Brendan Fraser has always been an acting heavyweight. If his personal life hadn’t derailed his professional career, he would probably have competed directly with Leonardo DiCaprio. However, he is starting to experience the stardom he lost in his youth after winning the Best Actor Oscar at the 2023 Academy Awards.
However, he and DiCaprio are in different leagues now. But, once upon a time, before Fraser’s life went off-track, he actually replaced DiCaprio in a project. Granted, the role was small, but it showed that producers looked at Fraser as a contemporary competitor of the Titanic star.
Brendan Fraser Replaced Leonardo DiCaprio In A Film
One of Brendan Fraser’s earliest roles was in Now and Then (1995), a coming-of-age film about 4 girls, played by Christina Ricci, Gaby Hoffmann, Thora Birch, and Ashleigh Aston Moore. Fraser played the role of a Vietnam veteran in the film who the four lead characters meet while on their bikes. In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, screenwriter Marlene King revealed that it was Leonardo DiCaprio who was their first choice for the role. But he couldn’t do it probably due to a scheduling conflict. She said:
“The one role that originally was different was Leonardo DiCaprio was going to play the Vietnam vet, but something happened and he had a conflict. I know, it’s crazy!”
The film received only middling reviews when it was released but it grossed a respectable $37.5 million against a budget of $12 million. Now the movie is considered to be a cult classic because it was centered on female relationships and friendships. As for Brendan Fraser, heft on to do bigger things like starring in George of the Jungle and The Mummy franchise.
However, he couldn’t sustain that stardom due to personal issues. His divorce from ex-wife Afton Smith, the death of his mother, injuries from stunt work, as well as allegedly getting blacklisted by former HFPA president Philip Berk played a role in it. However, now Fraser is back with a fairytale Hollywood comeback story and he is also starring in a movie with Leonardo DiCaprio.
Brendan Fraser Starring with Leonardo DiCaprio In A Martin Scorsese Film
After The Whale, Brendan Fraser is starring in a project by another highly acclaimed filmmaker, Martin Scorsese. The actor will share the screen with Leonardo DiCaprio in Killers of the Flower Moon. However, there’s no enmity between the two veteran Hollywood actors. In fact, Fraser mentioned Leonardo DiCaprio being thankful to him.
The two of them met at a screening of the 1993 film What’s Eating Gilbert Grape. During an interview with SiriusXM, Fraser said that DiCaprio appreciated the fact that Fraser didn’t treat him as a child. He said:
“[DiCaprio] told me I was the first person that didn’t treat him like a little kid because when I met him I didn’t see a little kid. I saw a really formidable actor who was a young person of course, but a force to be reckoned with, and man, I was lucky to go on that quick journey with them to work with Scorsese.”
Killers of the Flower Moon has a $200 million budget and it will have its world premiere at the 76th Cannes Film Festival on May 20, 2023. The film is going to mark the sixth collaboration between Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese.
Killers of the Flower Moon will be released widely in the US on October 20, 2023.
