The home stretch to this weekend’s Academy Awards continues to provide some fun stories from the lives and careers of this year’s nominees. In the case of Brendan Fraser, more tales from his earlier exploits in Disney filmmaking have been circulating, which is a welcomed sight despite his George of the Jungle diet memory issues. This latest story is rather interesting, as Fraser revealed that the comedy-adventure film got him into trouble with parents, and not for his oiled-up abs.
While sitting down with THR’s Awards Chatter podcast, this new behind the scenes gem was revealed in conversation. Guesting as part of the class of 2023 Oscar nominees, The Whale’s lead actor fleshed out another angle of one of his most memorable performances. Here’s what Brendan Fraser had to say:
For a while there, parents were stopping me going, "Oh, man, I really loved you in George of the Jungle, it was such a great movie. I have a bone to pick with you, my kid got eight stitches.” Rubber trees, George smashed into rubber trees!
So many stories coming from the George of the Jungle legacy have ranged from tales of parental troubles such as these to some literal “Disney monkey” business that took place with some of Fraser’s animal co-stars. Though this tale doesn’t sound like too much of a panic, as it falls in line with other historic instances of parents seeing their children imitating on-screen behaviors. If only there had been a warning that rubber trees were involved, perhaps moms and dads around the world could have literally softened the blow for their youngsters.
Brendan Fraser's performances have certainly been in the spotlight as of late. More recently, his awards-season darling status has been confirmed through the lead performance in director Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale. With all of the pushback to Fraser’s portrayal of protagonist Charlie leading to more concerned parties sharing their own proverbial bones to pick, it continues to be a situation that he’s adept at handling.
Just as he always has, Brendan Fraser has taken the good, the bad and the bones to be picked in his career with a nature of good spirited acknowledgement. As the Brenaissance continues to inspire and amuse Fraser, it's stories like these that make for not only interesting awards season chatter, but also for potential anecdotes for future appearances. Maybe if we're lucky, The Mummy star will write an autobiography with the potential title that pokes fun at incidents such as these.
Whether your memories of George of the Jungle pertain to Brendan Fraser’s well-tuned physique and comedic timing, or if they’re involving his many rubber tree collisions, you can capture them all over again. The movie is currently streaming for those with a Disney+ subscription, and it makes for a great balance to the heartbreaking performance Fraser gives in The Whale, which is available for PVOD rental.
