Brendan Fraser Says He Felt Like He Deserved To Be Hurt

Brendan Fraser says that when he suffered injuries on the sets of action films, he felt it was partly due to the feeling that he deserved to be hurt.

By Douglas Helm | Published 5 minutes ago

Last year was a real Renaissance for Brendan Fraser’s career and 2023 looks even better. But that doesn’t mean Fraser hasn’t faced obstacles to get to this point, including a sense of self-loathing in the early days of his career. Deadline reported on an interview Fraser did with The Telegraph, where he talked about the physical pain he endured shooting his action-heavy films, admitting “I think on some level I felt i deserve [a beating] and wanted to be the one who got the first punch.”

Brendan Fraser entered the halls of Hollywood royalty with his string of blockbusters from the late 90s to the early 2000s. Films such as George of the Jungle and The Mummy franchise positioned Fraser as a reliable action star and Hollywood hunk. Fraser’s career would slow down a bit after its blockbuster phase, but began to pick up steam once he began taking on nuanced, dramatic roles.

While many will have fond memories of Brendan Fraser’s action movie era (the Mummy movies still hold up), he had to start showing his true acting talent in these more dramatic roles. Most recently, he really got a dramatic performance with Darren Aronfsky’s The Whale. The Whale follows Fraser as someone struggling with obesity, who tries to reconnect with his estranged daughter (Sadie Sink).

Brendan Fraser in The Whale (2022)

The Whale was one of the best performances of Brendan Fraser’s career, and it was no surprise when he was announced as a Best Actor nominee at the upcoming Academy Awards. This is his first Best Actor nomination, and it probably won’t be his last. To take home the award, he will have to beat Colin Farrell for Banshees of Inisherin, Bill Nighy for Living, Paul Mescal for Aftersun and Austin Butler for Elvis.

Brendan Fraser is an easy favorite to win the Best Actor award as well, as Vegas Insider gives him the best odds of -140. Butler has the second best chance to win with Farrell in third. According to the Vegas odds, Nighy and Mescal are the long shots.

Brendan Fraser has certainly put in the work and years to earn his Best Actor win, so we’ll just have to wait and see how awards season pans out for him. Austin Butler took home the Golden Globe win for Best Actor, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the Academy will lean the same way. Meanwhile, The Whale is still playing in theaters if you want to see Fraser’s performance for yourself and see if it’s Oscar-worthy.

Brendan Fraser also has some other prestigious projects for the coming years. One of the most anticipated is Martin Scorcese’s next directorial effort Killers of the Flower Moon, which is based on the true story told in David Grann’s novel of the same name. The film follows the 1920s FBI investigation into the mysterious murders of Osage tribesmen and also stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Lily Gladstone, Jesse Plemons, Tantoo Cardinal, John Lithgow, Cara Jade Myers, Janae Collins, Jillian Dion, William. Belleau, Louis Cancelmi, Jason Isbell, Sturgill Simpson, and more.