There was a time when Brendan Fraser was kind of a big deal . Between films like George of the Jungle and The Mummy , he was both the action star we didn’t know we needed, and the first celebrity crush of a generation.
While he’s been steadily working on films and movies in the years since the third installment of The Mummy released in 2008, Fraser largely disappeared from the mainstream.
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That is, until now.
From 2018 to now, Fraser’s career has completely blown up (again), with the actor appearing in more and more leading roles for TV shows and movies, including The Whale , which just premiered at the Venice Film Festival.
In fact, Fraser was so beloved in ‘The Whale’ that he got a standing ovation.
At the film’s Venice Film Festival premier screening, Brendan Fraser attempted to leave the cinema, only to be stopped by a six-minute standing ovation by audiences.
It’s just a testament to Fraser’s talent.
Not to mention the fact that, after all these years, he’s still a beloved actor. If anyone deserves to have a career renaissance (or Brenaissace, if you will), it’s him.
But it also begs the question as to why he went away in the first place.
Though we recognize Brendan Fraser as a top-billing leading man, he spent a good number of years (from around 2013 to 2018) out of the spotlight.
But his disappearance wasn’t necessarily on his terms.
CW for sexual assault.
The way Fraser’s career seemingly vanished is as a result of an unfortunate run in he had in 2003, where the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s then president, Philip Berk, inappropriately groped the actor while they were at a party.
Fraser did not publicly come forward about the incident until 2018.
In an interview with GQ , the actor described the sexual assault in detail, stating that Berk had reached around and grabbed his butt.
“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… I was blaming myself and I was miserable .”
Since then, Fraser believes he had been blacklisted by the HFPA.
After the incident, he was kept off guest lists for events hosted by the HFPA, such as the Golden Globes.
Berk has since apologized, but admits to no wrongdoing.
For years, Fraser suffered depression related to the incident.
But he also had personal issues surrounding his health and family, including his divorce and the death of his mother. Much of this compounded into him disappearing from the public eye.
However, recent years have been much more kind to him.
In fact, this Brenaissance is exactly what fans of the actor have been waiting for. With prominent roles in films and shows such as Trust , No Sudden Move , and this year’s The Whale , it’s almost like he never left.
And the future is only looking brighter for Fraser.
He’s involved in a number of upcoming projects, including Killers of the Flower Moon , with Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, and Jesse Plemons, and directed by Martin Scorsese. It’s set to be released in 2023.
