Hollywood star Brendan Fraser made his acting comeback with the latest movie, The Whale. However, the actor recently apparently did a dig at Disney and revealed that he turned down the famous role.
Brendan Fraser starred in the 1997 Disney film George of the Jungle, based on the popular 1960s animated television series of the same name. Fraser recently revealed that he was starving for the role. The film, which also starred Leslie Mann, Thomas Haden Church and Richard Roundtree, was a modest success, grossing $174 million worldwide on a $55 million budget. However, when Disney approached Fraser for a sequel, they didn’t seem to want to pay him accordingly.
A sequel eventually happened, though it went straight to video, with Christopher Showerman replacing Fraser as George and Julie Benz replacing Mann as Ursula, with Thomas Haden Church, John Cleese and Keith Scott reprising their roles. Meanwhile, in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, while discussing the sequel, Fraser referenced a scene in the 2003 follow-up where Disney apparently referenced their own low offer to Fraser.
The actor shared: “I think George got a remake, and he was made a joke that the studio was too cheap to hire me, which was not inaccurate.” Disney did not respond to his comment about the sequel, although Fraser recalls that he was interested in another project, The Quiet American. The actor said, “They contacted me. I can’t remember what I was doing at the time, but I felt like I wanted to go make The Quiet American with Michael Caine, and shoot the first Western movie in Vietnam, directed by Phillip Noyce, to tell an infinitely American story. history.”
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Added Fraser: “I always make diverse decisions and hopefully that keeps me and the audience interested. With a bit of distance, I think all of them have cumulatively led to where I am now.” Fraser reunited with his Airheads co-star Adam Sandler for a Variety Actors on Actors interview, where he recalled that he “starved” to achieve his sculpted look. His new movie The Whale, starring opposite Sadie Sink, Ty Simpkins, Hong Chau and Samantha Morton, hits theaters December 9.
Here’s Why Brendan Fraser Turned Down The Role In ‘George Of The Jungle’ Sequel