Movie Stunts Actors Regret

Brendan Fraser rose to prominence playing the swashbuckling lead in 1999’s “The Mummy” and its 2001 sequel “The Mummy Returns,” both of which contain plenty of action set pieces. Fraser blacked out while filming his hanging scene in the first movie, and it was a scary experience. After his stuntman did the wide shots, Fraser came in for the close-ups, and he quickly saw the world fade around him. “It was like turning down the volume switch on your home stereo, like the Death Star powering down,” Fraser told Entertainment Weekly. “I regained consciousness and one of the EMTs was saying my name.” The stunt coordinator found it funny, but Fraser wasn’t amused. “I was like, ‘Hey, you guys think what you need to, but I’m done for the day.'”

Even now, Fraser and director Stephen Sommers argue about who is to blame for the incident, though the actor has ultimately taken responsibility for his stunt choices. He was simply taking on too much at the time. “I believe I probably was trying too hard, in a way that’s destructive,” Fraser told GQ, comparing himself to the workhorse from George Orwell’s “Animal Farm.” The actor said that he was always in and out of hospitals and that, when production on “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor” began in 2008, his body was falling apart. “By the time I did the third ‘Mummy’ picture in China I was put together with tape and ice,” he said.