Two of the highly praised performances on the 2022 movie schedule have been Brendan Fraser in The Whale and Ke Huy Quan in Everything Everywhere All At Once. Not only have these performances been acclaimed by many, they also mark major comebacks for both actors. While many folks in Hollywood have praised Fraser for his work, now The Whale star is taking some time to gush over Quan’s performance in Everything Everywhere, and the parallels between both actors’ comebacks.
During an interview with EW Fraser took some time to praise his Encino Man co-star’s film. He said, with gusto and enthusiasm:
I saw Everything Everywhere All at Once, and I was like, ‘This is the most awesome movie that’s ever been made.’ I love this picture. I love Michelle [Yeoh] in this; she’s an old friend, and [when I saw it] I went, hang on, I know him.
And he does know him, while Fraser worked with Quan’s co-star Michelle Yeoh on Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, he worked with the Waymond actor in the 1992 comedy Encino Man. While Fraser didn’t recognize Quan at first, once he did he was elated. He said:
His name wasn’t Ke in the days that I knew him, for reasons we just don’t abide by any longer. Some agent told him that no one would understand [the name] or whatever. We don’t get to do that anymore. He is who he is. The journey that he’s taken to come to this place has given him, I think, the role of his lifetime, and he’s given the performance of his lifetime, and in many ways, I, like him, feel the same way. We gave it everything we had. We’re both like, ‘We’re still here, man! We’re still here.’
Boy, are they still here! Both actors have come back into the spotlight, and have been welcomed with love and admiration.
For Ke Huy Quan, his return came after a 36-year break from acting. Before his most recent film, Quan was best known for his roles in ‘80s classics Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and The Goonies. He then went on to work behind the scenes as a fight choreographer on X-Men, and he was an assistant director on the films The One and 2046. Now, not only is he a front-runner in the Oscar race for best supporting actor, he also will join the Marvel Cinematic Universe for Season 2 of Loki.
As for Fraser, the Brannaissance is in full force, and even though he was never all that far away from the spotlight, The Mummy star is fully back now. While Fraser has been in smaller roles here and there over the years, The Whale marks his big return as the leading man, and he’s coming back in a big way as one of the front-runners in this year’s Best Actor race. On top of a positive response from critics, co-stars of Fraser’s have also sung his praises, like Sarah Michelle Gellar who shared moving thoughts about her The Air I Breath co-star, and Freddie Prinze Jr. who revealed how Fraser’s performance changed him.
I love that both these actors are finally getting the praise they deserve, and it’s so fun to see Fraser enthusiastically praising Quan too.
If you are interested in watching these fantastic actors in two films that are bound to go down in film history in my opinion, you can stream Everything Everywhere All At Once on Showtime, and you can catch The Whale in theaters now.