Dwayne Johnson shares considerate feedback about Brendan Fraser, explaining how the star helped him break into Hollywood with The Mummy Returns. Launched in 2001 and directed by Stephen Sommers, the sequel to 1999’s The Mummy introduced Fraser again as adventurer Rick O’Connell, this time to face off in opposition to a brand new menace within the type of Johnson’s Scorpion King.
Talking on the New Heights podcast, Johnson addresses his soar into performing within the early 2000s and the way Fraser championed this transition. “The very first film I ever did was a film referred to as The Mummy Returns,” Johnson says. “Brendan Fraser was one of many greatest stars on the earth, as he’s immediately.”
Johnson recollects being “so excited to be solid within the movie, [in] a small half referred to as the Scorpion King.” The star then speaks about Fraser’s energy because the franchise’s lead and the way he used this to verify Johnson felt welcome:
“Brendan Fraser, by the way in which, I all the time need to make point out of this. He was one of many greatest stars on the earth. That was his franchise. I’m coming in, I’ve by no means acted earlier than, I am excited. He may have simply mentioned, ‘I do not know if I would like this wrestler.'”
Fraser, Johnson explains, “embraced me. I really like that man for that, and he helped kick off my profession.” Although Johnson seems for less than “5 minutes whole” and “simply at first of the film and on the finish,” he stresses that he “was simply so excited on the alternative.”
The Mummy Returns could not have been acquired as properly critically as the primary film, however it was nonetheless an enormous success. The motion journey film grossed over $433 million worldwide on an estimated $98 million funds.
The movie was so successful that it led to Johnson getting his very personal spinoff the following yr within the type of The Scorpion King. This spinoff wasn’t notably well-received and did not repeat The Mummy Returns‘ industrial success, however it did assist to solidify Johnson as a film star.
At this time, in fact, Johnson stays one of many greatest film stars working in Hollywood. Although he and Fraser haven’t collaborated on one other movie since The Mummy Returns, each actors proceed to champion one another and converse fondly of their expertise working collectively. Talking to Individuals in September, Fraser expressed his pleasure about watching Johnson in The Smashing Machine (2025), Benny Safdie’s new wrestling biopic:
“Dwayne, he is a very nice man and it is gonna be thrilling to observe him emerge from this. I predict you will be seeing much more of him on these crimson carpets within the days to return.”
As for Fraser, he too stays energetic as an actor, just lately showing in Hikari’s Rental Household (2025), which earned glowing opinions from critics. Rental Household arrives two years after Fraser received an Oscar for his position in The Whale (2022).
With The Smashing Machine, it is attainable that Johnson, too, may obtain recognition on the Academy Awards, along with his position as Mark Kerr representing a serious shift away from his typical blockbuster film roles. Whether or not or not Johnson is honored on the Oscars, although, it is clear that Fraser and The Mummy Returns helped to pave the way in which for his present success.
- Launch Date
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Might 4, 2001
- Runtime
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130 minutes
- Director
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Stephen Sommers
- Writers
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Stephen Sommers, Richard Schayer, Nina Wilcox Putnam, Lloyd Fonvielle, Kevin Jarre, John L. Balderston
- Producers
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James Jacks
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Rachel Weisz
Evelyn O’Connell / Nefertiri