Brendan Fraser jokes he's never been this famous and unsalaried at the same time

Brendan Fraser has joked he’s never been ‘this famous and unsalaried at the same time’, having been thrust back into the limelight thanks to his first leading role in some time.

Fraser stars in Darren Aronofsky’s forthcoming drama The Whale, which is released in the UK next month.

Also featuring Stranger Things star Sadie Sink, it follows a 600lb man called Charlie as he tries to reconnect with his teenage daughter, having left his family for a gay lover – who later died, sparking a spiral of guilt-induced binge eating for the reclusive protagonist.

While Fraser had a supporting credit in Steven Soderbergh’s No Sudden Move, this latest role marks his first leading role in years.

It has seen him brought back into the public eye, with many fans dubbing this career resurgence the ‘Brenaissance’.

Of course, while the film hasn’t even been released yet, fans are already wondering what his next move will be.

In an interview with Deadline, he was asked if he would consider reprising his role as Rick O’Connell from The Mummy franchise one day – and it wasn’t a no.

Universal Pictures

“Gosh, I don’t know any juicy details about it, but it’s kinda been an open-ended question for some time now,” Fraser said.

“I’m not opposed to it. I don’t know an actor who doesn’t want a job.”

He added: “I don’t think I’ve been this famous and unsalaried at the same time in my professional life, so sign me up.

“We’ve all got to start somewhere.”

While a new Mummy film isn’t something that’s on the cards just yet, you will be seeing more of Fraser soon (well, soonish) in Martin Scorsese’s Killer of the Flower Moon, a Western crime drama expected to premiere at a film festival later this year.

And it’s not long before he hits screens in The Whale, a project that was by no means an easy feat for the star.

Speaking about his transformation into a 600lb widow with Newsweek in 2021, he said: “It’s gonna be like something you haven’t seen before. That’s really all I can tell you…The wardrobe and costume was extensive, seamless, cumbersome.

“This is certainly far removed from anything I’ve ever done but not to be coy... I do know it’s going to make a lasting impression.”

A24

It’s been an inevitably emotional gig, too.

In a recent interview on Late Night with Seth Meyers, the actor opened up about the movie’s response - in particular the six-minute standing ovation it received at the Venice Film Festival.

"I just broke out crying. That solved all the problems," he said.

"I feel like I'm still waiting for someone to walk in and tell me that the jig is up, you know," he added.

Fraser told Meyers it was essential to be highly ‘authentic’ in the role.

He explained: “Very often when obesity is portrayed in films [it] has been unfair, it’s been a silhouette of a costume, inside an actor who’s quite fit, [it] just seems to reorient the way we believe that someone can actually move and exist.”

The Whale is released in UK cinemas on 2 February.