to kick the can down the road. I knew they were going to get ahead of the story. I knew that I definitely had no future with the system That’s as it is now”.

Then, in 2021, a Los Angeles Times investigation revealed that the HFPA, which is notoriously secretive, has no Black members; The newspaper’s report also revealed numerous allegations of ethical and financial conflicts among members of the organization. In response, many Hollywood studios and advertising agencies announced they would no longer work with the HFPA. Berk was publicly expelled from the organization in April 2021, after he shared an article criticizing Black Lives Matter as a “racist hate movement” in an email to members. . Ultimately, NBC, the HFPA’s broadcast partner, refused to broadcast the 2022 Golden Globes. (The HFPA later held an awards show with no talent in attendance).

After receiving so much criticism from artists and rejection from industry insiders, the HFPA then implemented many reforms including expanding membership and new rules against accepting gifts. And last September, after a year of being off the air, NBC said the 2023 Golden Globes would be broadcast live in January 2023, bringing the show back to the awards schedule in its usual position before the Oscars. every year – after all the scandals that this Association has been involved in over the past 2 years.

Given these issues, in any other year, at any other time, all of this wouldn’t necessarily have much to do with Brendan Fraser. Because this was a chapter of his life that he thought he had dealt with and moved on from. But this is a comeback season for Brendan Fraser and so Brendan’s past has come back to him a lot, for one reason or another, and so maybe all of this will come back too. Return is inevitable.

The Whale is a leading candidate for an Oscar. Not only is Brendan Fraser favored to be nominated in the Best Actor category, he is currently favored to win. In a “normal” awards season, that means Fraser would most likely be nominated at the Golden Globes. And when a GQ reporter asked him if he would go if invited, Fraser said: “I have more history with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association than I have respect for it. No, I won’t go.” “.

“It’s because of the history I have with them” – Brendan continued – “And my mother didn’t raise a hypocrite”.

Brendan said he wasn’t really excited about reliving any of it but would do what he thought was right.

At the end of the conversation with GQ reporter, Brendan Fraser said that everything will be fine.