Why Hollywood Won't Cast Brendan Fraser Anymore

#1. Facing Disaster In Movies

Fraser's appeal as the lovable doofus in George of the Jungle didn't quite translate to other franchise hopeful films. Not only did Dudley Do-Right do wrong, but Monkeybone (2001) was a dissed and dismissed non-starter, and perhaps most tellingly, his attempt to lead a live-action take on the Looney Tunes animated world sputtered out with a lackluster reception to Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003). Fraser gave the goofball game that had made him a name one more go with Furry Vengeance (2010), but that movie was a disaster on all fronts and solidified the fact that Fraser's silly screen demeanor just wasn't getting kids to their ticket booths anymore.

#2. Facing More flops

Fraser's bankability as a big name was called into question pretty early on in his rise to fame. While the actor enjoyed some commercial successes, like George of the Jungle (1997) and The Mummy (1999), he also suffered some serious stinkers at the same time, like Blast from the Past (1999) and Dudley Do-Right (1999), both of which had critics laughing for all the wrong reasons and certainly didn't draw much audience interest. The Mummy Returns (2001) gave him a much-needed momentum swing back in the right direction, and he went on to nab a role in the critically-favored Crash (2005) before jumping into another action-adventure realm in Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008), but after that, his inability to drum up an audience really started coming to light.

#3. Killing a comeback

Once The Mummy franchise was clearly dead, Fraser had a real chance at following his Journey to the Center of the Earth success into a new franchise land, but he held out on signing on for Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012) out of loyalty to the first installment's director, Eric Brevig, who was tied up finishing another project at the studio's desired time of production. But rather than waiting on either party, the studio replaced the director and brought in Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson to take Fraser's place, and the film did just fine without them, with several sequels expected to follow. Ouch.

#4. Burying The Mummy

While the first Mummy sequel came along pretty quickly after the original installment and successfully capitalized on the excavation adventure craze, the third movie was slow going, despite the successes of the first two films. So, by the time The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008) rolled along, audiences were over it and had moved onto other offerings of its ilk, like Nicolas Cage's National Treasure movies. The Mummy 3 didn't exactly bomb, but its domestic receipts were less than either of its predecessors and lead to the franchise being left to decay until Fraser was replaced by Tom Cruise for the 2017 reboot.

#5. The joke was on him

#6. He's suffered some severe personal setbacks

When the getting is good, there's no business like show business. But if and when the Hollywood freeze-out process does begin, it can be pretty hard to thaw out a career, and it's even harder to stop the financial bleed that comes with professional injury. Having such impressive tax returns in the archives, where the courts are concerned, means that an actor's earning potential (and lack thereof) can be hard for courts to predictand for Fraser, it means paying, quite literally, for all his former movie star glory.

Fraser and his ex-wife Afton Smith, whom he met in 1993 and has three sons with, announced their divorce in 2007 after nine years of marriage, and they reached a settlement for her alimony and child support award in 2009. However, the situation turned publicly ugly between them in 2013 when, as his career momentum slowed, Fraser petitioned for a reduction of his reported $900,000 a year payment schedule. His ex claimed he'd hidden funds and future film deals at the time of their 2009 settlement, but he reasoned that he expected to make no money whatsoever (as in zero dollars) in the future and would be relying on the assets he'd earned prior to the petition for payments, due to unspecific medical issues which "considerabl[y]" affected his workflow.

#8. He may be injured

According to some sources, the setback Fraser was referring to in his reduction petition was a back injury he sustained while attempting to clear away yard debris from Hurricane Sandy with a chainsaw. His injury reportedly even required corrective surgery and intense physical therapy rehabilitation and may prevent him from being able to do his own stunt work, as he had in prior productions, which would support his claim that medical concerns would limit his future earning potential.

#8. His fans really miss him

After the "Sad Brendan Fraser" video started to spread, Fraser fans orchestrated a Change.org petition addressed to Netflix, HBO, Showtime, and other networks to encourage those companies to consider him for future opportunities. Perhaps inspired by the fact that Fraser appeared on Showtime for his recurring arc on The Affair, the petition targeted pay-cable stations rather than traditional networks, and more than 11,000 signatures had been collected by the time of this writing. "Brendan has been in multiple interviews recently and has appeared to be very down and out," the petitioner wrote in the letter. "And us loyal fans feel like we are obliged to help him out in any way possible. Please help us get Brendan back on his feet again, we miss him." The petition also cried foul on Fraser not being asked back for any role in the Mummy reboot featuring Tom Cruise.

Earlier the same year, Reddit users had devised a plan to hit social media with demands that Fraser make it into more roles, particularly in the small screen, even going so far as to pitch specific shows and arcs they felt he'd be a good match for, like AMC's Breaking Bad spinoff Better Call Saul. After so many misses on the silver screen, perhaps the boob tube is where he really belongs right now. After all, it is a golden era for TV.

#9. Sad Fraser is sad

In December 2016, Fraser appeared on AOL's Build Series to discuss his role as Gunther the prison guard who causes so much turmoil for Noah in Season 3 of Showtime's The Affair, and the appearance went viral for all the wrong reasons. Viewers of the segment remarked at how melancholy the actor appeared during his discussion of the series and his career at large, especially when the subject of wanting to avoid being typecast as the goofy accidental hero came up.

If there was any lingering doubt that Fraser's family and financial setbacks, combined with his lessening work opportunities, was taking a toll on the actor, for many this was considered proof that he was as woebegotten about his pratfalls as expectedif not more.

#10. But the best may be yet to come

Momentum means a lot in Tinseltown, especially when it comes to a good comeback story. In Fraser's case, there's some reason to believe that he may land on his feet again, maybe even better than George of the Jungle would've managed. With The Affair offering him an all-new sort of screen personality, and reactions to the Fraser-less Mummy reboot showing some nostalgia for his participation in that franchise, there's a chance his next starring vehicle could be the next step in his turnaround trend.

After all, he was recently cast in an Indian mafia thriller called The Field, was part of A&E's impressive cast for Texas Rising, and recently signed with a new talent agency to boot. He's also expected to star in the sci-fi romance Behind the Curtain of Night as a man who sees past lives after dying in his present one, which sounds like just the kind of fare that might help jar open a pigeonhole.