Brendan Fraser revealed that he “nearly” died while filming one particular scene in The Mummy.
In the first installment of the franchise, there’s a hanging sequence, and the rope around his neck tightened too much during the shot.
“I was standing on my toes like this, with the rope [around my neck], and you only got so far to go,” Fraser said on The Kelly Clarkson Show. “And [director] Stephen [Sommers] ran over, and he said, ‘Hey, it doesn’t really look like you’re, you know, choking — can you sell it?’ And I was like, ‘All right, fine.’ So I thought, ‘One more take, man.’”
When the director went in for the last take, Fraser stood on his toes, and the crew member holding the rope above him pulled it a little higher.
“I was stuck on my toes — I had nowhere to go but down,” The Whale actor told the host. “And so he was pulling up, and I was going down, and the next thing I knew, my elbow was in my ear, the world was sideways, there was gravel in my teeth, and everyone was really quiet,” he recalled.
When the stunt coordinator woke him, he cheerfully told him, “Congratulations, you’re in the club — the same thing happened to Mel Gibson on Braveheart.” The actor joked that he could only respond, “Thanks, I think?! I wanna go home!”
Since The Mummy, Fraser has gone on to star in projects like Journey to the Center of the Earth, Crash, Extraordinary Measures and his most recent one, The Whale, for which he received several best actor nominations, including an Oscar nod. So far, this awards season, he’s taken home the critics choice award and the SAG award for his performance as Charlie in the drama.