Brendan Fraser Could Have Ended Dwayne Johnson's Movie Career Before It Began

In retrospect, as atrocious as Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's CGI Scorpion King looked in the Brendan Fraser-led "The Mummy Returns," no one could ever convince my 12-year-old self that it wasn't the coolest thing I saw in the cinema back in 2001. Although I had little idea of who he was at the time (the WWE wasn't the most popular thing in Eastern Europe), his ripped upper body and masculine face, combined with the enormous claws, legs, and stinger of a scorpion, struck me as the most badass thing in that popular, if heavily criticized, sequel. It turns out, we can thank (at least partially) Brendan Fraser for letting that happen.

In a recent episode of the New Heights podcast (hosted by brothers Jason and Travis Kelce), Johnson was asked about his "Welcome to Hollywood Moment," and he recalled what it was like to be cast and act in a blockbuster, his first movie role ever, alongside Fraser. He said:

"The very first movie I ever did was a movie called 'The Mummy Returns.' Brendan Fraser was one of the biggest stars in the world, as he is today. I was so excited to be cast in the film, [in] a small part called the Scorpion King. Brendan Fraser, by the way, I always want to make mention of this. He was one of the biggest stars in the world. That was his franchise. I am coming in, I have never acted before, I'm excited. He could have easily said, 'I don't know if I want this wrestler.' [But] he embraced me. I love that man for that, and he helped kick off my career."

It's kind of astonishing to think about that ever since that sequel, Johnson has gone on to have an illustrious acting career, appearing in over 60 features, and becoming one of the richest and most well-liked movie stars ever. And yet, that part of playing the Scorpion King (which was then almost completely murdered by poor CGI) was the very experience that gave Johnson the acting bug and made him fall in love with the profession in an instant. As he was shooting his scenes in the Sahara desert while also being sick from food poisoning, he explained, "The director, Stephen Sommers, he calls action. We do the scene. It's an action sequence, a lot of stunt guys running and flying, doing all this stuff for me, and taking care of me. He yells cut. When he yelled cut, I knew in that moment... I went, 'this is what I want to do for the rest of my life.'"

If you were a kid back in the early aughts, head over hills with cinema like me, you'll never forget how much fun "The Mummy" franchise had been, and that specific moment in the sequel that introduced The Rock in his first-ever role. It's a shame that his actual "The Scorpion King" spin-off/prequel fizzled out the next year (I was bummed as hell about it), but it's pretty consoling to learn now how much that role meant to him early on. And it makes the anecdote even sweeter that Brendan Fraser actually encouraged and cheered him on to make it as a legit and successful actor in Hollywood.