Even now, during a year in which Fraser has, quite improbably, become an Oscar front-runner for his performance in Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale—a performance that has reminded audiences of just how great Fraser once was, and how great he was once supposed to be—he is still showing up at conventions. And what he’s found is: People will line up to see him. Some of them ask about The Mummy, the franchise Fraser starred in from 1999 to 2008—would he consider doing another one? (Yes.) Some of them want to discuss obscure plot points from Doom Patrol, the superhero TV series Fraser acts in for HBO Max.
And in some, Fraser has learned to recognize a more specific kind of connection. “I can spot someone across the room who I know has something to say, something to share, who has had something that happened…someone hurt them.” They come to him and they divulge their secrets in what Fraser calls “a moment of glorious honesty.” And what he does is, he holds that person’s hand. He says: It’s actually possible to ask for help. “I do want them to know,” Fraser told me, that “if they admire or esteem me for whatever special reason, that if that kind of thing had happened to me, it could happen to anyone too. And we’re all just…we’re all just people.”
The article in which he disclosed all this was published in the March 2018 issue of GQ, and online the story quickly became the most read in the history of the magazine. It was an improbable phenomenon: one of those articles that goes viral in a way that defies expectation, or even explanation, and then continues to be widely circulated, years later. This is a strange thing to talk about with Fraser, or write about here, because I was the journalist he spoke to for the piece. But, we found, there was no way for us to have a conversation in 2022 without talking, at least a little, about the last time we met.
In The Whale, Fraser plays a 600-pound writing instructor named Charlie who is approaching the end of his life and who is desperate to connect with his daughter before he dies. Fraser is wary about overstating the similarities between himself and Charlie, but there are ways in which Fraser saw himself in the part; one of them was in the simple fact of Charlie’s sincerity. “He tells his students, ‘Just tell me something honest. This is a pursuit for authenticity.’ And once they do, it’s liberating.”
In an interview with GQ, he noted that he “will not participate” in the awards ceremony run by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA). Fraser claimed in 2018 that former HFPA President Philip Berk sexually assaulted him in 2003. Berk, 89, continues to deny the allegations.
Fraser said he became depressed after the alleged incident took place and that he lost respect for the organization.
“I have more history with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association than I have respect for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association,” the “Mummy” alum told the outlet.
“I became depressed,” the “Blast from the Past” actor stated. “I was blaming myself and I was miserable — because I was saying, ‘This is nothing; this guy reached around and he copped a feel.’”
Berk later gave a statement to the magazine, saying: “Mr. Fraser’s version is a total fabrication. My apology admitted no wrongdoing, the usual ‘If I’ve done anything that upset Mr. Fraser, it was it was not intended and I apologize.’”
Berk remained a voting member of HFPA until 2021 when he was ousted after he sent an email to fellow members describing Black Lives Matter as a “racist hate movement.”
Fraser said he thinks his allegations against Berk didn’t get as much of a response because “it was too prickly or sharp-edged or icky for people to want to go first and invest emotionally in the situation.”
“The Whale,” directed by Darren Aronofsky, is lauded as Fraser’s “comeback” into Hollywood. In the film, the Canadian native plays a 600-pound English teacher named Charlie who is struggling to reconnect with his estranged daughter.
The flick premiered at Venice International Film Festival, where the “Bedazzled” actor broke down in tears during a six-minute standing ovation for his role.
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