Brendan Fraser Is Finally Being Cast in Big Roles Again With Even Bigger Stars — Are We in the Midst of a ‘Brenaissance?’
Universal Studios’ short-lived Dark Universe rolled out The Mummy in 2017, prompted a quip from Brendan Fraser — a name absent from headlines for nearly a decade. Besides the occasional ‘Whatever happened to Brendan Fraser?’ article, the actor disappeared. However, audiences discovered that a Brendan Fraser renaissance approaches — a “Brenaissance,” some outlets are calling it.
Between the ‘90s and 2000s star and the ‘Brenaissance’
In 1999, plenty worried about the end of the world in the coming millennia. Others worried about when the next Mummy movie would be released. A prominent star through the 1990s, Fraser hit his stride with The Mummy, cementing him in people’s minds
The Mummy sequels, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and cult favorites such as George of the Jungle and Inkheart – Fraser’s name exploded. However, with his last semi-headlining film Furry Vengeance in 2010, he all but vanished.
Appearing in much smaller projects and occasional voice work, audiences scratched their heads at what happened.
The short story is that Fraser pushed himself too hard. He found himself rushing from one set to the next, combatting soreness and injuries with frequent hospital visits instead of taking time to heal. Eventually, he had to focus on his own health.
That was just the tip of a rather sad iceberg.
Fraser admits he ‘bought into the pressure’ of Hollywood
In an article by GQ, Fraser recounts his time out of the limelight. In addition to recovering physically, he lost his mother, dealt with a divorce, and coped with being a victim of sexual assault in 2003.
Many of these things cumulated into Fraser feeling like he did not deserve to be the Hollywood star people saw him as.
“The phone does stop ringing in your career, and you start asking yourself why,” Fraser said to Zach Baron in the GQ article. “I bought into the pressure that comes with the hopes and aims that come with a professional life that’s being molded and shaped and guided and managed, I just felt I couldn’t be a part of it. I didn’t feel that I belonged.”
After taking the time to heal both physically and mentally, Fraser has become a little more optimistic about the future.
“Something good came out of something that was bad,” he said. “Sometimes it takes a while for that to happen.”
Filmmakers Casting a new side of Fraser
Sarah Treem and Danny Boyle are two filmmakers that helped bring the Brenaissance. Even years after his initial peak, Treem expressed interest in him for The Affair.
“We were looking for somebody who had the ability to be incredibly compelling,” Treem told GQ. She stated that his familiarity with audiences was a huge reason for casting him.
This appearance in The Affair led to Boyle, executive producer of Trust, casting Fraser.
“It’s one of those delicious moments where you see someone you’re so familiar with who is so changed by time and by experience,” Boyle said. “You kind of just clock that, and it’s both so sad and wonderful. Because we all share that same timeline.”
In addition to The Affair and Trust, Fraser stars in DC’s Doom Patrol series and The Whale, a film where he stars as a 600-pound man trying to reconnect with his daughter.
Fraser finds himself in drastically different roles nowadays, but the internet has rallied to support him.
Fraser ‘Choked Up’ about the Brenaissance
Fans following the Fraser resurgence likely saw the flood of ‘Brendan Fraser gets Choked Up‘ articles. In a viral video, TikTok star Lindley from Little Lottie Cosplay sat down with Fraser and told him how excited and supportive the internet community felt about his return.
“Shucks, ma’am!” Fraser mustered, the emotion clear on his face.
Fraser himself is excited for this Brenaissance, looking forward to working with Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Robert DeNiro on Killers of the Flower Moon — legendary names in the film industry.
With a new phase of his career starting, audiences are excited for what comes next.
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