“We’re still here” – The Hollywood Comeback Kids, Brendan Fraser and Ke Huy Quan
TW: Sexual Assault
It is no mystery why Ke Huy Quan and Brendan Fraser have both received Academy Award nominations for ‘Actor in a Supporting Role’ and ‘Actor in a Leading Role’ respectively. The two have both delivered exceptional and exceedingly sincere performances in two of this year’s best features – Quan in Kwan and Scheinert’s Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) and Fraser in Aronofsky’s The Whale (2022). In Hollywood Reporter’s most recent Actor’s Roundtable, Fraser tells Quan ‘We’re still here’ – a phrase which embodies both their own personal circumstances in relation to Hollywood and the films for which they are nominated at this years Academy Awards.
The Whale finds Fraser’s Charlie, a reclusive English teacher, who, after experiencing significant personal trauma, develops an extreme eating disorder. As a result of his continued disordered eating, he is on the brink of dying. In an attempt to make amends in the short time allotted before his predicted passing, he reaches out to his estranged daughter, Sadie Sink’s Ellie. The Whale is an intimate fly-on-the-wall experience into familial shame and trauma, and the shattering motif of a man only being able to fully comprehend his own life as it is simultaneously dwindling. The drama is beautifully captained by Brendan Fraser as he delivers a performance worthy of a six-minute standing ovation at Venice Film Festival. An Aronofsky picture will always indefinitely divide opinion and so while the film undeniably has its flaws, audiences agree over one unifying thing: Fraser’s ‘performance of a lifetime’ (Time Out). All signs are pointing to a perfect recipient for a ‘Actor in a Leading Role’ nomination. The Whale exemplifies beautifully and devastatingly the mad scramble that Charlie undergoes when using his allotted lifespan to make amends while he is ‘still here’.
Everything Everywhere All at Once find’s Quan’s ‘Waymond Wang’, an agreeable and eccentric husband to Evelyn and father to Joy, on the brink of divorce with his wife. Having immigrated from China two decades prior to the film’s setting, the two opened a laundromat business which, like their own relationship, is on the brink of collapse and in disrepair. When visiting the IRS amongst negotiations to navigate the laundromat’s closing, a version of Waymond from the so-called ‘Alpha-verse’ intercepts the current reality, explaining to Evelyn that she must divert the course of reality through multi-verse jumping and battling an Alpha-verse version of their own daughter. Subsequent time manipulation and multiverse-surfing ensues. Think Into the Spider-verse meets The Matrix meets Sorry to Bother You – but completely not like any of these at all. Take from that what you will.
The film pushes the narrative that, despite growing pains and evident differing opinions, both Waymond and Evelyn as parents go to extraordinary physical, mental and spiritual lengths to make amends with their daughter, Joy. Showing that ultimately, regardless of familial hardship, your parents are always ‘still here’ should you need them. Ke Huy Quan is quite possibly one of the best supporting actors I have witnessed in recent media: he understands his place so wholly in the film that upon reflection, it is impossible to imagine anyone else in this role.
Like the metaphors explored in both of their features, both actors are still here. While Ke – an actor, stunt co-ordinator and assistant director who was born in Vietnam and began his acting career aged 12 – and Brendan – a Canadian-American famed leading man in 00s blockbusters, who began his acting career aged 23 – may seem to have very little in common, the two serve to exemplify the ultimate underdog story, showing that there is strength in both speaking out and ongoing resilience. The actor’s careers intersected when they both starred in teen comedy Encino Man (1992), which proved to be simply a stepping-stone in Fraser’s journey to being a permanent fixture on 2000s blockbuster posters, while simultaneously proving to be Quan’s penultimate acting feature for 26 years.
Quan’s involuntary stepping back from acting was as a result of the lack of opportunities for Asian-American actors in Hollywood – Quan was effectively cast aside and seen as disposable. When being an actor is all you’ve known since 12 years of age, it’s understandable to see how this had a profound effect on the actor’s self-esteem. From being a hot commodity following starring roles in The Goonies (1985) and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), Quan found himself quitting life in front of the camera in favour of a life behind it. It was not until Quan saw Crazy Rich Asians (2018) and its impressive ensemble cast (all of Asian descent), that he came to the realisation that the tides were beginning to change – opportunities are beginning to open up for voices of communities which have been ignored or outright silenced.
Fraser, on the other hand, was effectively blacklisted and shunned by the established Hollywood canon after speaking out following his sexual assault at the hands of the then-president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. This was vehemently protested by the assaulter for several years, until his memoir was released in 2014 which detailed his confirmation of Fraser’s allegation. This assault combined with divorce and his mother’s passing forced Fraser into depression which ultimately led to him stepping away from his established career. Fraser’s story shows that there is no shame in speaking out, and no shame in stepping away to look after yourself.
These two are back and their exemplary acting is a real tour de force. They are undeniable as actors, but even more so, incredibly human as people and their struggles resonate for countless worldwide. They are the type of people that you just want succeed. Whatever the outcome of this year’s Academy Awards, it’s safe to say that I know who I will be rooting for.
Featured image credit: People.com
