By Lori Berger
| Brendan
Fraser is politely dodging my questions about whether or not he has a
girlfriend. But the mega-talented 25-year-old can't change the
subject as fast as he can steal a movie scene. "Maybe I
have one," he says, smiling, trying to be a good sport, but
basically telling me to buzz off. When I let him know that I
happened to spy him hand in hand with a young woman at an IKEA
furniture store in Los Angeles on recent weekend, he blushes.
then rolls his eyes upward and reluctantly admits, "Okay, okay, I
do have one." Conversation over.
That's about as intimate as Brendan wants to get. He's perfectly relaxed talking about his rapidly heating up film career and the road that got him there )he studied acting in Seattle, WA, earned a one-line role in 1991's Dogfight, then tried his luck in Hollywood), but the personal stuff makes him sweat. It's not that he's shy, it's just that he's ultraserious about what he does. The six-foot-two-inch blue-eyed actor who's about to create and even bigger buzz is wary of falling into the Hollywood Hunk of the Month Club--and maybe he should be. Brendan's puppy-dog portrayal of link, the cuddly caveman in Encino Man, made more than a few female fans want to give him a bear hug; his more serious role as brilliant and brawny David Greene, the Jewish football star trying hard to fit in in School Ties, made them want to give him their telephone number. With three potential box-office blockbusters out this summer--With Honors (Brendan portrays a Harvard student who befriends a homeless man), Airheads (he's in a band, with Steve Buscemi and Saturday Night Live's Adam Sandler) and a baseball flick The Scout (he plays star pitcher Steve Nebraska)--Brendan is about to break into the ranks of hot new Hollywood stars. But he likes to downplay his meteoric rise. "I'm still sort of the new kid," says the guy who was hooking up Christmas-tree lights and busing tables two years ago. "I've had a combination of good fortune, high ambition and excellent representation [from his agent and his manager]. All I can say is that I'm grateful."
In Airheads, he's a metal-head wannabe.
In real life, Brendan
Fraser's career In his upcoming Airheads role as Chazz, the leader of a heavy-metal group called the Lone Rangers, Brendan really lets his hair down (almost to his waist). Radical rockers without a record deal, Chazz and his two band mates, through a series of bizarre circumstances, "accidentally" tale over a radio station while trying to get their demo played. "The most fun I've had doing films so far was Airheads," says Brendan. It was the people and the laughs we had. I'm not saying it's good art or bad art--I'm just saying it's the most fun I've had." But what Brendan does for fun when he's not working is what I really want to know. "I like to lie on my back and read," he says. "An sometimes I'll go grocery shopping--now that's a lark." As for the IKEA shopping trip, he was scouting for a "great bookcase that can be latched to the wall." This feature is very important, since his last apartment was trashed in the L.A. earthquake. He may be able to quakeproof his new West Hollywood digs, but there's no doubt that Brendan will be setting off big-screen tremors all summer. |
Brendan
breaks into character to answer your questions
Where he'd take a girl on a first date: Favorite music: What he'd do with a million bucks: Biggest goal: Favorite television show: |
