Canadian-American actor Brendan Fraser reveals near-death experience on ‘The Mummy’ set

Brendan Fraser is enjoying a comeback in Hollywood with a widely praised performance in ‘The Whale’. The phenomenon has been dubbed ‘Brenaissance’. The heartthrob of the 1990s and early 2002, Fraser gained worldwide fame after appearing in The Mummy franchise. Now, he has revealed that he nearly died while filming a scene in the first movie.

During a hanging sequence, the rope tightened around his neck. The actor said on The Kelly Clarkson Show, “I was standing on my toes like this, with the rope [around my neck], and you only got so far to go. And [director] Stephen [Sommers] ran over, and he said, ‘Hey, it doesn’t really look like you’re, you know, choking — can you sell it?’ And I was like, ‘All right, fine.’ So I thought, ‘One more take, man.’”

He added, “I was stuck on my toes — I had nowhere to go but down. And so he was pulling up, and I was going down, and the next thing I knew, my elbow was in my ear, the world was sideways, there was gravel in my teeth, and everyone was really quiet.”

In The Whale, Fraser plays the role of Charlie, an obese father of a teenage girl Ellie (Sadie Sink). The film follows Charlie as he tries to rebuild his bond with her after he abandoned his family for a lover. His obesity is due to his guilt that led him to binge eat.

Meanwhile, the film is up for three Oscars this year, and that includes Fraser’s Best Actor nomination. The film has received mostly positive reviews. It holds a score of 65 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes. The critical consensus reads, “Held together by a killer Brendan Fraser, The Whale sings a song of empathy that will leave most viewers blubbering.” (Agencies)