By the time The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor premiered in 2008, the star of The Mummy trilogy, Brendan Fraser, was essentially a mummy himself, put together by tape and bandages.
All movie sets experience the odd injury here and there. Still, Fraser's body alone sustained more than the normal amount of injuries one can get while making an action film, and definitely, more than anyone else could probably endure. He was pushed to the breaking point as if he'd actually been fighting the entire City of the Dead. If he were pushed any further, the cast and crew would have had to resurrect him with the Book of the Dead.
In fact, Fraser came very close to meeting Osiris and making a home for himself in the ancient Egyptian city. Thankfully, Fraser left the trilogy with his life still intact, but those serious injuries, unfortunately, became one of the biggest reasons why Fraser disappeared from our screens. He didn't want his career to cool down, nor did he really want to quit acting altogether and ultimately lose his $45 million net worth, but his body just couldn't do it anymore.
Don't Try To Make A Scene Look Cool If You Have A Rope Around Your Neck
According to The Mummy's stunt coordinator, Fraser joined the club of people who have almost choked to death on set, which Fraser doesn't know if he should be proud of or not. Other members include Mel Gibson, who almost choked out during Braveheart.
Fraser had an especially horrific day at work after deciding he wanted to make a certain scene look really cool. He almost ended up dead for it.
During the hanging sequence at the beginning of The Mummy, Fraser was on a platform with a rope around his neck. He wanted it to look really cool, so he took a couple of deep breathes, bared down, and realized he was on the balls of his feet. The rope went up, and he had nowhere to go.
"I did get fully choked-out," Fraser told Entertainment Weekly. "It was scary. Rick is dangling at the end of the rope, and he’s such a tough guy that his neck didn’t snap. We did the wide shot, which was the stuntman going down, and he had a harness on, and it looked great. Then they’ve got to go in [for a close-up]. There was a hangman’s gallows, and there was a hemp rope tied into a noose that was placed around my neck. The first take, I’m doing my best choking acting. Steve says, 'Can we go for another one and take up the tension on the rope?' I said, 'All right, one more take.' Because a noose around your neck is going to choke you in the arteries, no matter what."
"So, the stuntman took up the tension on the rope, and I went up on the balls of my feet, then guess he took the tension up again, and I’m not a ballerina, I can’t stand on my tip-toes. I remember seeing the camera start to pan around, and then it was like a black iris at the end of a silent film. It was like turning down the volume switch on your home stereo, like the Death Star powering down. I regained consciousness, and one of the EMTs was saying my name. There was gravel in my ear and sh** really hurt.
"The stunt coordinator came over, and he said, 'Hi! Welcome to the club, bro! Ha ha ha!' And I was like, 'Ha ha, funny? Ha ha?' Like, What the hell? I want to go home! Steven — he and I disagree — but I think he was trying to go, 'Oh, that wacky Brendan, acting up a storm again!', or something like that. I was like, 'Hey, you guys think what you need to, but I’m done for the day.'"
However, according to Rachel Weisz, who played Evie, Fraser actually stopped breathing and needed CPR. Stephen Sommers, the writer, and director said only Fraser was to blame for almost dying. Fraser agrees because he was the one who really wanted to sell it.
Don't Touch Indigenous Snakes
Fraser had a couple of other brushes with death, but one occurred offset. They were filming The Mummy in Morrocco, so the filmmakers felt the need to send the cast and crew a little memo about staying away from certain indigenous creatures.
"They sent a memo out on the call sheet describing a type of snake that, I think, it had yellow dots on it," Fraser said. "They said, 'If you see this kind of snake, do not go near it. Walk — or run away. Because, at best, if it bites you, maybe they’ll amputate your limb.' Anyway, there I was, pi**ing down a rock, and I look down, and there’s the yellow dot snake. I was like, 'F***!' I just ran for it."
Fraser further tested how dangerous the film business can be by performing most of his own stunts too, and after a while, they took their toll. Looking back, Fraser told GQ, "I believe I probably was trying too hard, in a way that's destructive."
"By the time I did the third Mummy picture in China, I was put together with tape and ice. I was building an exoskeleton for myself daily." Eventually, he needed a laminectomy, but "the lumbar didn't take, so they had to do it again a year later."
He later had a partial knee replacement, more work on his back, and had to bolt "various compressed spinal pads together." He was in and out of hospitals for seven years. Gone were the days where he could fix the problem with a shot of B12. These health issues, plus another sticky situation with an ex-HFPA president Philip Berk collectively stole Fraser from us. But it's okay; he has fan's support. They won't let him choke out any longer.