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Brendan Fraser has been through some ups and downs in his professional and personal life. While this statement might be true of anyone, it particularly applies to The Mummy star. At the height of his success, he was starring in some of the biggest Hollywood blockbusters, was fit as a fiddle, and was married to the actress Afton Smith.
After walking down the aisle in September 1998, the couple had three sons together. They announced in December 2007 that they were getting divorced, a process that was finalized the following year.
In the years that followed, Fraser also became plagued with multiple mental and physical health issues, with The Mummy movies especially taking a toll on him.
Even further down the line, he said that he had once been put in a horrible situation by the then-president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. The fallout from these allegations – coupled with all the other challenges he was facing – forced him into taking a break from acting.
At this crossroads, the next major project of Fraser’s career was likely going to be make or break. And so it proved to be, with his epic comeback in Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale.
What Is The Movie The Whale About?
In The Whale, Brendan Fraser plays the part of Charlie, a middle-aged, 600-pound teacher attempting to repair his relationship with his daughter, Ellie. Charlie left Ellie and her mother to be with a man when the girl was younger. The man later died, and Charlie consequently sank into a binge-eating cycle which resulted in his enormous weight gain.
The Whale was adapted from a play of the same name, which was written by Samuel D. Hunter in 2012. Hunter would also pen the script for the film, with Black Swan director Darren Aronofosky taking charge of the project’s creative direction.
The filmmaker is said to have been keen to bring the story to the big screen ever since Hunter’s play made it on stage. However, he never quite figured out who would make the perfect leading man for a potential motion picture adaptation.
Charlie’s daughter Ellie is played in the film by Sadie Sink, otherwise best known for her portrayal of the character Max Mayfield in Stranger Things on Netflix. Other cast members include Hong Chau, Ty Simpkins and Samantha Morton.
How Much Did Brendan Fraser Earn From The Whale?
According to Showbiz Galore, Brendan Fraser was far and away the highest-paid cast member in the production of The Whale. Sadie Sink was reportedly given a salary of $1 million for the production. This would have been a significant payday for the actress, whose net worth is believed to be just around that same figure as well.
Downsizing star Hong Chau featured in The Whale as a character known as Liz, a nurse who is Charlie’s best friend and takes care of him. For the role, she is said to have taken home around $750,000. The MCU’s Ty Simpkins played a religious missionary called Thomas, and was reportedly remunerated to the tune of $550,000.
Golden Globe Award winner Samantha Morton depicted Mary, the woman who Charlie left for his new flame years ago. Her salary was estimated to have been around the $400,000 mark.
For his emphatic performance, Fraser was reportedly paid a whopping $12 million. It is an amount that is bound to do wonders for his net worth.
What Is Brendan Fraser’s Net Worth In 2022?
Celebrity Net Worth estimates that Brendan Fraser’s net worth stood at around the $20 million mark at the beginning of 2022. This is a level of wealth that most would covet – including a good number of his peers in Hollywood. However, it is also a significant climbdown from where he has been in the past.
When Fraser was at the very top of his game, he was said to have a net worth of around $45 million. A combination of factors over the years saw the better part of this hemorrhage until he was left with less than half. His mega payday from The Whale can now be seen as the first step towards rebuilding that net worth.
It is unlikely that the entire sum of $12 million will end up in Fraser’s bank accounts, with taxes and agent fees coming into consideration. Beyond The Whale, however, the actor’s reclaimed status as a leading Hollywood star should also improve his prospects for better pay in future projects.
Fraser is also part of the cast of Martin Scorsese’s star-studded film Killers of the Flower Moon, which was produced on a budget of $200 million. He also stars in Brothers, another 2023 project, with a $45 million budget.