Fans of Brendan Fraser were beside themselves with excitement when the world's most lovable actor gatecrashed a screening of The Mummy this week.
The 54-year-old actor has had a fantastic few months, having received a Critic's Choice Award, and both a Golden Globe and Oscar nomination for his portrayal of a morbidly obese 600-pound English teacher attempting to reconnect with his estranged daughter in The Whale.
Check out this trailer for The Whale:After winning the Critic's Choice Award, the Journey to the Center of the Earth actor credited the film's director Darren Aronofsky, thanking the Black Swan director for "finding" him. "I was in the wilderness, and I probably should have left a trail of breadcrumbs, but you've found me. And like all the best directors, you merely just showed me where to go to get to where I needed to be," he stated.
He also added: "'There are only five critics in America; the rest are asleep,'" citing the iconic quote by Herman Melville. "I don't know what it means either, but I'm so glad you woke up for me."
The Canadian-American actor has clearly been in good spirits as he surprised fans watching a back-t0-back screening of The Mummy (1999) and its sequel The Mummy Returns (2001) at the Prince Charles Theater in London.
Fraser starred as adventurer Rick O'Connell in the flick, which follows the story of how he inadvertently wakes up an evil mummy during an archeological excavation. At the time, the movie received over $400 million at the box office with an $80 million budget, per The Numbers.
Groups of excited fans crammed into the London cinema to see the films and were stunned when Fraser turned up dressed as O'Connell. He unsurprisingly received a lengthy standing ovation, before taking to the stage to make a heartfelt speech about The Mummy movies.
"I am proud to stand before you tonight," he began, adding: "Friday night in Leicester Square...I first started seeing films right across the street, I saw Star Wars in 1977 and it changed my life, made me want to star in movies. And this is a film that was made in Britain, you should know that. Shepperton I believe. We shot it in Morocco, and even the second one too, be proud. Thank you for being here."
The decorated actor then spoke about his time filming the movie during the late 90s. "We had no idea what kind of movie we were making when we shot this," he recalled. "We didn't know if it was a drama, a comedy, a horror movie, straight action, all of the above. No idea, until it tested in front of British audiences, thank you for that."
As an actor, Fraser was wildly popular throughout the 90s and early 00s, however, he took a hiatus from acting after coming out with sexual assault allegations against Philip Berk, a former president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (the organization responsible for the Golden Globes).
Speaking to GQ in 2018, Fraser recounted the incident that occurred in 2003, stating: "His left hand reaches around, grabs my a** cheek, and one of his fingers touches me in the taint. And he starts moving it around."
"I felt ill. I felt like a little kid. I felt like there was a ball in my throat. I thought I was going to cry," he added, revealing that he went home and told his wife. "I felt like someone had thrown invisible paint on me."
Following this, Fraser was effectively blacklisted from Hollywood. Though, given his recent roaring successes, it's beginning to appear that he's definitely having the last laugh.