Actor Brendan Fraser received a six-minute standing ovation Sunday night at the Venice Film Festival, after making a comeback to the profession following personal struggles.
Fraser was attending the world premiere of The Whale, a movie in which he plays the lead character Charlie, an English teacher reconnecting with his teenage daughter.
Fraser was preparing to exit the stage when audience members and people onstage alongside him began a round of applause. He appeared to be in tears at the response.
The standing ovation for #TheWhale was so enthusiastic, Brendan Fraser tried to leave the theater but the crowd’s applause made him stay. #Venezia79 pic.twitter.com/ZZ0vbFX7Rl
— Ramin Setoodeh (@RaminSetoodeh) September 4, 2022
Fraser had breakout roles in George of the Jungle (1997) and The Mummy (1999). He continued to star in sequels The Mummy Returns (2001) and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008).
The Mummy movies took a great physical toll on him, and he received multiple surgeries as a result of stunt work he did for the franchise. He underwent a laminectomy (a procedure to remove vertebrae from the spine), a partial knee replacement and vocal cord repair, he told GQ in 2018.
Fraser also said he wondered if he had been blacklisted by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the organization that hosts the Golden Globes, after he alleged that a former HFPA president had groped him in 2003.
As video of the standing ovation circulated, Fraser received an outpouring of support online.
"Man this makes me so happy to see this beautiful ovation for Brendan," Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson tweeted. "He supported me coming into his Mummy Returns franchise for my first ever role, which kicked off my Hollywood career."
Man this makes me so happy to see this beautiful ovation for Brendan. He supported me coming into his Mummy Returns franchise for my first ever role, which kicked off my Hollywood career. Rooting for all your success brother and congrats to my bud Darren Aronofsky. #TheWhale 👏🏾 https://t.co/SNBLPHHmEZ
— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) September 4, 2022
"I wish him to be *showered* with praise, and I've a feeling he won't take it for granted for an instant," another tweeter said. "Welcome back Brendan Fraser. We've missed you."
"He deserves all the love in the world. Dude had a super unfair shake in Hollywood, but now it's (hopefully) coming around and he's going to get his due," one user said.
Fraser has several upcoming roles, including a role alongside Glenn Close and Peter Dinklage in Brothers; in the Martin Scorsese-directed Killers of the Flower Moon (2023) alongside Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio; and Behind the Curtain of Night, according to IMDB.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
