This 'The Mummy' Actor Got $50 for Being Thrown Into a Pinball Machine: The Insane Stunts That Destroyed Brendan Fraser's Body and His Transformation for 'The Whale'

From being slammed into a pinball machine for an extra $50 to enduring years of physically demanding action scenes, the actor repeatedly put his body on the line for his craft. The consequences followed him long after the cameras stopped rolling.

For years, Brendan Fraser was known for throwing himself into physically demanding roles, earning a reputation as one of Hollywood's most committed action stars.

However, while audiences watched him battle mummies, swing through jungles, and perform daring stunts, few realized the lasting toll those performances were taking on his body.

The Stunts That Left Brendan Fraser Battling Years of Injuries

Long before his Academy Award-winning comeback, Fraser had already accumulated a long list of injuries that would eventually require multiple surgeries and years of recovery. Ironically, one of the earliest setbacks came at the very beginning of his film career.

While making "Dogfight" in 1991, Fraser performed a stunt that required him to be thrown into a pinball machine. The sequence earned him an extra $50 and his Screen Actors Guild card, but it also left him with a bruised rib.

That injury marked the beginning of what would become decades of physical wear and tear. Much of the damage came while filming "The Mummy" trilogy, in which Fraser frequently performed physically demanding scenes.

During production of the first film, he was involved in a frightening incident while filming a prison sequence that featured a noose. Recalling the experience years later, Fraser revealed that he was "fully choked-out."

"It was scary," he added, remembering that he regained consciousness to hear one of the emergency medical technicians calling his name. Despite the incident, he continued filming the trilogy while relying on extensive support to manage his injuries.

"I believe I probably was trying too hard, in a way that's destructive," Fraser shared in 2018. By the time production reached the third "Mummy" film, he said his body had already been pushed to its limits. He recalled:

"By the time I did the third Mummy picture in China [in 2008], I was put together with tape and ice. I was building an exoskeleton for myself daily."

The physical strain eventually led to years of medical procedures. Fraser underwent a partial knee replacement; multiple back surgeries, including a laminectomy that had to be repeated after the initial procedure failed; vocal cord surgery; and additional operations to address compressed spinal discs.

Looking back on that period, Fraser said he spent roughly seven years moving between film sets and hospitals as he tried to keep working despite the mounting injuries.

"Going to work — in between being in and out of those hospitals, that wasn't always possible," he explained. "So what I'm saying to you sounds, I hope, not like some sort of 'Hey, I had a boo-boo. I needed to put a Band-Aid on it,' but more of an account of the reality of what I was walking around in."

Still, the injuries were only part of what reshaped his life during those years. Alongside the physical challenges, Fraser also navigated his divorce from actress Afton Smith and mourned the loss of his mother, who died from cancer in 2016.

"I changed houses; I went through a divorce. Some kids were born. I mean, they were born, but they're growing up," he said. "I was going through things that mold and shape you in ways that you're not ready for until you go through them."

Using His Body Once Again for 'The Whale'

After years away from major Hollywood productions, Fraser returned with one of the most physically demanding roles of his career in Darren Aronofsky's "The Whale."

The film follows Charlie, a reclusive English teacher living with severe obesity, as he attempts to reconnect with his estranged teenage daughter before it is too late.

To portray the character, the actor wore a prosthetic suit and underwent extensive physical preparation to convincingly capture Charlie's limited mobility. However, rather than viewing the transformation as simply a technical challenge, he revealed that the experience fundamentally changed his perspective.

"It gave me an appreciation for those whose bodies are similar," he said during the Venice Film Festival. "I learned that you need to be an incredibly strong person — physically, mentally — to inhabit that being."

Fraser explained that Charlie's physical condition required him to rethink even the simplest movements. "I needed to learn to absolutely move in a new way," the Hollywood star shared.

"I developed muscles I did not know I had. I even felt a sense of vertigo at the end of the day when all the appliances were removed, as you'd feel stepping off a boat onto the dock [...]," he added. Although the actor's performance earned widespread acclaim, the film also prompted debate before its release.

Some critics questioned the decision to cast an actor wearing a prosthetic fat suit instead of someone with lived experience in a larger body, arguing that the practice has long been controversial in Hollywood. Addressing those concerns, Fraser said at the London Film Festival:

"I'm not a small man — and I don't know what the metric is to qualify to play the role. I only know that I had to give as honest a performance as I can."

Aronofsky also explained that the production explored different casting possibilities but ultimately prioritized finding the performer best suited to convey Charlie's emotional journey.

For Brendan Fraser, the role marked another chapter in a career defined by extraordinary physical commitment. After enduring injuries that permanently altered his body, he once again transformed himself for a demanding performance — earning critical acclaim for the vulnerability he brought to the screen.