Brendan Fraser’s Oscar Push Has Nothing to Fear from The CW’s ‘Professionals’

Ben Travers
·8 min read
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

In the year of our Lord Cate Blanchett, running a successful Oscar campaign is akin to running a marathon on a tightrope. The first stride is pivotal: An anticipated title must be properly teased, and “surprise” breakouts still require the right awards context (fall release timing, renowned festival premieres, etc.) if critics and tastemakers are to anoint a new contender. Next steps come in a flurry: The reaction roundups, review roundups, and reactions to the reaction and review roundups all swirl together to shape the would-be-nominee’s initial “buzz.”

Right now, this is where Brendan Fraser finds himself — in the midst of an Oscar push for his heavily touted “comeback” turn in “The Whale,” a Darren Aronofsky film starring everyone’s favorite “Mummy” lead (sorry, Tom) as a reclusive English teacher living with severe obesity. First looks stirred considerable interest. Early buzz out of Venice is strong. And while the film has seen a steady stream of negative notices, Fraser’s performance has persevered. Depending on your preferred prognosticator, he’s either a surefire nominee or right on the cusp.

More from IndieWire

But sustaining that buzz (or, at least, living up to it) is a whole other race. Interviews, panels, and choreographed honors need to be carefully navigated. The film’s rollout has to be seen as “successful” — or successful enough to avoid casting a pall on its participants. Public reaction, honestly, means very little. Since the predominant narrative is that the common moviegoer doesn’t actually bother to watch serious Oscar fare, even a neutral impact on popular culture can be seen as a step toward gold. All this typically takes place before the precursor awards, stretching from profile-boosting critics’ groups in December to guild honors that bestow frontrunner status come January.

Oscar season, in actuality, is a year-round business — “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” which could snag Best Picture and Best Actress nods in 2023, premiered two days before the 2022 Oscars — but most major contenders plot a course from September (at Telluride, Venice, and TIFF) through March (at the winners’ ceremony). Limiting the length of the race is almost as critical as taking advantages of its opportunities for advancement. After all, slips and stumbles can come from just about anywhere. Even elements that have nothing, technically, to do with honoring the best of the year in film can upend an actor’s dreams. Turbulence doesn’t have to come from a film at all. They could, for instance, lurk behind a TV show — a TV show so bad, it casts doubt over the merit of all involved; a TV show like… “Professionals”?

Now, before explaining what a “Professionals” actually is, it’s worth noting that programs airing on The CW should have the same effect on the Oscars as they tend to have on the Emmys: none. The fading teen drama powerhouse has never carried much awards clout. This is TV, not HBO — the latter of which is so well-respected, it’s routinely credited (or blamed) for Matthew McConaughey’s 2014 Best Actor win, when the first season of “True Detective” rolled out out as Academy voters considered his turn in “Dallas Buyers Club.” Perhaps it’s fitting then that The CW could have an inverse impact on this year’s Oscar race: costing an actor their trophy rather than pushing them to the podium.

Enter “Professionals.” A few years ago, between seasons of “Doom Patrol,” Brendan Fraser took a co-starring role in an action procedural created by Jeff Most and Michael Colleary. A co-production between the Republic of Ireland and South Africa, the 10-episode first season came and went overseas, before The CW (in keeping with its international acquisition strategy) picked it up for release in the States. Now, just as the one-time George of the Jungle is making the rounds for “The Whale,” anyone with an antenna can watch him provide comic relief for “Smallville’s” Tom Welling.

“Professionals,” in keeping with its lackluster title, offers little more than stock characters in a rudimentary action series. Fraser’s archetype is named Peter Swann, a billionaire tech giant who wants to use his money to make the world a better place — no, really. Peter’s latest endeavor is launching a spaceship, sure, but it’s not just for kicks. The payload isn’t Peter on an ego-stroking joyride, but a satellite programmed to help predict viral outbreaks, thus preventing the next pandemic.

Of course, his benevolent aims come crashing down when the rocket explodes shortly after launch. Everyone is aghast. Peter is heartbroken, but he soon suspects foul play. At the advice of his girlfriend, the project’s “medical visionary” Dr. Grace Davila (Elena Anaya), Peter hires Vincent Corbo (Welling) to look into what happened. Vincent isn’t just a respected security operative, trained to protect demanding clients by any means necessary, he’s also Grace’s ex-boyfriend. No matter. Peter has all the self-assurance billions of dollars can buy, so he’s not exactly threatened by his betrothed’s brawny former lover.

