Brendan Fraser Says He Nearly Died While Filming The Mummy : 'I Was Choked Out Accidentally'

Brendan Fraser is recalling a scary experience on the set of The Mummy.

On Tuesday's episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show, the 2023 Oscar nominee recalled being "choked out accidentally" while filming a hanging scene for his 1999 hit action-adventure film.

"I was standing on my toes like this, with the rope [around my neck], and you only got so far [you can move]," Fraser, 54, told host Kelly Clarkson of what led to the incident.

He continued, "And [director Stephen Sommers] ran over and he said, 'Hey, it doesn't really look like you're choking — can you sell it?' And I was like, 'All right, fine.' So I thought, 'One more take, man.' "

"And the camera swooped around and I went up on the toes, and the guy holding the rope above me, he pulled it up a little higher and I was stuck on my toes — I had nowhere to go but down," The Whale actor explained. "And so he was pulling up and I was going down."

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The next thing Fraser knew, "My elbow was in my ear, the world was sideways, there was gravel in my teeth and everyone was really quiet."

And while the stunt coordinator who woke him from his passed-out state jovially told him, " 'Congratulations, you're in the club — the same thing happened to Mel Gibson on Braveheart,' " the actor joked that he could only respond, "Thanks, I think?! I wanna go home!"

Fraser previously opened up in a 2018 profile with GQ about how his more physical roles in movies like The Mummy and 1997's George of the Jungle took a serious toll on his body.

His injuries led to multiple surgeries — but, as the SAG Award winner explained of taking on any acting job he could get at the time, "I probably was trying too hard, in a way that's destructive."

"I felt like the horse from Animal Farm, whose job it was to work and work and work," Fraser said. "He worked for the good of the whole, he didn't ask questions, he didn't make trouble until it killed him. … I don't know if I've been sent to the glue factory, but I've felt like I've had to rebuild s--- that I've built that got knocked down and do it again for the good of everyone. Whether it hurts you or not."

Frank Trapper/Corbis/Getty Brendan Fraser in The Mummy (1999)

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Despite some less-than-ideal parts of the experience, Fraser said in an October 2022 interview with Variety that he would be "open to" reprising his role as adventurer Rick O'Connell again should The Mummy ever have another reboot, "if someone came up with the right conceit."

Last month, the actor surprised a packed house at London's Prince Charles Cinema during a screening of the original Mummy film, wearing a leather jacket, khakis and boots reminiscent of his character.

"I am proud to stand before you tonight," Fraser began. "This is a film that was made in Britain. You should know that! ... Even the second one, too."

"Be proud. Thank you for being here," he continued.