Black Adam star Dwayne Johnson has praised Brendan Fraser for his recent film success and career-defining past support.
The WWE icon and blockbuster movie star nostalgically took to Twitter to thank Brendan Fraser for supporting him upon his entry into The Mummy franchise's second film, The Mummy Returns, and for his movie career at large. The acknowledgment was made in response to a viral video of Fraser reacting to a standing ovation for his latest film, The Whale. In the tweet, Johnson celebrated the overwhelmingly positive response that the crowd gave, wished for Fraser's continued success and shouted out the film's director, Darren Aronofsky.
2001's The Mummy Returns was the direct sequel to the 1999 Fraser-led remake of The Mummy and the second overall installment in the franchise. It also happened to provide Johnson's first acting role in a movie, playing one of the film's undead antagonists, Mathayus of Akkad aka the Scorpion King. In the film, Johnson's character is given an undead army to conquer all of Egypt by the god Anubis, but at the cost of his soul. He and his army are then revived thousands of years later by the returning villain from the first film, Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo). After Mathayus is summoned as a horrific scorpion-human hybrid, both villains are ultimately sent back to the Underworld by Rick O'Connell (Fraser) and the rest of the O'Connell family, Evelynn (Rachel Weisz) and Alex (Freddie Boath).
The wrestling superstar known as "The Most Electrifying Man in Sports Entertainment" stood out prominently in the film, which quickly led to a spinoff centered on his character's origins in 2002's The Scorpion King. While the rest of the films did not have Johnson's name in the marquee, the starring role played a crucial part in igniting his Hollywood career. Indeed, Johnson appeared in a new movie nearly every year since The Mummy Returns' initial release, steadily building toward his current status as a cinema juggernaut.
The A-lister's latest blockbuster has him returning to the desert sands, this time as the superpowered anti-hero from DC Comics, Black Adam. In the movie, his character is a mortal man gifted with superpowers like that of Superman, thanks to the ancient wizard Shazam. After being released from a 5,000-year imprisonment, he runs across members of the Justice Society of America, who attempt to reign in the awoken tyrant's preferred method of justice. The JSA is made up of Hawkman (Aldis Hodge), Atom Smasher (Noah Centineo), Cyclone (Quintessa Swindell) and Doctor Fate (Pierce Brosnan).
Black Adam strikes theaters on Oct. 21.
Source: Twitter