Fraser the ultimate, adored Mummy’s boy
Loyal fans of the original rejoice as reboot flops
Critics are slamming the new Mummy — and that’s delightful news for one group of movie fans.
“Tom Cruise’s Mummy is a flop,” reads the top post on the Brendan Fraser-devoted subreddit. “Join me in boycotting this. Send a message to the studios! #BetterWithBrendan.”
Fraser’s fans are revelling in schadenfreude because the new version has got a paltry 20 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes. The enthusiasts are hoping that’ll teach Universal not to mess with Fraser’s bestknown role, as Rick O’Connell in The Mummy (1999) and its sequels.
This isn’t the first time the actor’s devotees have rallied around him. Last year, after an interview with AOL about his role on the third season of Showtime’s The Affair, viewers grew concerned. The actor seemed gloomy and wan; he spoke slowly and softly while gazing at the ground, his stream of consciousness responses meandering far, far away from the questions posed to him.
“I came of age in the industry working in feature films, primarily,” he said at the start of the interview, then indicating he might address “the elephant in the room”: the fact that he hadn’t shown up once in The Affair trailer. But then he switched gears to sing the praises of the showrunner and cast.
Was his voice breaking as he talked about the state of the movie industry? What happened to the goofball who once played a caveman and George of the Jungle?
The appearance launched both a “Sad Brendan” meme (which wasn’t his first time as a meme) and a bizarre Change.org petition, titled “bring Brendan Fraser back into film/television.” More than 46,000 people signed.
Recent years haven’t been entirely encouraging for the 48-year-old actor. His marriage of nine years broke up, and in 2013, tabloids caught wind of a court battle with his ex-wife over alimony and child support the actor claimed he could no longer pay.
It felt like ages since his early days in Hollywood. In 1992, he starred in both School Ties and Encino Man. He proved he could handle drama, holding his own opposite up-and-comers Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Chris O’Donnell, but also comedy, playing a caveman alongside Pauly Shore and Sean Astin. He was a frequent presence on the big screen during the years that followed. Most of the movies weren’t beloved by critics, but that didn’t stop films like Airheads and Now and Then from gaining cult status.
The end of that decade was huge for Fraser. He got serious acting cred with Gods and Monsters in 1998, which won an Oscar; then he went broad when The Mummy hit theatres in 1999. The movie was a massive surprise hit, making $155 million domestically and turning Fraser’s sardonic, perfectly stubbled character into a campier Indiana Jones.
Fraser has had a few hits since then, including the even more popular The Mummy Returns and Crash. He’s also had a lot of misses.
And yet, Fraser’s luck may be turning. Variety recently broke the story that the actor was cast in a very promising FX series, Trust, and he joins Donald Sutherland and Hilary Swank in a series about the reallife kidnapping of oil heir John Paul Getty III.
Fraser couldn’t have done it without his fans — at least that’s what they think. There’s an update on the Change.org petition since the Trust casting news broke. “Today I have come to inform you that OUR mission to get Brendan back on mainstream television was a success,” the note reads.