Brendan Fraser became a Hollywood star with his role as Rick O’Connell in The Mummy trilogy. Despite finding success in comedies like With Honors and George of the Jungle, the Trust actor was relatively underrated at the time. He earned less than his famous co-stars in The Mummy, but his salary went from $4 million to $12.5 million in the sequel. However, Fraser could not convince his sons of his stardom as they preferred to watch Power Rangers over The Mummy.
Fraser married Afton Smith in 1998 after meeting her at a party at Winona Ryder’s home. The couple has three sons, born in 2002, 2004, and 2006. They got divorced in 2009, and Fraser has been in a relationship with makeup artist Jeane Moore since September 2022.
Brendan Fraser’s Sons Didn’t Care That He Was A Big Star
Brendan Fraser appeared on The Drew Barrymore Show just before winning his Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in The Whale. The Affair actor shared some interesting and relatively unknown behind-the-scenes stories about his hit movies. On the show, Drew Barrymore brought up his sons and asked how they had perceived his star status at the time.
Fraser jokingly revealed that they remained oblivious to his stardom, and when he tried to establish that he was cool, they simply didn’t care. Fraser further shared with Barrymore that his children preferred to watch Power Rangers instead of The Mummy reruns on TV. The Bedazzled actor told Barrymore:
“When they were small, The Mummy played on repeat at holidays and they’d walk by and just kind of go [mimics their disinterest] and then ask to watch Power Rangers. [I would say] ‘But… I’m cool now.’ [They would say] ‘No. Power Rangers.’”
Fraser went through a rough time of depression and health problems, taking a break from his acting career. This phase was triggered by his long-term treatment for injuries from film stunts and his divorce. However, he made a strong comeback, even winning an Oscar.
Brendan Fraser Mocked Dwayne Johnson’s Appearance In The Mummy Returns
During the show, Brendan Fraser also spilled some juicy details about his movies. Fraser shared that they were initially quite confused about the genre of The Mummy when they started making it. Fraser admitted that the production decided to move forward with all genres, and the film combined elements of action, adventure, romance, and horror all in one. Things eventually worked out as the audience wholeheartedly accepted the movie.
Barrymore also brought up the fact that The Mummy was shot with almost no green screens. She confessed that she struggled with green screen acting because she was bad at talking to “tennis balls”. However, Fraser shared that he was good at it because he worked with Dwayne Johnson in The Mummy Returns. Fraser described Johnson’s role in the film as “a piece of tape on a stick”. The poor CGI work of the scene where Johnson’s character reappeared was heavily criticized in the film.
The Mummy trilogy was highly successful, grossing more than $1.2 billion at the box office. All three movies are now available for streaming on Peacock.
