Classic Reissue: GQ Reintroduces the World to Brendan Fraser

Before the Brenaissance fully kicked off, the world was reintroduced to a '90s icon and his dark backstory.

For those who missed it, I will be reissuing classic pre-Substack editions of the Gossip Reading Club for paid subscribers. With the Oscars taking place this weekend, it seemed like a good opportunity to return to last year’s winner of Best Actor and his long, hard-fought journey back to the top.

A quick content warning that this piece discusses depression, sexual assault, and grief.

GQ. "What Ever Happened to Brendan Fraser?" February 22, 2018. Zach Baron.

(Read the profile here.)

If you've ever been on the internet, then the chances are you've seen a lot of clickbait ads that use unflattering photographs of celebrities you vaguely recognize with headlines wondering where they are nowadays. "All grown up" child stars are especially familiar with this tactic, as are women who dared to visibly age. Another regular face was Brendan Fraser, the Canadian heart-throb comedy actor who quietly dominated Hollywood of the '90s before seemingly disappearing without a trace. He went from being an old-school leading man to a non-entity, and after a while, the internet started to take notice. For the past few years, there’s been a truly earnest groundswell of enthusiasm and renewed fandom for the actor. When Tom Cruise’s attempt to reboot The Mummy flopped, we all suddenly remembered how much we loved Fraser in those films. Who knew that we eagerly needed an action hero halfway between Errol Flynn and Jim Carrey? As the glut of superhero movies saw a hyper-specific brand of white cishet masculinity dictate the big screen, I personally found myself thinking about how Fraser’s elasticity and earnest goofball take on Indiana Jones may have helped to pave the way for many a Chris (seriously, you do not get to Chris Hemsworth in Thor: Ragnarok without Fraser in The Mummy or George of the Jungle.) The homogeny of the blockbuster left us crying out for some nostalgic relief, so where the hell was Brendan Fraser?! GQ found out for us, and the answers to those clickbait questions left many of us slack-jawed with shock.