Brendan Fraser is an accomplished actor who has carved a niche for himself in the movie industry by recording outstanding successes in many critically and commercially successful motion pictures like Encino Man, The Mummy, and George of the Jungle. But suddenly, it seems the famed actor lost his star touch as his presence in feature films drastically dwindled and his fans are wondering what might have happened to once ever-busy actor.
What Happened To Brendan Fraser?
In the February 2018 edition of GQ magazine, Brendan Fraser threw more light on the question that has been on everyone’s mind, what happened to Brendan Fraser? During the course of the interview, he disclosed that he was discomfited by the awkward situation of having Philip Berk, the then president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) sexual assault to him during a luncheon held by the organization in 2003.
Fraser stated that when he trotted out his hand for a shake, Berk’s left-hand reaches around, grabbed his ass cheek and one of his fingers touched him in his taint. He said that it didn’t stop there as he started moving his fingers around and that the incident made him feel ill like a little kid as if there was a ball in his throat as well as thinking about crying.
The George of the Jungle star revealed that the reason why he didn’t report the incident to the police was that he does not want it to become part of his story. He further added that the whole experience made him withdraw from the limelight which fueled the speculation that Hollywood has stopped giving major roles to him. Still, on what happened to Brendan Fraser, when the award-winning actor was asked whether his claims affected him by not landing major offers, he replied that he doesn’t really know whether the incident brought him to dislike from the Golden Globe organizers (HFPA), but the silence was very noticeable.
He further said that after evaluating himself, there are many reasons why major offers stopped and this is definitely one of them as he felt depressed and retreated from the limelight. While reacting to Fraser’s claims, Berk said it was a total fabrication, that although he only joked with Fraser as he didn’t know it will be an assault to him, he accepted his wrongdoing and has officially apologized to him.
Another fact to what happened to Brendan Fraser was his severe health challenges which resulted in him having multiple laminectomies (a surgical procedure that removes a portion of the vertebral bone called lamina, which is the root of the spinal canal) in order to reduce pressure on the nerves, vocal cord fix, temporary knee replacement, back treatment, among many other challenges.
Why Have We Not Been Seeing Him on Movies?
Following what happened to Brendan Fraser who established himself as a highly sought after actor in the movie industry by starring in many blockbuster movies and box office successes with George of the Jungle fetching $174 million worldwide at the box office, and The Mummy making over $155 million at the box office. The main reason why we have not been seeing Brendan Fraser on movies is the constant dwindling of returns at the box office on movies he starred in, starting with the 1999 romantic comedy film, Dudley Do-Right which he starred alongside Sarah Jessica Parker, produced on a $70 million budget but earned a disappointing $9.9 million at the box office.
This was followed by the 2001 comedy animated film, Monkeybone that made a miserable $5.4 million at the box office off its $75 million budget. Fraser’s acting career was again put on the spotlight for the wrong reasons after another film, Looney Tunes: Back In Action, where he played the leading character took another box office bashing by grossing $20.9 million off $80 million budget. It was as if he has found his missing charm when his subsequent movies, Revenge of the Mummy: The Ride (2004), Crash (2004), and Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008) became critical and commercial successes.
However, his work ethic was again under heavy criticism when the 2010 medical drama film, Extraordinary Measures which he starred alongside Harrison Ford and Keri Russell had a poor theatrical performance. The movie which was produced on a budget of $31 million became a box office failure as it earned $12 million throughout its run. His other film, Furry Vengeance which was premiered three months later after Extraordinary Measures also took a heavy panning by the critics as it was rated 8% on Rotten Tomatoes and 0% on The New York Times. Despite its $35 million budget, it made $17.6 million at the box office. As it stands then, it was assumed that directors and production networks were afraid of offering the once sought-after actor major roles in blockbuster movies in fear of the movie becoming a commercial failure.
Notwithstanding, following his fans heartfelt petition to Netflix, Showtime, HBO, and other networks to start featuring Brendan Fraser in their productions, his acting career seemed revived as he has starred in many current feature films including The Poison Rose (2019), Line of Descent (2019), and The Secret of Karma (2020) not to mention many TV series he is currently starring in such as Trust, Professionals, and Doom Patrol.