During a recent appearance at the Mill Valley Film Festival, while accepting an award, Brendan Fraser jokingly apologized for some unintended trauma he gave the city of San Francisco many years ago.
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Fraser was on hand during the festival in California to accept the Tribute Award given to him. During an interview on the red carpet and his speech, Fraser took the time to apologize to the city of San Francisco for a stunt that the crew of his 1997 film George of the Jungle had done.
“When we were doing George of the Jungle, George goes to rescue a parachutist tangled in the Golden Gate Bridge,” Fraser said in a red carpet interview with SFGATE. “That means Disney put a mannequin hanging by a parachute from the uprights.”
While accepting the Tribute Award from the Mill Valley Film Festival, Brendan Fraser apologizes to Bay Area crowd for George of the Jungle shoot. #brendanfraser #mvff45 #thewhale #darrenaronofsky pic.twitter.com/XBBcHR6fti
— DA in a scarf (@daina_scarf) October 14, 2022
Fraser went on to say that not only did he get to watch from his trailer next to the bridge, but Fraser also recounted how the stunt brought traffic to a standstill at the bridge. He also mentioned that the move even fooled television broadcasts, including Oprah Winfrey’s talk show, which interrupted its segments to discuss the matter.
“It brought traffic to a standstill on either side of the bridge,” he said. “My trailer was on the other side in a parking lot. I just remember watching the Golden Gate Bridge. There’s this dummy parachutist hanging from it. I had the TV on, and Oprah got interrupted because there was a special news report with helicopters saying a parachute is dangling on the bridge. And I’m going — wait a minute, I’m looking at the helicopters and TV — somebody didn’t pull a permit, somebody’s going to get in trouble with the mayor’s office. So I can only apologize for that.”
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Thankfully, no one was hurt in the stunt, and Fraser can simply laugh about it now. Up next for the actor is Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale, which is set to release in December and has already earned Fraser a ton of praise, including early Academy Award buzz for his performance.
