Brendan Fraser is poised for a career comeback – and possibly an Oscar – with his return to the big screen in Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale. In a new interview with CBS Sunday morning, the actor opens up about what made him retire from Hollywood in the first place.
Speaking to CBS’ Lee Cowan, Fraser reflects on his status as a leading man in the ’90s and 2000s thanks to roles in films like Encino Man, School Ties, George of the Jungle and most notably the blockbuster Mummy franchise.
“I think the guy is really lucky,” says the 54-year-old today about his younger self, adding with a laugh: “I think he has great hair.”
Fraser was a Hollywood heartthrob at the time, but now says he felt he wasn’t quite up to par.
“I had the feeling at the time that it wasn’t enough,” he says. “I wasn’t tall enough, I wasn’t skinny enough, or any of those adjectives. And the person I saw and tried to create was not an ideal in my mind. And how do you deal with that? ?”
Brendan Fraser says the #MeToo movement inspired him to speak out about a groping incident. (Photo: Portal/Hannah McKay)
Fraser says he “needed the music stop” — which meant retiring from Hollywood.
“We can put actors on pedestals and then tear them down so quickly and easily,” he says. “It’s almost like that’s the game. So I just got rid of the socket. I just wanted to be myself.”
But it wasn’t just self-doubt that prompted Fraser’s break. In 2018, the divorced father of three went public about a 2003 groping incident involving Philip Berk, former president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Though Berk has claimed he pinched the actor’s butt just for fun, Fraser has described the touch as more invasive. (“His left hand is reaching around, grabbing my ass cheek and one of his fingers touches me in the blemish. And he starts moving it around,” he told GQ in 2018.)
“It caused me emotional distress,” he says of the incident. “It caused me personal suffering.”
The story goes on
He tells Cowan that he’s “played by the rules” up to this point when it comes to Hollywood’s power dynamics. What happened to Berk was a wake-up call — and a mile in the sand.
“I felt good, now suddenly I got hurt and it went too far,” he says. “And I won’t take this any longer.”
Fraser credits the #MeToo movement for giving him the courage to share his story.
“I spoke up because I saw so many of my friends and colleagues boldly step up to speak their truth-power at the time,” Fraser tells Cowan. “And I had something to say, too.”