Brendan Fraser chuckles at the mention of the “Brenaissance”, the fan-coined portmanteau that describes his recent career resurgence.
The actor, who recently turned 56, sits on an old chair in Jeddah’s historic Bait Sharbatly, his fingers interlocked and his gaze lost in the geometric floor tiles as he ponders about the decade or so he spent out of the spotlight.
In the 2000s, Fraser was a global household name, known for his roles in films such as The Mummy, George of the Jungle and Bedazzled. Yet, he then began to gradually step away. His withdrawal seemed strange at first, until Fraser revealed that he was dealing with several personal issues, including a divorce and surgeries to deal with the toll his body had taken from performing his own stunts.
In 2018, he revealed yet another potential reason to his absence from Hollywood. The actor alleged that he had been sexually assaulted by the former president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Philip Berk, and said that he was rarely invited to the Golden Globes after that.
“An actor’s career is going to be like a rollercoaster ride no matter what,” he says, speaking at the Red Sea International Film Festival. It may have simply been his time to depart from the spotlight, he adds, to “go through a tunnel and wonder what’s next”.
Yet, he was never really that far away from the industry, taking a few roles in television productions. “I made sure that I was always busy,” he says. “Always working with people that I respect and care for, and I think it was just important to pick material that distinguished itself from what was being made.”
A career-defining moment came when he came across the screenplay for The Whale, the 2022 drama written by Samuel D Hunter and directed by Darren Aronofsky, which Brendan describes as a stroke of “good fortune.”
“That was our film during Covid, which kind of makes sense, because there were only a few characters, in one tiny room, and the circumstances of the drama are life and death,” he says.
The Whale, he says, is very much a film of its time, reflecting upon the global issues brought upon by the pandemic. “Globally, we didn't know if there was going to be a tomorrow, We had so much uncertainty, there was so much anxiety about that. Those are the circumstances of that film, and I think it shows through in the story.”
The Whale was a culminate moment in the Brenaissance. His striking performance earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor, and singled a new chapter in his career. Of course, he didn’t know it at the time of filming.
“When you're making a movie, you never have any idea about what it's going how it's going to be received,” he says. No one knows. You don't know if you think you do. You're wrong.”
Even when Fraser’s name was called out during the Oscars ceremony, he says it was an “out of body experience”.
Since then, a handful of stellar roles have come his way and he is looking forward to sharing two films that are in the pipeline. The first is Anthony Maras's Pressure, a film set in the 72 hours leading up to the Normandy landings of the Allied forces during the Second World War. Fraser portrays US president Dwight D Eisenhower.
“To take on a role Like Eisenhower 72 hours before the storming of the beaches at Normandy was certainly a challenge,” he says, running his hand along his shaven head, a haircut which he received for the role.
Another project he is excited about is Rental Family, a drama by Beef director Hikari. “It tells an unconventional story of what family really is,” Brendan hints. “In Tokyo, you can rent just about anything, from a hat to a dog to a family. It's a movie about how the family that we have is the one that chooses us, not the one that's we're born into.”
During his time away, Fraser has developed a deep appreciation for his craft. He says he takes every opportunity and “each day's work as if it's the first and last time”.
He's also enjoying his time in Jeddah, having not visited the region since attending the 2008 Dubai International Film Festival. “It feels like a welcoming place,” he says. “I don't think anyone could have been nicer to me. I'm so honoured to be included.”
