Brendan Fraser's George of the Junge Outraged Parents for Most Bizarre Reason
There were many George’s copycats who wanted to be just like him.
George of the Jungle was released in 1997 and brought well-deserved fame and popularity to the actor Brendan Fraser, who played the lead role in it. According to the story, the main character was raised by a family of monkeys in the jungle, but then he met the woman who brought him to civilization.
The movie became a box office hit and one of the main family comedies of the 2000s. However, instead of gratitude for the unforgettable movie experience, Brendan Fraser often received dissatisfaction from the viewers, and especially from people with kids.
George, since he was raised by monkeys, just like Tarzan jumped from vine to vine and often crashed face first into tree trunks. With the movie's huge popularity, it's no surprise that George had imitators. And these imitators were, of course, children. In one of the interviews, the actor said:
“For a while there, parents were stopping me going, 'Oh, man, I really loved you in George of the Jungle, it was such a great movie. I have a bone to pick with you, my kid got eight stitches.'”
Well, the kids just wanted to be like their jungle idol. But while Brendan crashed into rubber trees, the kids went full Tarzan mode and crashed into real rough tree trunks. Can't blame them for that, though.
However, the actor himself had a hard time on the set of the movie. Everyone who saw George of the Jungle remembers what an amazing physical form the actor had at that time.
As Brendan said, achieving outstanding physical form was a very difficult challenge for him. He literally starved himself to look his best on screen. In the end, it affected his life in the most unpleasant way – he began to forget even the most important things:
“I needed some cash one day, and I went to the ATM, and I could not remember my PIN number because my brain was misfiring.”
Only after more than 20 years in the movie The Whale, the actor proved that it is not necessary to starve and be in perfect physical shape to win the hearts of the audience.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter Podcast, Variety