“Professionals” - Credit: Courtesy of Leonine Studios / The CW
“Professionals” - Credit: Courtesy of Leonine Studios / The CW

Courtesy of Leonine Studios / The CW

Vincent is soon hired as Peter’s full-time security officer, which allows “Professionals” to bounce between an ongoing conspiracy-laden investigation into the space shuttle disaster and one-off missions of a more personal nature (like rescuing Peter’s rebellious daughter from an awful rapper/boyfriend). You can imagine what happens from there. Vincent beats up, shoots, and runs from a staggering number of bad guys. Peter tags along, offering deluxe accommodations to make up for his lack of physical assistance. (Peter does not like guns, or fighting, or taking phone calls from co-workers with a desperate message to share.) The two bicker and banter like the odd couple they are, and slowly form the type of macho friendship that ’80s action comedies thrived on.

“Professionals” is… pretty dumb. The dialogue needs about nine more drafts, the editing is all over the map, and the visuals make “Spider-Man: No Way Home” look like “Blade Runner.” (To be fair, the disparate location work used to Peter’s convey globe-trotting adventures sure keeps things lively.) But none of that comes back on Fraser. The bonafide movie star flexes his charm gracefully, never overwhelming his taciturn co-star while always adding warmth. Even when Peter is stuck delivering bad dad jokes — “What’s an astronaut’s favorite meal of the day? Launch!” — he groans along with the audience, taking the tough scene and using it to build out his character.

It’s not a performance anyone needs to see, but it’s not one to cause any embarrassment either — an important distinction when it comes to Oscar odds, since the specter of “Norbit” still haunts actors to this day. By now, anyone remotely invested in the Academy Awards knows the story: In 2007, Eddie Murphy was primed to win his first little gold man. Heading into Oscar night, he’d already won the Golden Globe and SAG Award for his acclaimed turn in “Dreamgirls,” making him the heavy favorite to triumph as the year’s Best Supporting Actor. But in between the January 23 nominations and the February 25 ceremony, voters were given another Murphy performance to evaluate: “Norbit” hit theaters on February 9 and suffered a critical panning like few other films. Labeled “hideously offensive” and “racially insensitive,” a theory started to gain traction: Was “Norbit” bad enough to cost Murphy his Oscar?

In short: Yes. Murphy lost to Alan Arkin, and “The ‘Norbit’ Effect” was born. But whether Murphy’s atrocious comedy was really what cost him the gold remains a hotly contested topic among a very select, very opinionated group of people (Oscar fans). “Dreamgirls” landed eight nominations and two wins (including for Jennifer Hudson in Supporting Actress), but it missed out on a Best Picture nomination many expected it to snag. “Little Miss Sunshine” did not; the irresistible Sundance darling had a lot of goodwill heading into the ceremony and took home Original Screenplay in addition to Supporting Actor. Even without the movie’s fan-favorite status, Arkin was a Hollywood icon who’d never been handed the town’s highest honor. His time had come.

By now, the truth doesn’t really matter. The apocryphal tale has gained enough notoriety that campaigns have to reckon with it — but Fraser’s campaign shouldn’t. Murphy’s run was framed as a comeback, as well: After a series of box office flops met with harsh reviews, the comedian was taking his profession seriously again — so seriously that he starred in a serious film, met with serious acclaim, and deserving serious consideration. “Norbit” refuted that entire narrative. He’s not serious, he’s silly. How could the Academy give out its highest honor to a man still chasing cheap laughs?

“Professionals,” on the other hand, plays into Fraser’s campaign narrative. The actor’s comeback isn’t from a series of flops, but from acting itself, taken for personal and medical reasons. As he notes in profiles, Fraser kept working over the past 10 years, but the opportunities weren’t blockbusters like “The Mummy” or dramas like “The Quiet American.” They were TV shows, mainly: a third season arc in “The Affair,” a supporting role in the short-lived remake of “Condor,” a blip of a comeback shot in FX’s forgotten limited series, “Trust.” And, of course, “Doom Patrol.” “Professionals” may be the worst of these projects, but as an international production originally intended to air outside the U.S., it’s the kind of job an actor might take when working their way back to prominence.

Oscar campaigns are long, complicated, and unpredictable. Just about anything could upend those stationed in the pole position. But Fraser should be able to put “Professionals” in his rearview mirror. If I were on his awards team, I’d be far more worried about Colin Farrell. Now there’s a guy who knows how to run.

“Professionals” premiered Tuesday, October 11 at 9 p.m. on The CW. From A24, “The Whale” premieres Friday, December 9 in theaters.

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.