Dwayne Johnson cheers on Mummy costar Brendan Fraser: 'Rooting for all your success brother'

Clark Collis
·2 min read
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Brendan Fraser fans around the world were delighted to learn on Sunday that the actor received a lengthy standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival for his performance in director Darren Aaronofsky's The Whale. Among those pleased admirers? Dwayne Johnson, who made his debut movie appearance in 2001's Fraser-starring The Mummy Returns.

"Man this makes me so happy to see this beautiful ovation for Brendan," Johnson wrote on Sunday, retweeting footage of Fraser surrounded by the clapping Venice audience. "He supported me coming into his Mummy Returns franchise for my first ever role, which kicked off my Hollywood career. Rooting for all your success brother and congrats to my bud Darren Aronofsky."

In the 2001 sequel to 1999's The Mummy, Fraser reprised his role of adventurer Rick O'Connell while Johnson portrayed the character The Scorpion King.

When EW talked with Fraser three years ago for an oral history of The Mummy, the actor recalled that he did not work with Johnson on the set of the film, because Johnson's character was computer-generated in the scenes which featured O'Connell, but spoke warmly of the Jumanji star.

"He was a big orange piece of tape on the end of a long two-by-four while I was working [on the film] we jumped and ducked and weaved as he thrashed and smashed around at us," said Fraser. "I met him at the premiere for the first time and said, 'Hi! How do you do!' I sure liked meeting him very much and then ran into him a couple of times in the ensuing years. I was excited for him, because this was the first time that he was allowed to be an actor. He wasn't just the go-to muscles guy. He was transitioning from the wrestling world and it was fun. It was neat. I feel happy to have known him back in the humble beginnings times, when we were all kind of starting off."

In The Whale, Fraser plays Charlie, a man affected by severe obesity who is grappling with the loss of a lover as he attempts to reconnect with his estranged teenage daughter, played by Stranger Things breakout Sadie Sink.

The Whale does not have a theatrical date yet.

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