Brendan Fraser Apologizes to San Francisco 25 Years After ‘George of the Jungle’ Stunt on Bay Bridge

Samantha Bergeson
·2 min read
5
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

Brendan Fraser is issuing a big apology to the City of San Francisco 25 years after a movie stunt caused city uproar.

The “Whale” star joked during the 2022 Mill Valley Film Festival that it was his “bad” a “George of the Jungle” climatic sequence involving his character George saving a parachuter on the Bay Bridge was believed to be real. The 1997 film featured Fraser as George, a Tarzan-like character who is a fish-out-of-water in San Francisco after leaving the jungle.

More from IndieWire

Now, 25 years later, and Fraser is setting the record straight about production halting traffic at the time and leading to local newscasters believing the film stunt was real.

“When we were doing George of the Jungle, George goes to rescue a parachutist tangled in the Golden Gate Bridge,” Fraser told SFGATE, mistaking the Golden Gate Bridge for the film’s Bay Bridge. “That means Disney put a mannequin hanging by a parachute from the uprights.”

Fraser continued, “It brought traffic to a standstill on either side of the bridge. My trailer was on the other side in a parking lot. I just remember watching the Golden Gate Bridge. There’s this dummy parachutist hanging from it. I had the TV on, and Oprah got interrupted because there was a special news report with helicopters saying a parachute is dangling on the bridge. And I’m going — wait a minute, I’m looking at the helicopters and TV — somebody didn’t pull a permit, somebody’s going to get in trouble with the mayor’s office. So I can only apologize for that.”

He joked, “So, that said, my bad. It won’t happen again.”

Fraser also recently reflected on his other ’90s film roles in “The Mummy” franchise, saying he would be open to leading a fourth installment if possible. However, the “Doom Patrol” actor distanced the Tom Cruise-led 2017 reboot from canon.

“It is hard to make that movie. The ingredient that we had going for our ‘Mummy,’ which I didn’t see in that film, was fun,” Fraser said. “That was what was lacking in that incarnation. It was too much of a straight-ahead horror movie. ‘The Mummy’ should be a thrill ride, but not terrifying and scary. I know how difficult it is to pull it off. I tried to do it three times.”

Best of IndieWire

Sign up for Indiewire's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Click here to read the full article.