How Brendan Fraser Almost Died Filming The Mummy
It may sound hard to believe, but Brendan Fraser almost died when filming one of his greatest movies, The Mummy. The Academy Award-winning actor recently shared the wild story on the Kelly Clarkson Show, telling the host that he was accidentally choked out during a scene, and that he nearly died.
Brendan Fraser says that in a scene of The Mummy in which his character is almost hanged to death, Fraser himself had an accident and almost died.
Though he doesn’t remember too much, he recounted the details from that terrifying moment on set.
In The Mummy, there is a scene where Brendan Fraser’s character is being hanged. With a rope tied tightly around his neck, he gets dropped from the platform, but his neck does not break from the fall. Instead, he hangs from the rope, struggling to breathe before Rachel Weisz’s character saves his life.
While filming, Brendan Fraser really had a rope tied around his neck as he stood high up on his toes to make it look like he was choking. After a few takes, Director Stephen Sommers told Fraser that it didn’t really look like he was choking and asked if he could sell it better.
In the next take, he tried to keep balancing on his toes with the rope around his neck, but he ended up falling to the ground.
When he came to, Brendan Fraser had his elbow in his ear and gravel in his teeth while the crew of The Mummy quietly surrounded him. The stunt coordinator woke him up with a few claps, and excitedly told him, “Congratulations, you’re in the club — the same thing happened to Mel Gibson on Braveheart!”
Looking back on the moment, The Whale actor recalled with a laugh that he responded with, “Thanks, I think?! I wanna go home!”
While filming Braveheart, Mel Gibson nearly died when he fell off a horse during a battle scene. His horse reared up and bucked him off, and a stunt coordinator grabbed the actor before the horse came back down and landed on him.
The stunt coordinator woke him up with a few claps, and excitedly told him, “Congratulations, you’re in the club — the same thing happened to Mel Gibson on Braveheart!”
Brendan Fraser starred in all three of The Mummy’s films, including the first film in 1999, the 2001 sequel The Mummy Returns, and 2008’s The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. This does not include the 2017 failed reboot attempt with Tom Cruise.
The 54-year-old actor may reprise his classic role of Rick O’Connell in a new reboot of The Mummy, alongside original director Stephen Sommers, and co-stars John Hannah and Oded Fehr. While it can be risky to reboot a classic film from decades prior, fans are looking forward to seeing the mummy-fighting, archeological team reunite on the big screen.
Despite his successful career in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Brendan Fraser took a step away from Hollywood for several reasons. He wanted to focus on his own health and wellbeing, care for his ailing mothers, and avoid those in Hollywood who allegedly sexually harassed him.
Brendan Fraser’s Triumphant Return
In 2022, he starred in The Whale, a story about a morbidly obese father who tries to reconnect with his estranged daughter. Brendan Fraser won a much-deserved Oscar for Best Actor for the performance. He has several more projects in the works including Killers of the Flower Moon and Behind the Curtain of Night.
