Issue date: April 18, 1999

STRAIGHT TALK
By Jeffrey Zaslow, (Zaslow is an advice columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times)

In this article:

So long, Arnold.Watch out, Harrison. 30-year-old Brendan Fraser makes his move.

VER SINCE his vine-swinging $100 million hit George of the Jungle, Brendan Fraser has been warned by passersby, "Watch out for that tree!" In next month's adventure epic The Mummy, he has to watch out for a lot more than trees. Fraser plays an explorer who's chased by an army of special-effects mummies. After a string of cartoonlike hunk roles, this is Fraser's first foray into Harrison Ford territory. What defines an action hero? "Ability," he says, "coupled with self-deprecation."

Q: Had you ever seen Boris Karloff's 1932 version of The Mummy before filming started on your movie?
Yes. I remember a guy with bandages stumbling around. It creeped me out, though, because the mummy always walked slowly, and the guy he was after ran like he was on fire. Yet somehow, the mummy always caught him.

Q: You filmed The Mummy in the Sahara Desert. How were you at riding a camel?
If you can drive a stick shift, you can ride a camel. You have a stick - a baton, really - and you guide the camel's head by pushing it left or right. They say the camel is one of the world's most stupid creatures, but then again, if you're lost in the desert, it's the only thing that'll get you out.

Q: In Encino Man, you played a prehistoric fellow unfrozen in present-day California. In Blast From the Past, you arrived on the surface after 35 years in a bomb shelter. Why does Hollywood give you so many wide-eyed, fish-out-of-water roles?
Because my eyes are actually on the side of my head. I have to turn my head sideways to look at anyone. [Laughs] No, I think I've found ways to allow my characters to make discoveries - to be astounded by seeing something for the first time.

Q: Last year you married actress Afton Smith. Were you fated to be together?
On our fourth date, she frisked me and pulled out my wallet to look at my driver's license. We saw we had the same birthday, December 3rd. Some things are just meant to be, and you can't question them. Now, I'll never forget my birthday, that's for sure. If I do, there's a special couch waiting for me.

Q: This summer, you star in Dudley Do-Right. What attracted you to the role?
My great-grandfather was a Canadian Mountie. He enlisted in 1886. You can read about him in Mountie books. He and another officer were outnumbered and outgunned by 14 cattle rustlers, and they said, "Stop in the name of the queen!" They managed to talk the rustlers out of it.

Q: Made any citizen's arrests yet?
This is Los Angeles, my friend. Are you kidding me?

Q: Lots of kids watch the George of the Jungle video incessantly. How can we get them off it?
Say, "Let's read a book. Let's read about the real Tarzan. Every time you watch George, we'll read a chapter."

Q: Do little kids recognize you?
Sometimes mothers will run up with their kids and say, "Look, it's George!" But the kids can't make the connection. They're thinking, "That's not George. He's wearing clothes, and he's not crashing into anything." So I bend my knees and look at them, eye-to-eye, and ask them what parts of the movie they liked. I never get tired of little kids. I live for it.

Q: Do you long for the day you'll have children of your own and they can watch the George video?
That'll be one happy day. I'm looking forward to it.

Photo Credit: Cliff Watts, Icon