Brendan Fraser recently explained why he believes The Rock was the perfect actor to play the Scorpion King in The Mummy series.
In 2001, The Mummy Returns introduced The Rock in his first-ever movie role as the Scorpion King. The movie helped launch his Hollywood career and eventually made him one of the biggest stars in the world.
Now, decades later, Fraser and The Rock reunited for Variety’s Actors on Actors The Rock sat for The Smashing Machine and Fraser sat for Rental Family. The conversation opened with The Rock thanking Fraser for welcoming him into the franchise all those years ago.
Fraser responded with major praise, “You’re too kind, Dwayne. You were always the right guy for the job. When I was told that you were a possibility for it… forgive me, but I didn’t know you from the wrestling world. And when I was shown, I said, ‘That is perfect. That is inspired casting. That’s fantastic. We’d be lucky to get the guy.'”
Fraser explained why The Rock was the ideal villain, “No, seriously. I mean, come on. Because it felt like you need a stadium persona performance to play a villain you love to hate. And to introduce yourself into that franchise, it’s gonna take a lot of confidence and belief that, yeah, you could take on all the big, scary bad guys and fight them back and do all of the action and everything.”
He also pointed out that The Rock brought a unique presence the movie needed. “And also you presented a formidable foe to the characters in the movie. I mean, Imhotep was the heavy. Right. But we needed someone bigger and badder than Imhotep. And who are you gonna get? They got you, dude. It worked out the best for everyone.”
Fraser praised The Rock’s transition from wrestling to acting with a heartfelt comparison, “You are a gentleman. Because I promise you, what you did in the wrestling world… you were painting with like a 10-inch brush. You know? Large. You need to.”
“Big energy. And then, to step into roles in front of a camera, you need you know, a different format camera. You need to pare it down. Get out the sable lines, and you know? But you still have to have both abilities. And you did, and you do. And it gets better. Your paintings are getting better all the time. I mean it. I’ve seen Smashing Machine.”
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