Brendan Fraser is currently enjoying a career renaissance due to his acclaimed – yet problematic– performance as a 600-pound gay man in The Whale. The role has garnered him the best reviews of his career and his first Oscar nomination for Best Actor.
With over 30 years in the business, Fraser has been entertaining audiences whether swinging shirtless from vines in George of the Jungle, battling the undead in The Mummy trilogy, or exercising his dramatic chops in the queer period drama Gods and Monsters.
Related: 5 reasons we’re convinced ‘George of the Jungle’ is the gayest Disney movie of them all
But it’s one of his earliest roles that the actor is now shedding light and really, ahem, exposing his acting process.
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Back in 1992, Fraser co-starred with a bevy of up-and-coming hot young actors in the teen drama School Ties. Set in the late ‘50s, the film also featured Matt Damon, Chris O’Donnell, Ben Affleck, Anthony Rapp, Randall Batinkoff, and future Yellowstone actor Cole Hauser, as students at an elite all-boys private school.
Despite not being a huge box office success, gays of a certain age will definitely remember feeling all kinds of things watching these hunks on the rise in their school uniforms, on the football field, and flashing their shirtless taut bodies in one very homoerotic shower scene between Fraser and Damon.
In the film, a bathroom brawl ignites after Damon’s character outs Fraser to the football team for being Jewish, a fact the character hid due to the rampant antisemitism at the school.
In a new interview, Fraser opened up about the scene and how both actors roughed each other up while being completely naked. That’s right, totally nude! You hear that, Magic Mike?!
“It was scary. It’s scary to do that,” Fraser told Howard Stern. “And when you’re an actor and you’re starting off, you’re ambitious and game for pretty much anything. They say, ‘Jump,’ and you say, ‘How high?'”
Despite being fearful of letting all hang out, Fraser didn’t feel the steamy wrestling scene was gratuitous. Nope, not at all!
Watch it for yourself below:
Fraser went on to stress the deeper meaning to these two young men baring all.
“I appreciated that this isn’t really for wow or a scintillating factor of going, ‘Hey, look at that. Naked people.’ The point of it was that when Damon’s character says what he says about David, he just reveals who he is. His anti-Semitism and his prejudice is stripped down naked, and it’s ugly,” said Fraser.
“And the door is locked and they fight over it like shaved apes that need to be pulled apart because they’ve run out of things to say to one another, and it just turns into an ugly knuckle-dusting fit.”
While physical violence is never cute, fans can take solace in revisiting the beautiful sight of Fraser, Damon, and O’Donnell’s booty-ful backsides as they lather up!
School Ties is available to stream on DirecTV. It is also available for rent or purchase on Amazon, Google Play, YouTube, RedBox, AppleTV, and Vudu.
Mack
Nice ass shot of Damon.
Diplomat
Tasty!
Paul2
took the words right out of my mouth.
bachy
Interesting to see how their bodies looked then compared to how they look now. The difference between youthfulness and old age seems largely a matter of the accumulation of excess weight.
Neoprene
Incredible insight, Bichy.
bachy
Thank you Neo! Makes aging something that is mainly under one’s control, don’t you think?
dbmcvey
bachy, why did you bother posting this? Just to shame these actors for gaining weight? You also seem to have missed Neoprene’s spelling of your name.
I don’t know why you felt you had to point this out and attempt to shame these men. It’s not kind, it’s not helpful, it’s just, as Neoprene said “Bichy.”
ScottOnEarth
You’re partially correct, bachy. Muscle tone also has a lot to do with it because it weakens as the body ages and things spread and fall. You make a good point, though 🙂
dbmcvey
@ScottOnEarth
So, you contradict him but say he makes a good point? How?
bachy
Thank you Scott! It helps me to remember that a lot of the things we like to attribute to “aging” are really in our hands.
ps: db, stop being ridiculous! I’m quite comfortable with Neo’s endearments!
Diplomat
I agree Bachy. The Hollywood hotties that got fat could resume their hotness if they’d lay down the fork. I.e. Alec Baldwin.
dbmcvey
@bachy
I’m sure Neoprene wasn’t the first to call you bichy and won’t be the last.
cuteguy
We all age and it depends on the individual what they want to do (or not do with their physical appearance). At the end of the day, the only solution to not aging is death bc no one here is Peter Pan. So live for today and keep exercising (if you choose to) bc tomorrow is never promised
Phuryous4
You’re really kinda shallow, aren’t you? We all know that Brendan Fraser had SEVERAL surgeries, because of movie stunt injuries, including knee replacement and spinal surgery which would prohibit the kind of exercise needed to stave off the natural aging process. Most likely he had to undergo years of physical therapy to be able to walk again without aid. Also, he always had a beefy body type that was never twink size. But here’s the thing, if you’re lucky, you will age, as well. But I’m sure it will hit you much harder because you seem to place a lot of value in personal appearance. You can exercise constantly, have countless cosmetic procedures and you still will age or look like Madonna. If you live long enough, you will be under the same scrutiny and your obvious insecurities will make it VERY difficult for you to accept it so you are bound to do something ill-advised just to hold onto a youthful appearance but you STILL will be nothing more than an old, bitter queen who the young twinks will shun. You better work on your personality because looks fade fast, whether you accept or not.
bachy
I can’t help feeling that several commenters are overreacting to my post. Any medical doctor will tell you that watching your weight will reduce health problems as you age and – dare I say it – help to maintain a more youthful appearance.
I am sorry if you or someone you love has endured health issues that inhibit adhering to what is a simple and completely benevolent medical observation. But I don’t think people who make an effort to follow this kind of sound advice are necessarily “shallow, plastic-surgery addicted bitter queens” worthy of being “shunned.” Watching one’s weight is a commonplace prescription for health and happiness that can be leveraged by most anyone at any age.
JRamonMc
As per usual by the comments once again, we are our own worst enemies.
ScottOnEarth
How right you are, unfortunately.
winemaker
My question : where are the frontal shots of these handsome young men, especially Matt Damon? Ass shots are fine but as gay men we need to see thee ‘whole monty’
inbama
That’s why God invented pornography.
Let the actors act.
radiooutmike
I was laid off and looking for work that summer.
But I never went to see it, because the commercial had Brendan Fraser screaming in the rain!