Brendan Fraser has opened up about his “terrifying” experience filming a nude scene with Matt Damon in School Ties.
The actor, who recently received an Oscar nomination for his performance in The Whale, opened up about his role in the 1992 drama The Howard Stern Show.
In a certain scene in the film, Dillon (played by Damon) reveals to the rest of the football team that Fraser’s character, David, is Jewish, leading to a fight in the showers.
When asked if they were completely naked during the scene, Fraser replied, “Absolutely. It was scary, it’s scary to do it. And when you’re an actor and you’re just starting out, you’re ambitious and ready for almost anything. . If they tell you to jump, you say how far”.
He adds, “But at the same time, I realized it’s not really great or a spark factor like saying, ‘Hey, look at that. Naked people.’ What’s important is that when Damon’s character says what he says about David, he reveals who he is.
“Their anti-Semitism and their prejudices are bare and ugly. And the door is closed and they fight for it like shaved monkeys that have to be separated because they have nothing more to say to each other, and it turns into an ugly one. clap your fingers. That’s the point of the scene.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Fraser recalled his screen test for the role opposite Damon.
I remember thinking, “He already has the job and this is my chance. Alright, don’t mess it up, tone it down a bit,” he said. “I was used to being on stage at that time in my life and playing backwards, and I knew I had to match the tone with Matt, so I felt like I was his sidekick or something like that, and I think that’s why they hired me.”
School Ties, directed by Robert Mandel, also starred Chris O’Donnell, Randall Batinkoff, Cole Hauser, Ben Affleck and Anthony Rapp.
In a three-star review of The Whale, NME wrote, “Even these strong performances can’t quite breathe life into The Whale, a story that purports to tackle existential themes but never quite makes sense. .”