Brendan Fraser returns to the big screen in Darren Aronofsky’s film, poised to revive his career and possibly win an Oscar whale. In a new interview CBS Sunday MorningThe actor opened up about what initially made him quit Hollywood.
In an interview with CBS’s Lee Cowan, Fraser reflects on his leading man status throughout the ’90s and 2000s, thanks to roles in films such as Encino Man, School Ties, George in the Jungle Most notably, blockbuster mummy Franchise.
“I think, That guy was really lucky,’ The 54-year-old now adds with a laugh of his younger self, ‘I think his hair is amazing. “
Fraser was a Hollywood heartthrob at the time, but now says he feels inadequate.
“At the time I thought it wasn’t enough,” he said. “I’m not big enough, I’m not cut enough, or any of those adjectives. The person I see and try to create isn’t an ideal person in my mind. How do you deal with that?”
Fraser said he “needed the music to stop” – meaning he was quitting Hollywood.
“We can put actors on pedestals and knock them down so quickly and so easily,” he said. “It was almost like a game. So I got off the pedestal. I just wanted to be me.”
But it wasn’t just self-doubt that prompted Fraser’s break. In 2018, the divorced father of three spoke out about a 2003 sexual harassment incident involving former Hollywood Foreign Press Association president Philip Burke. While Burke insisted he only jokingly pinched the actor’s butt, Fraser described the touch as more aggressive. (“His left hand came over and grabbed my ass, and one of his fingers touched my blot. Then he started moving around,” he told GQ 2018. )
“It got me down,” he said of the incident. “It caused me personal distress.”
He told Cowan that until then he had been “playing by the rules” when it came to power dynamics in Hollywood. What happened to Burke was a wake-up call — and an unresolved thread.
“I feel fine and now, all of a sudden, I’m being violated and it’s gone too far,” he said. “I’m not going to put up with this anymore.”
Fraser credits the #MeToo movement with giving him the courage to share his story.
“I spoke out because I saw so many friends and colleagues at the time bravely speaking out about the power of their truth,” Fraser told Cowan. “And I have something to say.”